Wedding Blog

For my wedding, we had a vase on the altar with calla lilies in it and a note in the program that just mentioned those who couldn’t be with us.

My father passed away in 2002 from cancer, and I wanted to honor him without making other family members cry at the same time. If I would have had a photo charm on my bouquet, I would have been a basket case. Those are very thoughtful though.

Becky

I love your ideas!

Wow - I think this was the most difficult part of the wedding planning My hubby and I have both lost parents to cancer. It had been 3 years for me and less than a year for my hubby. Needless to say a very emotional wedding day. I really struggled with finding just the right was to honor them. (And other family members we had lost)

I choose to have two large orchids (they were also in my bouquet and small ones were the table center pieces) to honor each of our parents. They were behind us during the ceremony and moved to the reception area. We didn’t have programs, so had the preacher say these words at the beginning of our ceremony:
Jilian and Todd would like to recognize all who are not here with us today. These orchids are in memory of *grooms mom* and *brides dad*. Todd and Jilian have asked me to read this:
Though we are separated physically,
Faith and love have bound us eternally.
Though we cannot see you,
We know you are here.
Though we cannot touch you,
We feel the warmth of your smile, as we begin a new chapter in our lives.

As the planning progressed more ways fell into place. Todd couldn’t find a band he liked - so rather than just buying anything we used my dad’s wedding band during the ceremony. Also his step-dad had given me a bracelet that belonged to his mom the night before - which I wore during the ceremony. Our photographer unknowling got an amazing picture of me putting the ring on Todd’s finger where the ring and bracelet are the focus of the photo. I almost started crying when I saw that picture!

We didn’t have the f/d and m/s dances at all. But I did dance to two first dance songs with Todd. One of which was ‘I loved her first’ by Heartland. Yes it was my moment to cry and miss my daddy. (I’m crying even typing this) Some wonder why I would bring the tears on myself - but I had to have that moment and play that song for my dad

Also - as a surprise to us my mom had put together a ‘growing up’ montage photo video to share at the reception. Of course there were many photos throughout that included folks who weren’t with us. Yes it was emotional - we went from laughing to crying to laughing. (my brother was seriously bawling in the back of the room) It was so special to have those memories shared during our wedding though - and for both families to be able to really get to know the opposite family - if that makes sense.

I hate that this is a piece of anyone’s wedding planning process - I do know that all idea’s to honor those important to us are good ones! And our loved ones are there to share in our special days - cause we feel the warmth of their smiles

I really like the idea of the photo charms. I’m definitley planning on having photos of departed family members and those who are too old to be there on either the escort card table or the cake table.

I am debating the idea of a donation to the American Lung Association, as my maternal grandfather and paternal grandmother both died of lung cancer, and to honor my boy, as I’m very proud of him for quitting smoking.

Thank you so much for letting me create your beautiful charms for you! I am so honored to be a teeny tiny part in your big day! It is such a meaningful set of charms, and I hope they bring you some happiness on your big day! Thanks so much for sharing me!!!

[...] placed framed photos of our parents and grandparents around the cake. My original idea was to use vintage photo frames from local thrift stores (a very eco-friendly choice) but they [...]