How to honor deceased parents at wedding ceremony?

My fiance and I lost both of our mom's. We are lighting a candle during the ceremony to honor them. I found the candle on amazon

I have lost both of my parents and my future husband and I are leaving 2 open chairs at the ceremony and have a table of memorial pictures of the ones we have lost.

It is so unfortunate that the ones we love can’t be there physically but knowing they are watching over us gives us peace! I made this for my mother and our grandparents. Going to set it on the table with tralights and picture frames. Hope that helps!

We aren’t doing anything at the reception to honor our loved ones. (This is a day to celebrate not to be sad about who isn’t there.)

so so we are doing two empty seats where my fiancé’s parents would have sat (both of us has passed away) and placing a rose on those seats.

during the ceremony we are doing a prayer, and saying we are honoring those who are not here today, those from distrance or those in heaven, then saying the names of his parents.

Personally, I am not a fan of the "empty seats" thing. I understand the symbolism, but I think it's kind of jarring and odd at a wedding. But, then again, I tend to be much more private and understated in general. Assuming his parents had a happy marriage, I might put out one of their wedding photos (possibly along with others from long, happy marriages in your families) at a table at the reception. You could also have a charm made with their pictures that he wears pinned to the inside of his jacket.

I'm sorry for all your losses, and hope you have a very happy day!

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Love this!!

My FH has one grandfather that is still living and he won't make it to the wedding due to living in the UK. His parents have sent me photos of all his grandparents and I have photos of my grandparents that I will use to set up a table at the reception.

My husband's dad passed when he was 5 and his mom passed away last March (during the wedding planning so it was very sad and we still get emotional). My husband didn't want anything special being done because it was an emotional enough day and adding that neither of his parents are alive so we didn't bring any more attention to those facts.

We are doing a table with pictures of our loved ones who have passed with a big picture frame in the middle that says "We know you would be here today if heaven wasn't so far away" and also with some candles.

All four of my grandparents are deceased, so my mom found these beaded charms with picture frames to put around my bouquet, so I'll have their pictures there. Then we will have a table in our ceremony/cocktail hour space with a candle & sign and pictures of the grandparents we wished were there. I do like the reserving seat sentiment too. I've seen it on Pinterest, with a picture of the parent or something of theirs (baseball cap, etc.)

FH and I have both lost our grandmothers. I plan on surprising him the morning off/day before wiith a small charm with either her picture or a saying about her to add to either his boutonnière or tie. We have also thought about making our first dance a song that features one of his nana’s favorite singers, as we both love the song as well.

As for my grandmother, I would like to incorporate part of her wedding gown into my bouquet, and also use queen anne’s lace in my bouquet since when I was little we used to pick it and dye it every summer.

We debated a table but I’m not sure if some of our guests would handle pictures very well, myself included.

So sorry for all all of your losses ❤️

This was especially important for us, as we just had a heartbreaking death in the family. At the ceremony we will have a sign that says "We know you would be here today if heaven wasn't so far away" and a white rose for each of them. And then on the back of our programs, it says: "White roses have been placed on the altar in loving memory of those who cannot be here today. Although we cannot see you, we know you are here, watching over us as we say “I do”. You are forever in our hearts and in our lives." (My mom cried when I showed her the sign.)

My aunt is also bringing my grandma's wedding rings to tie into my bouquet for my something borrowed. My cousin tied them into her dress for her wedding, so I especially liked the idea of keeping it a tradition of sorts!

Hello! we are actually lighting a candle in memory of loved ones lost at the reception. I bought this on Etsy:

In Memory

For my FHs deceased brother I got them all pocket squares embroidered with his jersey number. So the men can wear them and keep him close to their heart. You can also do the bouquet or boutonnière charms. Embroidered handkerchiefs work too. Do a reading of her favorite poem or verse.

My mother passed away when I was little and both of my sisters have used the same bouquet charm with her picture on it. I feel like maybe cuff links could be made in a similar fashion. I would check Etsy.

View Quoted Comment I was thinking the same! Cuff links with photos or maybe a tie clip with her name or initials. I’d check out Etsy to see if something jumps out, there’s so many options to have things personalised.

I love the idea of honoring loved ones who have passed away. I'm doing a couple things to honor our loved ones! I'm putting a memorial charm on my bouquet with a picture of my great grandma. I also made this frame display! I bought this frame, decorated it with flowers and we'll be pinning up pictures of all of our loved ones on it. I also DIYed this sign to go along with it and it'll be displayed at the wedding with a couple candles beside it.

This way I have the bouquet charm which is a little more personal and then we have this display to publicly honor them to our guests.

Memorial display for loved ones

I think you can still put flowers in the pew, next to his dad.
I’m not big on putting out pictures but will be putting out things that were theirs.
Im putting my great grandmother brooch on my bouquet
my great grandfathers Pinochio will be by our card box
and I’m thinking of putting my grandfathers race horse number at the bar.

We are having my baby sister carry a picture of my mom down the aisle and put her in her "seat".

I found a card with my mom’s handwriting and I had a handkerchief embroidered with her writing.