Furbabies in ceremony... do or don’t?

I'm doing it!! Our dog is our baby and he's our ring-bearer. We don't have kids or have nieces or nephews on either side so we really only have our dog as our option and it's an awesome one!! He looks so handsome!!

My brother and his wife have a dog who is their child! When they got married they wanted to include him. They actually had a friend there who frequently watched the dog when they go away who was “in charge” of the pup for that day. They had my son (who was three at the time) walk down the aisle with the dog on a leash- well, my son let go halfway down the aisle and the dog ran around (it was an outdoor ceremony) until the friend was able to gather him. She gathered the dog quickly and walked him to the back so the ceremony could continue and then handed the leash to my brother as he and his new wife (and their fur baby) walked down the aisle. My point is, it might NOT go perfectly but as long as you are okay with that I think it is adorable when fur babies are included. It’s one of everyone’s favorite memories from that day and the picture of the three of them walking back down the aisle is beautiful. My brother and his wife haven’t regretted their choice once. Best wishes for a beautiful day whichever you choose.. 💗

My dog is the literal love of my life. I have him tattooed on me. Having him in my wedding wouldn’t have been fair to him. Even the most well behaved dog can react unpredictably to a huge crowd with all eyes on them. A bride posted on here once about having their angel of a dog as their ring bearer. Even though her pup was well trained and acted wonderfully on a normal basis, at her wedding be peed on one of the groomsmen’s shoes. That was enough for me to nix that idea.

I really really want Leia (our pup) in the wedding! Right now though I’m going back and forth because when she gets really excited which is usually around new people she pees, and I don't want her to pee as she’s coming down the aisle lol.

We won’t have ours in the ceremony but we are planning to get pictures made with them before the ceremony (after FH and I do our first look!)

This is definitely a personal decision, but it comes with a lot more logistics coordination. Not only could a well-behaved pup easily act out in an overwhelming situation (like a large crowd all staring, an unfamiliar setting, etc.) but you have to do a lot of planning about getting pup to and from the ceremony. It's definitely not fair to have pup stay for the reception, so coordinating with a dog sitter or some other service is crucial. A friend of mine had her dog in the ceremony, had a paid sitter scheduled to pick her up, and the sitter never showed. A cousin volunteered to take the pup home, but then there was a misplaced house-key situation, plus the cousin missed speeches and the first dance... it was a mess.

I love both my cats so much, but I wouldn't ever subject them to something so stressful. I'm definitely doing signature drinks named after them and they're slightly incorporated into some of the décor, but that'll be it. Having an animal in the wedding, though incredibly cute and meaningful in theory, can get stressful FAST.

I think it really depends on your dog! There are services out there that you can pay for exactly this to make it pretty seamless (as long as you plan ahead), but I worry that our girl would be super stressed in a random location, seeing us briefly, then being taken away by someone she doesn’t know. I think it would cause her a lot of unnecessary stress and anxiety, for me just selfishly wanting her to be a part of the day. I promise your dogs aren’t going to have hurt feelings if you don’t include them! But if your dog is super chill and used to being taken care of by people he/she doesn’t necessarily know, I think as long as you’re good with all the other points made by others then it’s an absolutely adorable thing to do! So all that to say we’re opting not to do this even though we’d love to have her there, but I think we’re going to do a pup illustration and name out signature drink after her!

View Quoted Comment Oh! Rachel, that’s a great idea! That’s definitely something we may consider as an alternative!

Just a tip from someone else who is planning to have their doggo at the ceremony:

For big dogs, use a harness with a short lead (about 8inches) instead of a leash to walk down the aisle. Dogs on regular leashes often walk back and forth checking out different people when going down the aisle but this way you keep them very close to you and can easily control their motion. (Note, you can buy them for goats at animal supply stores for about $5). It makes it easy to adjust their position when sitting too- we use this whenever we take our lab to crowded places to keep him right by our side!

It totally depends on your baby. My dog would hate everything about it. He's such a baby and he's used to me holding him or at least petting him pretty much whenever I'm in the room, so it would be hard for him to be able to see me and my FH and have us totally ignore him. He would also HATE the crowd. He's such a sweetheart, but he gets anxious around groups and he would not be happy. I would also be worried about him pawing at my dress and tearing it.

View Quoted Comment Yes! Our dogs would not behave well at the ceremony with that many people and this way we can get some candid shots with them on our own

I think it really depends on the dog, the venue, the event, and your guests. If you have a calm, well trained dog, a safe place to keep your pooch, and a trusted person who will be responsible for your dog, then it can work.

