Wedding Blog
For months now, we’ve been going back and forth about whether to include our beloved dogs in the ceremony. From the moment we were engaged, we were gung-ho on the idea of them being our ring bearers. I mean, we got them when we moved to New Mexico together two years ago as teacup-sized, two-month-old puppies. Okay, they were never teacup-sized, but 17-pounds is pretty small compared to their current state.
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Meet Odin (below), our year-and-a-half Pit Bull-Lab mix. Or Odiferus, Wilbur, Yoda (check out his ears) or Pequeño Toro. Yep, those are all of his nicknames, all of which happen to be longer than his real name. We got him from the pound as a sick little puppy, and he’s grown into a handsome young chap. It would be a mistake not to include him in the wedding. I mean, he already has his tuxedo on! But, because he was a stray for the first two months of his life, he has his quirks, which include quite a bit of anxiety in crowds of strangers, horrible leash-pulling habits, and an obsession with licking any visible skin. Hmmm…
Odin
Just a few months older than Odin is Rio (below). Two in April, Rio is a Saluki-Rhodesian Ridgeback mix. She hasn’t taken on as many nicknames as Odin (Riolicious usually does the trick) but she does have a few idiosyncrasies that he doesn’t. First, talking. She is probably the most vocal dog I’ve ever met. And it starts up if she gets bored—which is often, because she’s a high-energy hound mix. (Think Whippet, Greyhound, or anything that could run for twelve hours straight and still want more). Second, she is light as a feather, but she often gets the inkling to jump on people when she’s excited. I see our wedding as one of those times. Taffeta + nails = disaster.
Rio
Thus, we’re stuck with the question: To pooch or not to pooch? We really want them to be a part of our day. They’re practically our kids. (Wow, I sound like Angela from The Office. I promise we don’t lick them clean like she does her cats). But is it worth all the worry? Take a look at this picture. Then tell me how you can turn that down.
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Are you including any unexpected guests in your ceremony?
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Oh, we wanted to include our 1.5 year old Jack Russell so badly. But he too has a licking obsession and would want to be in everyone’s face. Unfortunately he’s going to have to sit this party out. 
Awww! We have a 1 yr old Boxer-Pit mix and he’s the cutest thing ever, but way too excitable to be around all that commotion! 
I really want to include our 3 year old bernese mountain dog in the ceremony. she may be there for a few pics and then to doggie day car for the night.
My fiancee and I also adopted a Lab/Pit Bull Mix we call Monster ‘Tuck’ long for Tucker.
We love this little guy and consider him “our son”. However, like your dogs he has his quirks. Tuck loves to go up to every person he sees and sniff, sometimes, lick them. If it were only up to me I’d have him there, but the fiancee doesn’t think his family would appreciate it.
Therefore I’ve taken some really cute photos of Tuck (in a bee costume holding a sign in his mouth that says “Mom & Dad, Meant to bee) and have a cute way planned to display them. Probably pretty corny, but at least in a way he’ll be there with us.
I wish we could include our golden retriever puppy! Unfortunately, our venue doesn’t allow animals
If you want to include them, you should try! They’d be an adorable inclusion!!
your dogs are absolutey beautiful!
I wanted to include mine too. I have one with Odin habits as she too was a stray. But we are having a DW, so now it’s out of the question. Do you have someone who is very familiar with your dogs that could handle them on your big day? That might help ease the nerves and keep them under control.
Your dogs are soooo gorgeous! I hear your concerns and you are right those crazy behaviors will come out in “stressful” situations. Could you maybe take some pics with them on your wedding day, or do a, engagement or TTD photo session with them in it? You seem to have adopted them, how about giving a doggie bone shaped cookies out as favors with a donation for the agency you got them from…some ideas!
We have a 3-year-old 5-pound Maltese, Shayna, and we do want to include her. The venue (a hotel) has already said they would allow her on an exceptional basis, but both sides of the family are mixed as Shayna does have a tendency to misbehave. She also has these psycho puppy episodes where she runs around in circles around the room. It may be entertaining!
SO. Adorable. Maybe assigned a trusted friend to be keeper of the dogs? He/She/They could walk the dogs on leashes, so they could be part of the ceremony without the risk of ruining Aunt Ethel’s lovely silk frock. Then, you could assign someone to take them home/to the hotel/to a friend’s house to take a puppy nap after the ceremony, so you can head to the reception.
Awww, my parents have a tuxedo cat who’s the feline version of Odin.
