You see all those adorable photos of pets (mostly man’s best friend) in wedding photos and you love the idea! But is it really for you?
There are definitely a couple things you want to consider and things that are no-no’s when including pets at your wedding.
Is your pet such an important part of your life that you can’t even imagine getting hitched without them by your side?
You love your parents family dog, but they may not be worth the trouble to find a way to include them in the forever photos with your new hubby/wifey. Really consider how imperative it is that your pet plays a role. If your special day would truly not be complete without your pet watching on as you exchange vows, then it is totally worth the trouble. You would want to have those photos of your pets at your wedding for sure.
Does the venue allow you to bring in your pet?
No, we aren’t talking about your reception venue. Your pets may be able come to the ceremony but the reception is for the humans. Make sure your ceremony location will let you bring your pet to share in your special day. But make sure they are taken home afterwards. Most reception venues will not allow you to bring in a pet because of the food license so there’s no point in fighting this. Anyways, who would want to watch your pets at your wedding while you rip it up on the dance floor? And you certainly aren’t going to want to keep an eye on the little guy all evening, you’re going to be busy!
Are you able to make accommodations to get your pet to and from location?
You are going to be way too busy to make sure that your pet(s) gets to your photo location, to your ceremony site, is watched during the ceremony and then taken and cared for after the ceremony. From experience, because all of our family obviously played an important role in making sure the reception was set up, the cake, and there for photos we had to come up with alternate plans. In our instance, we had a family friend that wanted to help out on our big day. She was kind enough to bring our pets to come get photos and to our ceremony location and then took them home to feed and watch them the rest of the evening. It was extremely generous and the only way we could’ve pulled this off.
Is your pet going to be okay in all the commotion?
It will not be a calm situation for your pet. You may think because it’s a ceremony that it will be quiet and they will be fine but consider all the other things! There are lots of people. So many people! Does your pet do well in those kinds of situations? You have to think about how they are going to feel too, when putting them in this role. If your pet is so anxious that they can’t stand being around anyone but you and your S.O…it may be a good idea to leave them at home. In our case, we had a Golden Retriever who just wants to be friends with everyone, perfect! The other one, a small Pomeranian is very shy in public. My mom walked with her down the aisle and sat on her lap for the ceremony. On my way back down the aisle I picked up my little love-bug and carried her with me. She was fine the whole time, just very quiet and attentive to my every move.
Okay…so now that you’ve at least thought about these a little bit. Are you ready to have your pets at your wedding? Just make sure you plan it out and not wing it, because it definitely won’t work that way. And make sure to think about how your pets are going to handle the people and stress of your big day also!
Happy planning!