Prelude and Processional Etiquette

Groomsmen can seat your VIPs or others can. This is how ours went, recommended by my DOC:

Husband's grandmother, sat by his uncle

Husband's other grandmother, sat by his brother/best man

(those were the only two grandparents)

His mother, escorted by his father

My mother, escorted by my father

Husband and officiant

Bridesmaids and groomsmen (paired, but you can have all the groomsmen waiting at the altar if you'd prefer)

Me and my dad

Erin,

With weddings nowadays having step-parents, step-grandparents, remarried parents, divorced parents and all kinds of other combos, it can get challenging to put together the processional.

The only thing you really have to remember is that the honor of being seated last (i.e. prior to the wedding party coming down the aisle) is given to the mother of the bride, with the mother of the groom seated just before her (second to last).

Other than that, it's hard to get it wrong. You can have parents (including step-parents) and grandparents being seated as part of the formal processional or you could have them informally seated (with no fanfare or music) just prior to the formal processional starting.

And yes, groomsmen can certainly escort, as can other family members. Check with your officiant--he or she should be able to give you pointers on this.

Thank You ladies! I was wondering the same thing!