Weddingbee Blog

Our wedding is taking place at a botanical garden owned by one family. It used to be their private land, which they subsequently opened up for weddings and other events. The owner has nothing to do with the event coordination; he spends all of his time in the garden, gardening. I love those kind of familial aspects about our venue. Another one? They are crazy dog people, just like me! I think there are five dogs that live on the property, and all of the employees are welcome to bring their dogs to work every day. Guests who visit the gardens are welcome to bring their dogs as well.

Six-week-old baby Roland

Of course I WANT to include our fur-son in the wedding, but I also don’t want him to feel uncomfortable or neglected (or go missing, G-d forbid) during the chaos of High Wire Wedding Weekend.

Roland and me in his itty-bitty days (He still sleeps like that.)

If you already know you definitely want to include your dog in your wedding festivities, here are some things to consider:

1. When researching possible venues, make sure pets are allowed on the property.

2. Designate someone to be in charge of pet duty. (For the same reason I hired a day of coordinator, I’d like to limit how many family and friends have job assignments for the wedding, so I would avoid having a pet in the wedding for this reason. However, I have heard of people hiring a dog watcher for the day to tend to the dog. We would probably go this route if we wind up putting the pup in the wedding.)

3. Consider your pet, specifically. Do they handle large crowds and new surroundings well? (While our dog is a loving, wonderful creature, he has serious obedience problems among large groups of people. He would also be too big/strong for any of the small children in the wedding to take him down the aisle.)

4. Think about your guests. Some people have horrible dog phobias.

5. If you do decide to include your pet, practice as many things as you can before the big day (e.g., wearing the outfit, walking down an aisle with distractions on either side, etc.).

6. Decide if it is something you and your pet would enjoy more than be stressed out by.

Festive Roland at Christmas

As Dino Flinstone for Halloween

All photos personal

Ever been to a wedding with a dog in the wedding party? How did it go? Would you include your pet in the day’s festivities?