Weddingbee Blog

As soon as all the guests were seated for the ceremony, our officiant came out to explain the ring warming ceremony. Two members of the house party were designated as pseudo ring bearers, and they helped orchestrate the passing of the rings from row to row—my rings were passed on one side of the aisle; King Hippo’s ring was passed on the other—while Ryan Adams’ version of “Wonderwall” played over the gallery’s awesome sound system.

Go ahead and play it while you read…. C’mon. You know you want to!

Our officiant came to the front and said:

“Soon Hippo and King Hippo will exchange rings as visible symbols of their commitment to one another. Before they do, they have asked that you participate in a Ring Warming, emphasizing the importance of the support of family and friends in their marriage. As the rings are passed among you, take a brief moment while you hold the rings to warm them with your love and with your hopes and wishes for a happy and fulfilling marriage. Then pass the rings to the next person.

Two people in love do not live in isolation. Their love is a source of strength with which they may nourish each other and the world around them. In turn, we who make up their community of friends and family have a responsibility to them. By our steadfast care, respect, and love, we can support their marriage and the new family they are forming today.”

Now, here’s what was supposed to happen… the guests would all be seated, King Hippo would escort his mother to her seat and then return to the back with the rest of the groomsmen, and then the officiant would come out and explain the ring warming. Rings would be passed. Guys would line up. Processional would begin. Easy peasy. I even thought this was what happened. It wasn’t until many weeks after the wedding that I found out that there had been a little mishap with the order of things.

Uhhhh…. why is this chair empty?

Somehow our DOC had a cuing mishap and the officiant and two house party “ring bearers” had gone out before MIL Hippo had been seated. The ring warming had already been explained and the rings were beginning to be passed by the time MIL Hippo was escorted to her seat. Rut roh. A quick thinking house party member re-routed the rings to the front row so that MIL & FIL Hippo could hold and bless them momentarily before moving on.

See it there? Rings on the right, MIL Hippo being seated.

The moral of the story is… things go wrong. Even with a perfectly constructed timeline, there’s going to be something out of the ordinary that puts it into a tailspin. I honestly don’t think anyone (other than quick thinking house party member and the officiant) even realized that the timing was crazy, and if they did, they quickly forgot about it. And lucky for me, my wedding party is wedding savvy enough to know that I didn’t need to know about the mishap right then. Or that day at all. I would have been annoyed with the DOC (who truly did an awesome job, so no need to be mad at him for me), apologizing profusely to MIL Hippo (who probably forgot about it moments after it happened), and probably asking a guest or two if they noticed. It would have been energy that didn’t need to be expended, so props to my ladies for just going with it and keeping it from me until after I honeymooned and the little details didn’t matter so much anymore. But, I digress…. back to the ceremony.

Once the rings had made their way through the guests, the officiant said:

“These rings come back not only containing precious metal, they contain something more precious, that which is priceless: your love, hope and pledge of support for King Hippo and Hippo’s marriage.”

The ring warming was my favorite element of our ceremony, and several guests told me at the reception how emotional it was for them. And even though our officiant hadn’t heard of a ring warming before we met with him, I thought he did an amazing job of explaining it so eloquently. I was a little nervous about how long the ring warming would take, since there wasn’t any way to plan for it. I didn’t want it to take too long since guests would just be sitting there, waiting for the rings to get to them, and then sitting there again, just waiting for everyone else to get them. I had three songs on the ring warming playlist for our DJ, but we totally lucked out in that the entire ring warming was finished right at the end of the first song (the one you’ve been enjoying as you’ve been reading this). That’s right. 4 minutes and 12 seconds.

With the ring warming complete, it was time for the guys to go out and the processional to begin.

All photos by Chavvon & Larissa Photography

Miss a Hippo Recap?

• We finished up our last minute projects and hung out with the family.
• The ladies met up for lunch.
• We rehearsed for the big show.
• We had an amazing rehearsal dinner.
• The girls got their hair did, and I put on my face.
• I get all bridal.
• I take bridal portraits and pictures with the ladies.
• The guys get ready and take photos.
• We get a sneak peek of the reception venue.
• The wedding party warms the rings.