Mom Rose Ceremony

We didn't do this because I had never heard of it, but I saw it done recently and I thought it was absolutely beautiful. I couldn't stop crying, then when I commented to the bride about how lovely it was, she burst into (happy) tears too. It's definitely touching.

EDIT: Scratch this. I was confused about what you're talking about.

Wait, I think I might be confused. My friend didn't do it as part of her ceremony, she did it during the reception. Basically the bride stands there while music is played and all of the mothers in her life line up and she gives them each a rose and a hug. It was over in like a minute and I thought it was very sweet. I'm not sure about doing something similar in the ceremony.

I've seen them and I think they're super weird. As someone else said, the ceremony is about the two of you, you acknowledge your mothers by getting them a corsage or something.

I'd never heard of it until the other day and told my mom about it, she said "that's fucking weird, don't do that"

I've never seen it done because I think it's just not traditional around here but everything I've ever heard described about it has always seemed a little creepy and the reactions from everyone on here have been fairly negative. To me it seems very strange, as @ Mrs CK mentioned, to include the moms (esp if you're not acknowledging anyone else because dads etc are equally important) in a ceremony about you and your spouse. Maybe I would feel differently if I saw it done but personally I don't care for the idea. Perhaps it's also because to me it reminds me of how around here at funerals people put roses on the casket at the end of the service so it seems really sad to me.

MoonRide what was the reaction from your guests about doing this? It seems like all the replies on here are fairly negative.

@annie I think that idea is very beautiful as well.

We did a rose ceremony at my high school graduation. I find it strange at weddings.

Actually, this was a standard part of a Catholic ceremony. The bride and groom honored the Virgin Mary and then honored their own mothers with flowers. It has drifted into non-Catholic ceremonies as well. I think it's a lovely thought, but if it's not custom within your own circle, it's certainly not a "thing". But NO, it wasn't thought up by some mom who wanted attention.

No Midwest May. That is not accurate at all. The mothers are not included and the bride does the Mary thing on her own. It's a chance for the bride to pray for Mary's (the patron saint of mothers and wives) blessing, not to honor your mother. Stricter Catholic churches won't even let you do it during the nuptial mass because it's considered too pagan, same with unity candles.

We did what Midwest May says- gave flowers to Mary, and on our way to the statue we stopped and gave a single flower to each of our mothers. It's not a requirement of the flowers to Mary, but all the times I've seen this done in Catholic ceremonies, that's when it happens. I honestly don't remember the order of the mass at this point, but I'm pretty sure it was either right before or right after the sign of the peace, so we were already going off the altar to our families anyway.

I respectfully disagree that the ceremony is just about the couple. Weddings are about joining two people who come from two families, and in doing so the families are joined as well. We did it to honor our mothers. There are many ways people involve family members and friends in weddings, particularly Catholic weddings-- having them do readings, bring the gifts up, offer a blessing, etc. IMO, the flowers to the mother is a whole lot less weird than the symbolism behind the "giving away" of the bride. If any of our guests thought it was weird I honestly don't care, but several people mentioned how sweet it was. I've seen it at about half the Catholic weddings I've attended. I have also seen it at secular weddings where the bride stops and gives a flower to each mother after she walks down the aisle.

Jeanne, I've never heard it being excluded from a Catholic ceremony for being "too pagan." My uncle (the priest who married us) is extremely strict about what can be included in the ceremony, he doesn't allow unity candles for example, and he has no problem with this. I don't know how he'd feel about it without also doing the flowers to Mary, though.

I would say about 80% of our ceremonies include this if it's appropriate. It's a giant day for your moms, and generally, they get walked to the front row and plopped there.

Moms love it. Photographers love it. Guests love it. I do it after I welcome the guests and before the remembrance, if we have one. I've never seen what annie describes, and frankly, I think THAT's a little creepy, but we integrate it into our ceremonies in a gracious way, and it works just fine. It takes literally a minute. And it's almost always a surprise to the moms.

But it has to be done well ;-)

And the ceremony is only JUST about the couple if it's in a Starbucks. With two witnesesses.