Love and Friendship is a poem by Emily Brontë that compares romantic relationships and friendships. If you’re a couple that were friends before you became lovers, this could be a perfect wedding reading for you. In this poem, Emily Brontë discusses how romantic relationships and platonic relationships survive through easy and hard times. To do this, she describes them as different types of plants. In the hard and unforgiving times of winter, only the holly tree (friendship) survives. She stresses friendship as the greater of the two concepts. The way we like to read this, is that you can’t be in love with someone without first being friends. It’s the foundation that love needs to survive. Similarly, you could also read this as meaning that friendship is more important than any romantic relationship could be. If you’d like to download a free copy of this reading, we have a PDF version for you!

Love and Friendship

by Emily Brontë

Love is like the wild rose-briar,
Friendship like the holly-tree—
The holly is dark when the rose-briar blooms
But which will bloom most constantly?

The wild rose-briar is sweet in spring,
Its summer blossoms scent the air;
Yet wait till winter comes again
And who will call the wild-briar fair?

Then scorn the silly rose-wreath now
And deck thee with the holly’s sheen,
That when December blights thy brow
He still may leave thy garland green.

Is our Love and Friendship poem the wedding reading for you? If you need some more inspiration, check out these 16 wedding poems for some similar reading options. If you’re looking into your readings, you’re probably also thinking about music. What song will you walk down the aisle to? Here are our favourite songs to walk down the aisle to!