Including Pets in Your Wedding
Involving pets in your wedding is growing increasingly popular. On your wedding day it’s important to surround yourself with all your beloved guests and for many couples, that includes your furry friends! Much like your soon to be spouse, your pets are an integral part of your family and you want to ensure they are by your side during one of the biggest days of your life! There are many ways to incorporate pets in your special day to make it a positive and memorable experience for all guests. Prior to booking your wedding venue, be sure to confirm your venue allows animals on site. Check out our list below for some tips on how to include pets in your wedding day.
Preparation
Preparing your pet for your big day is important; you want to make sure they will be comfortable surrounded by many people, most of them strangers. You may want to get them groomed so they will be looking their best. You can purchase accessories like bow ties, bandanas, collars, and florals. The possibilities are endless when finding the perfect accessories to fit your vision.
Your wedding day will pose new experiences to your pet which could make them anxious or stressed. To avoid stress, there are many ways you can train them leading up to the big day so they are more comfortable. There will be lots of people, new sounds, and activities taking place. Expose your pet to similar situations to see how they handle being in a bigger and noisier crowd, you could take them to a busy park or family events etc. leading up to the wedding. We recommend taking them to the venue to get familiar with the grounds so they aren’t anxiously wanting to run around on the wedding day. You may also want to invest in a trainer or a helper, this is a great way to get your pet to listen to commands you can use on the wedding day along with a bag of treats!
We recommend taking your pet to the venue to get familiar with the grounds so they aren’t anxiously wanting to run around on the wedding day. Photo by Ember Rose Photography
Portraits
Portraits are a great way to incorporate your furry friends into your wedding day. When capturing these moments, pick a location where you and your pet will be comfortable. Consider going to a more secluded area to ease potential stress. Be sure to time out their arrival (with a helper), whether it be at the beginning or the end of your scheduled portrait time. This allows for time in between to capture photos with family and the wedding party as well as photos of you as a couple. Lastly, be patient, we all know our furry friends can be unpredictable. Posing and making them sit still can have its challenges so allow for creative freedom for a candid experience!
Portraits are a great way to incorporate your furry friends into your wedding day. Photo By Mary-Margaret Magyar Photography
Stationery and Signage
If you choose to take engagement photos, these photos or their paw prints / custom pet illustrations are also a great way to incorporate your furry friends on stationery elements and signage on your wedding day. You may want to include these photos and/or prints on your save the date cards, reply cards, table numbers, individual place cards, seating chart, the guest book etc. Signature cocktails featuring your furry friends name or picture is also a creative way to incorporate them into your wedding day. For example, you could have an acrylic bar sign with their picture on it followed by “The *pets name*” and a description of the drink. Let your creative freedom shine!
You may want to include these photos and/or prints of your pet on your save the date cards, reply cards, table numbers, individual place cards, or seating chart! Photo by Izabela Rachwal Photography
An incredible dog service provider to keep in mind is Bark Wedding Date Co. They are Manitoba’s first dog handling service providers. They understand how stressful it can be having your furry friend at your wedding and trying to designate a helper of this duty. They are more than happy to help with transportation, monitoring, and assisting your furry friend throughout portrait times etc. We love working with Jamie and her team to create a stress free experience for our couples and their dogs.
Bark Wedding Date Co. is more than happy to help with transportation, monitoring, and assisting your furry friend throughout portrait times etc. Photo by KAMP Photography
This is the last blog post before we dive into the upcoming spring/summer wedding season. Keep following us on Instagram to see all our latest work and email us if you need help with your 2024 wedding plans alli@allimae.com