Honoring those who can't be there

We are having a memorial table with pictures of all my grandparents my godmother and 2 of FH grandparents and his great grandparents.

We are also labeling each picture so guests from either family know who the pictures are and the relation to us.

I'm sorry for your loss! My FH just lost his father on the 16th. We are honoring him in a few ways. FH and FFIL were best of friends so there will be no BM, that will be in honor of his dad standing beside him during the ceremony. During the reception we have a 150 photo montage that will play, so we have decided to dedicate a section of that to FFIL as well as other family we have lost, that will play to You Should Be Here by Cole Swindell. There are a couple other things that FH wants to do but he hasn't told me yet. Whatever you decide to do I am sure it will be amazing and a great tribute to him!

In our programs we will have the names of the loved ones who have passed away in there. My FH will also have a red rose for his grandfather and I might wear my grandmother's necklace for remembrance.

There have been many posts about this through the last few weeks. Maybe use the search bar on the righthand side to see if you can find any threads that already have a lot of great information in them?

My sister had my Nana and Pa's pictures but into necklaces and put into her bouquet. She also had our young cousins and her husbands young cousins walk down pictures of them and his grandparents to be placed on either side of the alter. Since they didn't have FG or RB, it was nice to include the kids somehow.

My FH's dad passed away 7 years ago. We will have a picture, as well as a floating candle holder with this name and years etched on it. (You can also get a candle with that information, but we didn't want the words to disappear as it burned!) Our officiant is also mentioning him in the ceremony.

Yeah, there are so many posts on this. To sum it up: reserved seats for the person you've lost, charms on the bouquet, tables, signs, program mentions.

We're doing a lot of what FutureMrsH mentioned. FH's father passed away from cancer in 2008 and I was, unfortunately, never able to meet him. I will have charms on my bouquet for FFIL, my great-grandmother (I'm wearing her pearls to my wedding) and my grandpa. We're also going to have empty seats for them and there will be a small memory table for photos of us with these loved ones.

My grandma passed away a couple months ago. She was a baker, and I'm using one of her old cookie cutters (in the shape of a wedding cake) to make sugar cookies to give out to our guests as favors. I'll attach a tag with some eloquent words about her that I haven't come up with yet.

Here is a good thread that was just posted a weeek ago or so about the same issue

https://www.weddingwire.com/wedding-forums/ways-to-honor-deceased-parent-at-wedding-please/fcb283bed9d817c4.html

I am doing a memorial vase for ours.

We have a lot of people we lost that couldn't be there so we had this sign and a candle burning in front of it. I am so sorry for your loss.

I'd suggest -- based on experience -- that you honor those who have passed, but please, honor them in a way that will not overshadow the joy of your wedding day. A framed photo next to a white rose in a vase would make a significant impact, but it will top short of making your wedding a memorial service.

When taken to the extreme, an officiant's mention of a loved one's passing coupled with an empty seat behind a place setting for the deceased is very depressing. The loved one who has passed would never want your wedding day to be overshadowed by the thought of their death. A framed photo coupled with a single rose on a table is all it takes.

Thank you for the responses everyone! They have been very helpful.

Please don't do the empty seats. Someone has to sit next to those and chances are it would be someone closed to the deceased.

I really encourage you to keep it understated. You have to remember that your grandparents (especially) will still be deeply mourning, as will your uncles siblings and others. Too much of an in your face kind of thing would probably send your g'parents/aunts/uncles into sobs. Whatever you decide to do, include them in the discussion so that everyone is comfortable.

@Jeleebeenz I agree with you and am planning on keeping it either happy or understated. I think the empty seats are very sweet for some, but for something so fresh I agree it will be be too much.

What I am actually considering is having my fiancé and his groomsmen incorporate basketballs into either the walk down the aisle or some of their pictures because he loved basketball and played it in college. I feel like that will be a fun way to honor him, that he would have loved : )

I may also include some of the picture ideas.

We are listing it in our programs it says "In Loving Memory" and then lists our grandparents that have passed away. We also have a section that says In Honor and has one of FH groomsmen who will be deployed at the time of the wedding.

We are listing it on our programs and also doing a memory table for his uncle and grandfather.

My father and dh's parents have all passed. We talked about having pictures or something but we wanted to focus on a happy future so we didn't. I had photos in charms that hung from my bouquet though.