How are you honoring those who have passed?

I personally don't think a wedding is the place for a memorial, but for our wedding, I wore a necklace that belonged to my grandmother who died when I was 8 and I gave DH a boutinierre charm with a picture of his grandparents on their wedding day.

I have a charm that will hang off my flowers. I did not like the empty seat or the table with all the pictures. Plus since one is my dad it will still be kind of like him walking me down the aisle. Then the other is my friend that I never got to ask to be a bridesmaid, so it will still kind of be like she is standing by my side!

My fiance and I have mean talked about this. I don't think we're going to honor them but if I did I would have a little saying and a little photo of each one of my family members and his family members.

View Quoted Comment Omg that is a cute idea.

We will be doing a memorial table in the reception room. With a sign and a candle. Probably some flowers for added decor. Not sure if we will put pictures as of yet due the large amount of deceased member of FH's family. I plan to get a photo charm from etsy for FH's bout' with his moms picture on it.

From Etsy!

My dad passed away 4 years ago, my brother a year and a half ago. Plus many other family members over the years. We are doing a memorial candle lighting at the beginning of the ceremony. For my dad and brother I'm attaching a photo charm to my bouquet since they were the only other men in my life. For just my dad I'm walking down the aisle alone to our song butterfly kisses an instrumental version. My fiance is meeting me before I get to the alter and finishing the walk with me.

We had a sign that we put on our card table. We didn't want anything too sad (my grandmother passed about a month earlier so we didn't want the reminder) and we did have people who are still alive that weren't able to make it to the wedding.

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Oh my goodness, that is so sweet! Where did you get the pin and lockets? I lost my father many years ago, and I like this idea that he could still walking me down the isle this way. So previous.

FH lost his younger sister before she reached the age of 2, and after I told him about them, he told me he wanted a small charm or locket on his boutonniere with her picture. Since I'm making the bouquets, bouts, corsages, and arrangements for the wedding, I've offered the same to his parents and my mom.

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Agree with this. I asked my hubby if he wanted to honor his mom in some way but he said no because it would make him too sad on our wedding day. Our officiant said something like "for all the loved ones who are here in spirit with us."

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This is the Etsy site that I got it off of.

But there are so many other options on Etsy!

I think charms, lockets and other personal items that you can have on your person to remember your loved ones who have passed is more appropriate for a wedding. I am not a fan of memorials or empty tables. A wedding is a celebration of happiness and making it obvious that a loved one has passed on may be too emotional for others in attendance that love them too. I hope you guy find a nice way to honor your loved ones.

View Quoted Comment I completely agree. At my brother’s wedding he had a table with pictures of a few relatives that had passed away. I remember my cousin crying and getting very upset when seeing the photo of her mom. I like how you honored them subtly in a way that’s special to you.

Were putting up a small photo on the fire place, and I’m going to put a bouquet charm!

I'm going to have a bouquet charm with my grandparent's wedding picture on one side and FH's grandpa on the other. I'm playing my grandma's favorite song (Love Me Tender by Elvis Presley) during cocktail hour, we will have FH's grandpa's cribbage board available for guests who don't want to dance to play with and we are including a small note in the back of our programs. We chose these ways because they are small simple reminders for us (and our immediate families) but, it won't put a damper on the day and most people won't even realize their significance.

I like the idea of small, meaningful personal things, if they are what the bride or groom want -- like the charms, etc. But, I'm not a fan of the bigger "statement" type remembrances like empty chairs and memory tables. I think that's kind of morbid and distracting -- and, potentially really upsetting for some people (e.g., grandma's recently widowed husband, etc.). I assume for most deceased persons there was already a funeral or memorial service, so I don't think it needs to happen at future weddings, too. We were at a wedding last year where they must have had framed pictures of 15-20 people on a "memory table" -- yikes! That was just kind of weird/creepy to me.

My parents passed away 8-12 years ago and daughter was VERY close to both of them. Daughter will carry one of my mom's handkerchiefs, and I'm thinking about having a snippet of one of her papa's (my dad's) shirts appliqued inside her dress somewhere as a surprise. Her bouquet is also going to be wrapped with fabric from her grandma's wedding gown (which I and one of my sisters also wore). I've chosen a pale pink MOB dress because that's what my mom (daughter's grandma) wore to my wedding and she LOVED that dress. We're remembering loved ones in small, subtle ways that are meaningful to daughter, me, and some of the immediate family who might recognize something, but other guests won't notice.

Clearly, these are just our preferences and tastes.

I’m doing charms on my bouquet & was thinking of getting FH a pocket watch engraved w/ his dad’s pic..we’ve also been thinking abt doing a butterfly release after being pronounced..I don’t really want a table set out & I’m not sure if having a seat reserved is going to invoke too many emotions..we’re undecided on that.

My venue had a grand piano, so we used that as our memorial table, with photos of my uncle/godfather and H's mother and a simple "forever in our hearts" sign. We also had some rose petals and a LED candle on the piano.

In addition, we had a paragraph on our handle-fan programs about all of our lost loved ones, and then specifically mentioned my uncle and H's mom again below that.

Finally, I had two bouquet charms of my two grandmothers, who have passed, and I made a pin for H to wear with his bout or inside his suit of with a photo of his mom. Unfortunately, I hid it so well that I never got to give it to him. It will be a nice surprise when we do find it someday. H says the whole situation reminded him of his mom, who would often buy gifts and then forget where she hid them, so it was still a tribute to her, in a way.

memorial pin

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LOL! I love that temporarily losing the pin was as good a memory of his mom as the actual pin would have been!