A wedding role for furry family
By ROCHELLE HAWTHORNI had my engagement party over the weekend, and it got me thinking about the upcoming wedding and how I could somehow incorporate my passion for animals into the wedding day.
I've always envisaged having my own dogs carry the rings, attached to a small pillow around their head or neck, down the aisle. So it's a little inconvenient that we are currently renting a property that's not equipped to house dogs, which I would have trained to take part in the ceremony. Consequently, and a little sadly, it might be a while before "my" dogs come on the scene.
Then again, our venue is (quite rightly) fairly strict on their policies relating to health and safety, and this includes no dogs on the lawn or in the public areas. So even if I was able to have a favourite pooch take part, the venue might veto my wishes based on their policies.
So another idea is to do a dove release. We're both still considering this idea, which I'm sure has been done plenty of times before at the venue and of course elsewhere as well. The fiance asked me to find out more information and what I found out was that the doves are special homing birds, so will come home to roost "eventually". And the cost to release two doves was less than twice the price to release one. And that it's quite a popular practice at funerals.
Another option is to release a box of butterflies, which sounds like a lovely idea. Butterflies are delicate, graceful, gentle and very "feminine". And I'm sure the visual impact of a dozen or more butterflies flitting skyward would surely be captured forever by our talented photographer.
But of all of these options – I can be quite persuasive at times and may be able to wrangle a dog into the ceremony *fingers crossed* – I'm unsure which speaks the most to me, or if there's even another idea that I haven't thought of yet. Perhaps a petting zoo to entertain the guests while we're off having photos? Walking down the aisle with a well-behaved, bulletproof cat beside me on a harness? Ride in on a horse?
Were you able to incorporate animals into your wedding in a unique way? Or, if you're thinking about a wedding and want your pets or some animals involved, what are you thinking of doing? Have you been to a wedding where the "furry" family members also had a part to play, and how did it go?
Veterinary nurse Rochelle Hawthorn is a co-director of The Pet Hub, a website created as a first stop for New Zealand pet owners looking for animal articles and product reviews, and to share ideas and experiences. It's also on Facebook.
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Picture: Flickr
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If I have a dog, I will definately be encorparting him/her into our special day. But what i have planned is to ride in on my own horse - so will be getting a venue which has land, so I can ride him in and park him up so to speak for the day. Animals are just as much a part of your life than all your relations put together - they live and breath with you, so they deserve to be part of that day just as much as your second cousin from the other side of the world does.
Our dog attended our (outside) wedding - "best dog", stealing all the attention in all the photos! Came to the (outside garden) restaurant for the wedding lunch. Even ended up in the (inside) dinner restaurant (small town, we booked the place out, not quite sure how the dog left the car and came inside, dog was seen in the kitchen begging for, and receiving, pieces of steak from the chef!). Wouldn't have had it any other way.
getting a dog to bring down the rings seems a little twee for me (plus i don't have one yet..). i'm not even that keen on having a kid do it, unless they are old enough to calmly / easily / seriously do it. At my brother's wedding next year, there will be the dogs running around as it is at my parent's place but they won't be part of the ceremony, just professional beggars for tidbits!
@ JeM. would love to see the photo of the cake! sounds awesome. link?
We had my two family dogs at our wedding - one westie and one shetland sheep dog. They were bathed and groomed for the day and had ribbons in our wedding colours around their necks. They were a big part of our family and had a lovely day, were really well-behaved and enjoyed sharing the food! Our wedding was all about family, friends, love and having fun - we tried to keep as much formality out of it as we could so having our dogs there was the natural thing to do.
I think it is a little crass to use living creatures as decorations for an occasion/event.
The best example is the demands made by Mariah Carey for some Xmas show - 20 white kittens, 100 white doves etc. That is just gross!
By all means involve your family pet in your special events, they are part of the family after all. May I clarify that is not what I am getting at with my point above.
This must be a "chick thing" for girls who never got over the Fairy Princess phase of their preteen years.
Apart from the logistical nightmare of wrangling any animals for a wedding - it just screams OTT cliche.
I have been begging my fiance to let my cat be the ring bearer but he doesn't seem to think little Toskin can be trusted (admittedly he is the naughtiest cat I have ever known, but he's SO CUTE).
If I was going to do a 'trash the dress' then I would do in the form of a photo-op with the aforementioned darling but I'm not so I too have run out of ideas.
My fish I am happy to leave out of it but there must be some way to incorporate my kitty...
What a lovely idea if your dog is really well behaved. I would be worried that my dog would jump up on me lick my face ruin my make-up and my dress not to mention the cake he has such a sweet tooth
We have 3 dogs which will be coming to our wedding as they are our only four legged children.And taking a roll in the wedding with carrying the rings on their backs.Have not set a date though,but it will be in the summer.
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For my wedding I had miniatures of my pets made to go alongside the bride and groom on the top of the cake so the family was the cake decoration. It turned out way OTT (turtles ended up being bigger than the dog and taking over the cake) but it was still cool.
My venue wasn't keen on our dog attending, but they did let her come at the end of the ceremony for 30 mins to have photos with us prior to the reception.
I think having her there the whole time might have not worked as she would have probably misbehaved, so how it worked out was great for us.