We’re doing it and I’m so excited! I have a cockapoo who will be 1 and a half on our wedding. After my venue said yes to having him in the ceremony- I had to work out logistics. It is definately hard to coordinate the care on the day of. He can’t stay for the reception! I think I have to worked out and I have a tentative back-up plan in the works as well. I think the photos will be worth the worry though… And this just reminded me about the heart shaped squeaker toy ring bearer pillow I want to make him!
If you do include them, please don’t make them wear clothes. For me?
I too am thinking about including our dogs. However, we have a bulldog who LOVES to drool and I’m thinking that doggie drool might not look so hot on my wedding gown. As a solution, I am toying around with idea of just having our dogs at the rehearsal the night before. That way we can do a run through with our two best dogs by our side, we can get lots of pics, AND there will be NO drool on the wedding gown!
Hi! I am taking some black/white photo’s of our two labs with signs hanging from their necks (with numbers) and using the pictures as table numbers! Im also putting signs that say Thank You on their necks and using that as thank you cards!.
We have 2 babies, 40 and 50 pound Siberian Huskies. They are my children. From the start I wanted them at the wedding, as they go and do almost everything with us. But the FI isn’t too keen on the idea. My family is a BIG dog family, but his not so much. We were also concerned about behavior during the ceremony. I think I have convinced him to allow the girls to come participate in the picture portion so we can get a couple shots. We brought them along for our engagement pictures and they did great. Not everyone understands our obsession, but they are a part of our life together.
I think you can make it work having your pups involved so long as you have a trusted friend whom the dogs know and love too to watch after them. Also, I agree no clothing please. If the girls were coming they’d be sporting some fabulous ribbon collars and leashes that would match our colors, but not dresses, especially on large dogs!
I’m leaning toward including photos of us with our fur babies at the reception site. The logistics of having someone bring the pups in at the last minute before the ceremony, and then remove them promptly afterward, is too tricky for me. The excitement surrounding the wedding may be stressful on them, and could cause small disasters for you. With so much going on, you can’t expect them to by their normal angelic self! I have seen it work out at a wedding with well behaved dogs, at an outdoor (but enclosed) venue rented exclusively for one event that day. But yes….so very cute!!!
I think finding a way to include them that day without actually having them there is the way to go. Take engagement photos with them. Maybe take a cute pic of them together to use in the signing frame. I am not sure it is every the best idea to have 2 dogs at a wedding. Especially if they don’t have the best “manners”
Your dogs are so cute! What if you use them for the table numbers? You can take a bunch of cute pictures of them (together or individual), and have each different picture at a table - you can also include a number if you want, but it might be fun for your guests to search around to find their picture match. Then their cute little faces will be all over the place, and you don’t have to worry about any barking or jumping!
The condo we’ll be staying in that weekend doesn’t allow pets, so they’ll be making friends at doggie camp that weekend. And even if we could bring them, Simba still jumps sometimes when he’s excited (we’re working on getting him to stop) and Max is an attention whore (I can see him standing ON my dress to get my attention, and 100 lbs of dog + wedding dress = disaster waiting to happen). I’d love to include our pets somehow, so one idea we’re kicking around is using photos as table numbers. Not very original, but it’s all I could think of.
We’re trying to figure out a way to include our pooch Ryder, but it’s hard because he’ll only be 18months old. We know him well enough to know that he’ll have issues being still, not ruining SOMEONE’s dress, peeing on the ceremony chairs, trying to eat the ring pillows, attacking my niece’s head wreath, and generally doing whatever he can to ruin the moment…or the whole wedding. He’s a smart dog, but boredom is NOT his thing. I think we’ll just sit him next to my brother…
i so want to include or pit bull dog mix, Sasha, cuz she’s like our child as well. But she’s got horrible table manners (boars holes into you while your eating) and she doesn’t really care for men in uniforms (hello men in suits EVERYWHERE) except for her daddy and her grandpa (who wear uniforms everyday as mechanics). So i don’t think we’ll be able to, much as I would love to
FI & I have cats and as much as I’d LOVE to have them hanging around our venue during the reception (our reception venue has a cat that lives there!) FI won’t let me. They are our children so I can’t leave them out. I had scrabble tile charms made by Etsy seller BittyBlock (http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5797379) that have their picture on it. One for each cat. The scrabble tile is the first letter of their name. They were a custome order, but they weren’t too expensive. I LOVE THEM!
My cousin was in the same situation she has an adorable pup named Napoleon who is a Maltese. While small he would not have been able to behave himself with all the people around. The did include him with a mini form of him on the cake. I did their table numbers of pictures of them growing up and with the bridal party so there were a few pics with Nappy in them. So he was there is spirit.
