There is a reason Irish blessings close weddings all over the world. They say profound things in plain words, they rhyme without trying, and they sound like someone who loves you is speaking. Below is the full library: the Old Irish Blessing with its history, short blessings and toasts with complete texts, proverbs about love and marriage, ring warming words, and exactly how to use each one in a ceremony, a card, or a wedding program.
The most requested Irish blessing in the world, and the one most likely to close a ceremony: "May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face, the rains fall soft upon your fields, and until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hand." Nobody knows who wrote it. It comes from the oral tradition of Gaelic Ireland — likely centuries old, passed mouth to mouth long before it was ever printed, which is why a dozen slight variations exist. Some versions add "May the rain fall soft upon your fields"; some end "in the hollow of His hand." There is no official text, and that is the point of a folk blessing: it belongs to whoever says it. At weddings it works as the closing words of the ceremony, as a parent's toast, or as the final line of a wedding program.
Short enough for a card, warm enough for a ceremony. The classics: "May you be poor in misfortune, rich in blessings, slow to make enemies, and quick to make friends." "May your troubles be less and your blessings be more, and nothing but happiness come through your door." "May you have all the happiness and luck that life can hold — and at the end of your rainbows, a pot of gold." "May the best day of your past be the worst day of your future." "May you live as long as you want, and never want as long as you live." "May your home be filled with laughter, your hearts with love, and your pantry with whiskey." "May the joys of today be those of tomorrow."
Toasts are blessings with a glass raised. The five that never fail: "To the bride and groom: may your joys be as deep as the ocean and your troubles as light as its foam." "Here's to you both — may you see each other's face every morning, and still like what you see fifty years on." "May you both be blessed with children who give you joy, friends who give you laughter, and a marriage that gives you peace." "To love and laughter and happily ever after. Sláinte!" "May your pockets be heavy, your heart be light, and may good luck pursue you each morning and night."
Old Ireland said everything about marriage in one line: "Don't marry for money; you can borrow it cheaper." — the proverb every father of the bride quotes. "Marry in haste, repent at leisure." — the warning, older than Ireland itself. "Love is blind, but marriage restores its sight." — the one that gets the laugh at toasts. "It is not a sign of happiness to be wealthy, but a sign of happiness to be content." — for the couple that has everything. "A good wife and a good name are best of all." — and its answer: "A good husband and a good hearth." "Where the heart is, there the feet will follow." — the gentlest way ever said that home is a person.
Two moments where Irish words carry the ceremony. Ring warming — the rings pass hand to hand among the guests, each holding them a moment with a silent wish, until the officiant says: "These rings have been held by everyone who loves you. They carry those wishes now, warm, into your marriage." Irish-inflected vow lines for couples writing their own: "I promise you the shelter of my love in every weather, the warmth of my hand in every cold, and the light of my laughter in every dark." "By hill and glen, by calm and storm, I choose you — today, tomorrow, and every day after." For the full vow texts and Celtic handfasting traditions, see our Celtic wedding vows collection linked below.
Three placements, three different jobs. In the ceremony: the Old Irish Blessing works best as the closing words — after the pronouncement, before the recessional — read by the officiant or a grandparent. In a card or program: short blessings fit the signature line; print the Old Irish Blessing as the program's back page. As a toast: end with "Sláinte!" and raise the glass — a blessing read flat is a poem, the same words raised with a glass is a toast. One rule across all three: read it slowly. These lines were built for speaking.
"May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind be always at your back..." — the full text appears above; it closes countless Irish and Irish-American ceremonies.
Anyone: the officiant, a parent, or a reader — it works as a ceremony reading, a toast, or a card message alike.
A blessing asks good fortune for the couple; a toast raises a glass to it. Many Irish lines work as both.