Honouring loved ones that have passed

If you're going to honor one passed loved one, I don't think it's fair to tell your FH that he can't also honor his grandparents. If you want to include your cousin's husband, you should as well. I don't think 5 people is too many by any means.

I think if you are going to honor one, honor all of them. I am in the same dilemma where we have so many that have passed away, friends and family on both sides. He has never met my grandfather and I have never met his grandmother but we will still be honoring them because they mean so much to us. What my plan is is I am going to use Shutterfly or Vistaprint or something like that to make a collage of pictures or gather a bunch of photos and get a big picture frame and put them in and make a collage, so we only have one frame of pictures and a nice sign and candles. Maybe you can do this as well so there isn't so much space being taken up. Also I plan on buying FH and I matching charms that say "close together or far apart, you are always in my heart" his will go in his jacket and I am going to sneak some pictures of passed loved ones and a special "note from them" into his jacket and my charm will be on my bouquet along with a guardian angel pin.

You can honor all of them. I’ve lost a lot of people on my side, but the one that hit me hardest was my Nana. It’s been a long time, but my sister purchased me a little plaque to put on a table or seat that says something along the lines of those we’ve loved and are not here or something like that. You can do a photo of your mom and maybe a plaque as well, to show there are others that should have been there.

We have lost lots of people as well, instead of doing framed photographs, I decided to buy charms that go around my bouquet with pictures of those I've lost, and I am also going to purchase customized cufflinks for my FH for the big day with a picture of his father that has passed. Both I found on Etsy! I'll put the links below.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/399703047/walk-me-down-the-aisle-wedding-jewelry?ref=shop_home_feat_4&pro=1

https://www.etsy.com/search?q=customized%20memorial%20cufflinks

I think you have to let it be anyone that either of you feels strongly about honoring.

If you're worried about too many photos you can always do a reserved chair for those who couldn't be with you, and don't worry about naming/identifying each person individually.

If you have a full on display like you're thinking, you probably should honor all. It wouldn't be fair to honor only one person in such a huge way and not the rest, you know?

If you'd like to keep it personal and only honor your mother, consider doing something like a bouquet charm, reserved chair, etc. We had a memory table at our wedding and it had about 10-15 people honored on it. It wasn't crazy, and people actually really appreciated it.

But maybe consider doing something like the charms (below) if you'd like to keep it personal. Or you can just search ways to honor deceased relatives on Etsy and maybe find some ideas that better suit you. Best of luck!

I think honor the loved ones you feel most strongly about.
I will be honoring my dad and great uncle who passed 6 months apart. My fiances grandfather who i was never able to meet. And also my grandfather who died a few years before inwas born

I think that regardless if you have met his loved ones who have passed or not, your fiancé has a right to want to honor them and vise versa. Not meeting them should not change how he gets to mourn his loved ones, who he misses, on his wedding day. Coming from someone who has also lost all 4 grandparents, who my fiancé has never met either, I would be very upset if he were to tell me that I shouldn’t have their pictures up there with the rest of our loved ones who have passed. I understand that grandparents are different than mothers, but if you’re looking to mourn your mom not being there in a more special way than the rest of the loved ones lost, you could perhaps save a seat at one of the guest tables and put a sign that says reserved wih a picture of her, the candle, or some other special momento that reminds you of her. I am doing this with my grandma who has passed and who was my best friend. We’re still doing a table with all of our loved ones passed from both of our families, but my fiancé knows how extra special my grandma was to me, and he loves the idea of honoring her with a reserved seat.

As far as the photos and candle I think having 5 is perfectly fine, but I would think about something additional to do to honor your mom because I feel that getting married without one member of your immediate family is a big deal.

My Dad passed away a few years ago and I will have one of his ties wrapped around the stems of my bouquet. We will have photos on a table of him, my two grandmothers, my fiances grandparents, and a few aunts/uncles we have that passed away.

I don't think it will be to much to have five small pictures of loved ones with a candle. You could always opt for a sign with or without names instead of pictures... We are honoring all our loved ones with a donation favor card. FH mom passed when he was young and she will be the only one honored during the ceremony itself. We left her name on the program and are leaving her chair empty with flowers. If you wanted something special just for your mom.

I disagree that if you honor one you need to honor them all, here’s an idea though based on what we did:

my husband’s brother passed away many years ago. We put his photo with a single rose on a seat in the front row for the ceremony, the seat that would’ve been his. Do that for mom? We didn’t do grandparents, we just couldn’t have that many empty seats and a parent is a little different than a grandparent.

Then to honor our grandparents, we got a wedding photo of each of our grandparents and parents and put them on a table that said “it all began when two people fell in love”. It not only had an image of them, but also focused on a positive contribution they made in your life and the model of marriage they gave you, rather than having an entire table about death.

We are having a moment of silence and having his grandparents, my grandparents, my former boyfriend (passed away while we were dating and I’m still close to his mother who will be attending) and my father during the ceremony as well as pictures on a memorial table. These are all individuals we haven’t met on the other persons side. But these people are important to us and part of who shaped us into who we are and we wanted to acknowledge their influence and missing them on our special day. Good luck finding what works for you!

I think it is fair to honor all those that you feel are special to both you and your fiance, whoever they may be. Even if only one of you knew them. I was struggling with this too, because two of my grandparents died very recently and I want them to be included. But for my fiance, he didn't really know one set of grandparents, and his other grandpa died when his mom was young, so he never knew him. I think having five or so people and putting all of their photos on a table with a sign is not excessive and still recognizes the people that you want.