We had friends include their dog, a registered emotional support animal, as part of their small ceremony in the courtyard of a dog-friendly hotel. The courtyard was contained, the dog was on leash, and a family member was responsible for the dog during the ceremony, and then after the ceremony the dog went back up to the room and was fine. We are planning to include our dog in our ceremony. He's high energy, but not at all stressed by crowds or new environments, has gotten his AKC Canine Good Citizen certificate, and comes to work with me as "therapy dog" so he's very used to new people and has good social manners. We were going to have friends who have dog sat for us before bring him to our venue for the ceremony and then bring him back to our house after (our venue is 25 minutes from our home). All of our guests are animal lovers and our dog would be on leash the whole time and only present for the ceremony itself and some photos after, so maybe an hour tops.

If you think the ceremony will stress your dogs, you are unsure how they will behave, you are not confident in the people handling them, or your venue or guests poses dangers to your pet or vise versa (say you have a busy, urban setting with lots of traffic, you are getting married in an ecologically sensitive park, or you have guests with dog allergies), then I think its too risky and would not be wise to include your dog.

My horse, Sassparilla, will be in ours. She will also be in my bridal portrait, and wedding pictures.
I say, it's a do

It depends on the venue and your dog's response, and like it or not, on your guests' comfort. If you think it won't be to stressful for him/her, take him/her to the rehearsal and see how that goes before deciding. Have a back-up plan and decide in advance that if it isn't the best scenario for your dog and the guests, you'll let it go. Then definitely have a handler who the dog knows and likes there to work with him/her.

We plan to have my dog in the wedding - it would be an incomplete picture of "our family" without her. She's half herding breeds, so can be a bit crazy, but is really sweet. Since I communicate with my dog-walker on a more regular basis than anyone (next to FH), we decided to add her to the guest list and ask her to manage our pup. We also had to negotiate 10 minutes of off-leash time at our outdoor ceremony site as my dog feels threatened on a leash but behaves almost perfectly off-leash. If the rehearsal is too disastrous, we'll let it go. If not, we anticipate a little chaos and a lot of laughs.

I’m not bringing our dog (we live in Salt Lake City and are getting married in Massachusetts), but I had a friend who had their dog for the ceremony and arranged their daycare/boarding location to pick them up afterwards. Very cute dog but didn’t have to worry about the reception!

I had my dog as " petal patrol" to walk with the flower girl.
Tips:
- take to rehearsal, and give treats when they do it correctly ( since they look like shepherds I dont think it will take long)- have someone walk them the morning of to tire them out before people show.-hire a dog sitter( vet techs are almost always looking for extra jobs) for the full day, including when getting ready(so you dont have to pause to let em out, give water, go for a walk, clean up after them ect) to when they take your dog home after ceremony and pictures. Seriously the best thing i ever did!- hide a bone or chicken bits( I prefer busy bones since my dog could smell it)in a bouquet of the person walking them ,I hid it in the petal basket, to keep them going and not visting all the guests- give a bone or have a puzzle where they are gonna stay for the ceremony to distract them- dont have them at the reception: overstimulated, so many people, food /drink left out, guests feeding them human food( which if it contains oinon or garlic is a stop everything and take em to the vet thing, along with if the pups drank alcohol left out), inebriated people running around, all a recipe for vet visit at the least; instead have the sitter take them home where they are watched and can relax after all the movement and fun.( mine was still a bundle of energy after so the vet tech took her to the park before home)

It would be more logistics to arrange, but as long as your pups are well-mannered and socialized I can see that it would be an amazing addition to your ceremony. My pups are not that well mannered, and well, my oldest baby won't make it to October anyway. I'm pretty sure he's in his last week or so. The only wedding I've attended that included the couple's dog was one of my childhood friends. Their ceremony and reception was outside at her mom's house, so to their dog Chloe it was home, so definitely nothing to stress her out over except oh look more friends. I honestly can't remember now if she stayed hanging out with everyone during the reception or if she went inside.

But if the ceremony and reception are elsewhere than definitely you'd want a close friend or family member to basically be dog handler and whether they take the pups home after the ceremony or if they'll be at the reception as well. Just something to think about and plan for.

My sister and I specifically looked for wedding venues that are dog friendly to include my fur baby and her fur niece. It worked because my floof is very mild-mannered and well behaved. If she was more anxious or rambunctious I would include her as a pinned photo on my bouquet or even a framed photo on my sweetheart table. 😊