Wedding poems, ugh?

When faced with literary conundrums, Paris Review editor Lorin Stein gives some very sage-like advice. This week's quandaries dealt with what books were most appropriate to read aloud while accosting strangers on the subway (“anything by Lipsyte or Shteyngart”), and what reading would be suitable for your best friend’s wedding when you think the marriage an awful mistake (William Morris’ “Love Is Enough.")

From the Paris Review’s blog:

Ugh. Don't you hate this business of reading at weddings? Even under the best of circumstances, I'll never understand what's wrong with a toast. I love listening to toasts! Can you persuade your friend to change the rules? Then you can just go on about her, and how lucky this guy is. You'll never find a better audience for a toast than a wedding. All the laughter and tears—people actually mean them. It is the perfect match of performance to need. The wedding toast is one of the most vital folk rituals we have—more vital than the vows. Readings are a pale substitute. Who ever can pay attention to the Song of Songs or “Let me not to the marriage of true minds,” or even “Having a Coke With You,” before the first glass of champagne? It helps, somewhat, if the thing is printed in the program. (It gives you something to read during the Bach.) And I think gay weddings should get a pass, if only for the excuse to hear Whitman's beautiful, and suddenly triumphant, “When I Heard at the Close of Day.” But that's too passionate. Everyone will think you're carrying a torch for Bozo . . .

And well sure here are some more wedding poems, and some more for good measure.