Originally written for a friend’s wedding in 2017, screenwriter and novelist Neil Gaiman’s All I Know About Love has become somewhat of a wedding reading cult classic in the last ten years. We see if often cited in our Real Weddings section, a popularity down to the fact that these are honest words with a grounded view of partnership, admitting that the world can be complicated and scary. Instead of leaning into traditional rescue fantasies or the idea of "two broken halves becoming one," Gaiman celebrates two complete, equal individuals who choose to build a home together. He captures the reality that love isn't just about romance; it is about the comforting reassurance of knowing someone truly has your back when things get tough.

Gaiman points out that no study or piece of advice can truly prepare you for marriage - that it is a custom path, a dance that cannot be taught, and a song that never existed until the two of you started singing it together. By moving away from perfection and focusing on real, everyday devotion, the piece builds to a deeply moving emotional finish. Its final image of reaching out a hand in the dark to find the other person never fails to touch everyone in the room.

The words are below and we've created a useful print and go download of this poem below.

All I Know About Love by Neil Gaiman

This is everything I have to tell you about love: nothing.
This is everything I've learned about marriage: nothing.

Only that the world out there is complicated,
and there are beasts in the night, and delight and pain,
and the only thing that makes it okay, sometimes,
is to reach out a hand in the darkness and find another hand to squeeze,
and not to be alone.

It's not the kisses, or never just the kisses: it's what they mean.
Somebody's got your back.
Somebody knows your worst self and somehow doesn't want to rescue you
or send for the army to rescue them.

It's not two broken halves becoming one.
It's the light from a distant lighthouse bringing you both safely home
because home is wherever you are both together.

So this is everything I have to tell you about love and marriage: nothing,
like a book without pages or a forest without trees.

Because there are things you cannot know before you experience them.
Because no study can prepare you for the joys or the trials.
Because nobody else's love, nobody else's marriage, is like yours,
and it's a road you can only learn by walking it,
a dance you cannot be taught,
a song that did not exist before you began, together, to sing.

And because in the darkness you will reach out a hand,
not knowing for certain if someone else is even there.
And your hands will meet,
and then neither of you will ever need to be alone again.

And that's all I know about love.

Still looking for the perfect wedding ceremony reading? See our Essential List of Ceremony Readings which are broken down into categories to make it super easy.