9 Ways to Include Your Pet In Your Wedding!
If you know me in real life (or have followed me for literally any period of time) you know how obsessed Jerry and I are with our Border Collie, Euler! So you’re probably not surprised that we are 100% planning on including him in our wedding. One of the very first questions I asked our venue was “are we allowed to bring our dog?” because honestly, that would have been a deal breaker for us. Luckily, he’s allowed to come for the ceremony (but sadly can’t stay and party during the reception), so we’re planning on him being our ring bearer! But, I know that a lot of venues don’t allow dogs, so I thought it would be fun to talk about all of the different ways that you can include your pup (or kitty) in your wedding, whether your venue allows animals or not!
Make them your ring bearer! We’ll be having a friend walk Euler down the aisle in a little tux. TBD still on whether he or the friend will be holding the rings, but we’re leaning towards the friend. Just to be safe…
Include them in your engagement pictures/save the dates! For us, including Euler in our engagement pictures was a given, and our favorite ones have him in them! (see more about our engagement pictures here, and our save the dates here!)
Name your signature cocktail after them! I think this is such a fun way to incorporate your dog or cat in your wedding if your venue won’t allow you to have them on site!
Use their pictures in your table numbers! Even though we plan on having Euler at our wedding, I think we’ll be doing this too, because I think it’s such a cute and fun way to really personalize your reception. I’m either going to take pictures of Euler holding different numbers, or (if he won’t cooperate) I’ll paint numbers over some of my favorite Euler pictures!
Table number inspiration from Pinterest!
Include them in your cake topper! This is another one of my favorite ideas because I have seen SOOO many cute cake toppers on Etsy! Here are a few of my favorite ones I’ve found!
Dedicate your favors to them! I’ve seen some super cute pet friendly favors. Here are a couple of my favorites from Pinterest!
Carry them on your bouquet. I’ve seen people put their pictures in lockets, but you could also attach their tag (an old one, of course! You don’t want them to be walking around without one, just to be safe!) to it or even wrap an old collar around it! There are so many ways that you could do this and I think it would be super cute for close up bouquet pictures!
Reserve them a seat! If you can’t have your actual pet at your venue, frame a photograph, have a cardboard cutout made (if you really wanna be extra) or get a custom stuffed animal (aren’t these ones so cool?) and give them their very own seat!
Incorporate them in your guest book alternative! You can have your guests sign this, and display it in your home for years to come! Here are some of my favorites from Etsy!
Did you (or are you planning to) include your dog in your wedding? If so, I’d love to hear how! Also, let me know if you have any ideas that I didn’t think of!
XOXO,
Olivia