Your dogs are so cute, I am jealous. We would love a dog, but work on a ship so it is impossible! I would have to include them in some way or another. They are part of the family!
Do not include your pets. They are animals, not humans.
They would have a much better day at an animal hotel than at your wedding, no matter how much you think they would “love” to be there.
i want my puppy there more than i want most of the guests =PP hehe, one thing i worry about more than anything is how it will affect him…will it traumatize him to see so MANY people
We have two Boxers and will not be including them due to issues quite similar to your pups. I can’t bare the thought of them sitting home alone though so we’re hopefully going to arrange for them to be with their favorite dog walker for the entire day so they can be pampered and feel special too.
I also hope to incorporate them into our STDs since they are definitely considered our furry little kids!
Pooch it up, Miss Cowboy Boot!! Your doggies are adorable
Your poochies are gorgeous! We just made the hard decision not to bring our shih tzu to the wedding. She was going to be our ring bearer, but we felt as though it was going to be just too much craziness for her.
My daughter truely wants her “babies” at the wedding but the groom thinks it could turn into a nightmare and while I doubt it would be horrible — they could steal the show!! So as a compromise my daughter is having her pug/pekanise stay with her and the girls at the hotel and they will get formal bridal pictures taken together. Then the morning of the wedding I will pick her up and drop her off at my house.. best of both worlds!
we had our little guy at our wedding. he even wore the cutest tuxedo complete with tails and a bowtie. he’s a 12 lb yorkie/schnauzer mix. he sat on the best man’s lap during the ceremony and only barked once at the very end when everyone’s cameras started to go off. his crate was kept next to our sweetheart table but he did walk around off leash during our indoor reception. we had someone from the venue or the planner’s team take him out for little walks every 90 minutes or so, and he ran circles on the building rooftop while we took pictures during cocktail hour.
when dancing opened up for the night he danced right along with me on the dance floor. i loved it. everyone was amazed as to how well behaved he was.
also, when i get nervous i like to hide behind the cuteness of the dog, so he helped a lot with my anxiety at the beginning of the night.
One thing that makes me really sad about having our wedding in my FH’s mother’s choice of church is that we won’t be able to have our dog in our wedding party.
I’m hoping to have him with me in the suite where we’re getting ready, though!
They’re so cute!! I too was thinking the other day about including our 7-month-old beage/hound mix kid. But we’re doing the ceremony in a church, and I doubt if she can behave in there. I might just have to include her some other way. Maybe in my bachelorette party or when I’m getting ready the day of.
We wanted our dachshund as our ring bearer, but were afraid he’d be uncomfortable. Instead, the plan is for him to make the grand exit from the church with us. We’re taking photos in a beautiful location just down the block and so we’re planning on walking to it instead of having a “getaway car.” I’m creating a “Just Married” sign for our dog to wear while we walk.
Your dogs are so cute - these photos are awesome! I know exactly how you feel! My pooch is a Jack Russell - Fox Terrier mix, he’s a year old, TONS of energy and he is a combination of both of your dogs: Loves to jump on people while trying to reach their face in order to lick it! Along with a nasty leash-pulling habit. I would love to put a little bow tie on him and have him bring the rings, but he can’t be trusted to behave.
As cute as it would a wedding ceremony might not be the best place for your adorable pooches. Have you thought of including them in other ways like table number picture (take their pictures and photo shop numbers in), how about engagement photos or even some photos on the wedding day inbetween the reception and ceremony! You could always use wedding day pictures with your pooches as a picture on your thank you cards too. Just some fun ideas!
Although we love our weimaraner dog-child, we feel she’s not suited to ‘perform’ at the wedding. I made her a collar so she could be in the pictures though!
http://www.bridalbuds.com/2009/01/diy-rhinestone-dog-collar/
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Mrs. Cowboy Boot, Santa Fe
Age and Occupation: 25, Magazine Editor
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Artist and Whitewater Rafting Guide
Engagement Date: April 28th, 2008
Wedding Date: October 2009
Venue: Devil's Thumb Ranch, Colorado
About Me: I grew up in Los Angeles and have since lived in San Diego, Boston, Italy, Hawaii, New York City, and Santa Fe. I speak Italian and love pasta. My real passion is the outdoors, though. When I'm not at work, I'm snowboarding, hiking with my two dogs, mountain biking, surfing, cross-country-skiing, or boating New Mexico's rivers. Despite my boyish love for adventure, I'm a girly-girl at heart and am overly-excited to pull off the romantic, vintage-inspired, country wedding of my dreams.
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