Every reading the Church offers for a Catholic wedding, in one place: 9 from the Old Testament, 7 psalms, 14 from the New Testament, 4 Gospel acclamations and 10 Gospels — with the rules that govern how many you pick and which ones count.
A nuptial Mass follows the ordinary shape of the Liturgy of the Word. What is unusual about a wedding is that the couple, not the calendar, chooses what is read.
Nine options, one of which is proclaimed as the first reading — except during the Easter season, when the first reading is taken from Revelation instead.
Seven options, sung or recited by the cantor with the congregation answering. The psalm belongs to the Liturgy of the Word, so it is chosen from this list rather than replaced by a hymn.
Fourteen options. The last of them, from Revelation, is the one that stands in for the Old Testament reading during the Easter season.
Four verses, all from the fourth chapter of the First Letter of John, sung with the Alleluia as the Book of the Gospels is carried to the ambo.
Ten options. The Gospel is always proclaimed by a deacon or a priest — the one reading a family member or friend cannot be asked to read.
Readings come from the options the Church provides for Matrimony. A poem or a passage from a novel belongs at the reception, or in the booklet as a dedication — not in the Liturgy of the Word.
At least one chosen reading has to speak explicitly of marriage. That is what the 14 marked options are for; a shortlist made only of the unmarked ones does not satisfy it.
A deacon or priest proclaims it. The other readings can be given to family and friends, and naming them in the booklet is a courtesy guests notice.
Marry between Easter and Pentecost and the first reading is taken from Revelation instead of the Old Testament.
The responsorial psalm belongs to the Liturgy of the Word. It is chosen from the seven above and sung; it is not a slot for a favourite hymn.
Bring your shortlist to the priest or deacon preparing your wedding. Parishes and dioceses differ on readers, on music and on how much may be printed.
Once the selection is settled, the booklet is what carries it to two hundred people who have not seen it before.
The convention is to print each reading’s citation, its opening line, and the name of the person proclaiming it. That is enough for a Catholic guest to follow and enough for anyone else to know what is happening and when to sit. Where a congregation includes many guests who are not Catholic, couples often print the full text of the readings as well — worth asking your parish about, since the approved translation is under copyright and permissions vary.
The responsorial psalm is the one place a booklet earns its keep outright: the congregation is expected to answer, and they can only do that if the refrain is printed in front of them. Print it in bold on its own line, exactly as the cantor will sing it.
Our templates leave a place for all of it — citations, readers, the psalm refrain and the responses — in both forms of the Roman Rite. If you are still deciding what the rest of the booklet should say, the wording guide works through it section by section.
Every template has a place for the citations, the readers’ names and the responses your guests will need.
Free to design and preview. $5.99 when you download the print-ready PDF.
What to actually write on the cover, the order of service, the wedding party page and the closing note — with wording you can copy.
Read the guide →How a booklet for the 1962 Nuptial Mass differs from a Novus Ordo one: the ceremony before Mass, the fixed Propers and facing Latin and English.
Read the guide →The order of service in both forms of the Roman Rite, movement by movement, and what a wedding program should list for each.
Read the guide →