January is back-to-school after the family celebrations over Christmas, and so what better time is there to consider how we can involve youngsters in our wedding ceremony proceedings. Whether you have children of your own, beloved nieces and nephews, or you’re close to the children of your family and friends, there’s something truly special about involving little ones in your big day.

Sure, you’ve probably considered which little people you’d love to have as flower girls, bridesmaids, and page boys, but there are other roles they can take on, too. Having your son or your daughter as Best Man or Maid of Honour, respectively, is an incredibly lovely touch, that’s bound to see your guests reaching for the tissues.

Children who are of reading age can come into their own when given an element of responsibility on your wedding day. Whether they write their own speeches or are honoured with the opportunity to read to your guests during the ceremony, a child’s involvement can create unforgettable moments of your Big Day.

With that in mind, here are just ten of the best child-friendly wedding readings. They also work really well if you and your partner are big kids at heart, too. Just don’t forget to add some Disney classics on strings to really set the charm alight. Beautiful arrangements such as Sleeping Beauty’s Once Upon A Dream would also sound stunning on the harp.

1. Dr. Seuss 

‘We are all a little weird and life’s a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love.’

2. Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne 

‘If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day so I never have to live without you.’

3. The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

‘I’m in love with you, and I’m not in the business of denying myself the simple pleasure of saying true things. I’m in love with you, and I know that love is just a shout into the void, and that oblivion is inevitable, and that we’re all doomed and that there will come a day when all our labour has been returned to dust, and I know the sun will swallow the only earth we’ll ever have, and I am in love with you.’

4. The Owl and The Pussycat by Edward Lear 

The Owl and the Pussy-Cat went to sea
In a beautiful pea-green boat
They took some honey, and plenty of money
Wrapped up in a five–pound note
The Owl looked up to the stars above
And sang to a small guitar
‘O lovely pussy! O pussy, my love,
What a beautiful pussy you are,
You are You are!
What a beautiful pussy you are!’
Pussy-Cat said to Owl
‘You elegant fowl!’
How charmingly sweet you sing!
O let us be married!
Too long we have tarried
But what shall we do for a ring?”
They sailed away,
for a year and a day
To the land where the Bong-Tree grows
And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood
With a ring at the end of his nose
His nose
His nose!
With a ring at the end of his nose.
‘Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling
Your ring?’
Said the Piggy, ‘I will.’
So they took it away and were married next day
By the turkey who lives on the hill
They dined on mince, and slices of quince
Which they ate with a runcible spoon
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand
They danced by the light of the moon
The moon
The moon!
They danced by the light of the moon.

5. Your Personal Penguin by Sandra Boynton 

I like you a lot.
You’re funny and kind.
So let me explain
What I have in mind.
I want to be your personal penguin.
I want to walk right by your side.
I want to be your personal penguin.
I want to travel with you far and wide.

6. The Love Monkey by Edward Monkton

‘Then they looked into each other’s eyes and, feeling the joy of truth in their souls for the first time, they began to laugh. And often they sit together still, holding each other’s hearts in their warm hands, lifting them to the light and laughing. Always laughing.’

7. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

‘She is more important than all the hundreds of you other roses: because it is she that I have watered; because it is she that I have put under the glass globe; because it is she that I have sheltered behind the screen; because it is for her that I have killed the caterpillars; because it is she that I have listened to, when she grumbled, or boasted, or even sometimes when she said nothing. Because she is my rose.’

8. A word to husbands by Ogden Nash

To keep your marriage brimming,
With love in the loving cup,
Whenever you’re wrong, admit it;
Whenever you’re right, shut up.

9. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling

‘Dumbledore watched her fly away, and as her silvery glow faded he turned back to Snape, and his eyes were full of tears.
“After all this time?”
“Always,” said Snape’

10. A Lovely Love Story by Edward Monkton

The fierce Dinosaur was trapped inside his cage of ice. Although it was cold he was happy in there. It was, after all, his cage.
Then along came the Lovely Other Dinosaur.
The Lovely Other Dinosaur melted the Dinosaur’s cage with kind words and loving thoughts.
“I like this Dinosaur,” thought the Lovely Other Dinosaur. “Although he is fierce he is also tender and he is funny. He is also quite clever though I will not tell him this for now.”
“I like this Lovely Other Dinosaur,” thought the Dinosaur. “She is beautiful and she is different and she smells so nice. She is also a free spirit which is a quality I much admire in a dinosaur.”
“But he can be so distant and so peculiar at times,” thought the Lovely Other Dinosaur. “He is also overly fond of things. Are all Dinosaurs so overly fond of things?”
“But her mind skips from here to there so quickly,” thought the Dinosaur. “She is also uncommonly keen on shopping. Are all Lovely Other Dinosaurs so uncommonly keen on shopping?”
“I will forgive his peculiarity and his concern for things,” thought the Lovely Other Dinosaur, “for they are part of what makes him a richly charactered individual.”
“I will forgive her skipping mind and her fondness for shopping,” thought the Dinosaur, “for she fills our life with beautiful thoughts and wonderful surprises. Besides, I am not unkeen on shopping either.”
Now the Dinosaur and the Lovely Other Dinosaur are old.
Look at them.
Together they stand on the hill telling each other stories and feeling the warmth of the sun on their backs.
And that, my friends, is how it is with love.
Let us all be Dinosaurs and Lovely Other Dinosaurs together.
For the sun is warm. And the world is a beautiful place.