Should Your Dog Walk You Down the Aisle?

Dogs don’t live outside in barns and tiny houses anymore; they sleep in our beds. They don’t eat leftover table scraps; they eat organic, scientifically planned meals. They don’t get left at home with a neighbor checking in once in a while; they get checked into their own hotels, if not taken along for the ride. Therefore, it’s completely logical that more and more couples are considering incorporating the animals they consider family members into their weddings. But before you wind up with a pooch headfirst in your wedding cake, there are a few steps to take prior to deciding to send Fido down the aisle.

Baltimore Ravens center Jeremy Zuttah and his bride Heran Haile recently discovered as much when they decided to appoint their pit bull Ace as one of their groomsmen. The city hall they’d originally chosen for the ceremony wouldn’t allow dogs, so they changed their venue to a converted gym.

Event planner Brita Olsen tells Yahoo Style she’s seeing an uptick in weddings including canines. “People are infusing a sense of humor into their wedding ceremonies these days in many different ways,” she says. “With pets it’s the most fun way to show that you have a sense of humor and that you’re not taking things too seriously or too formally.”

Choosing a pet-friendly venue is naturally a big component of this process. “I wouldn’t do it in a ballroom,” she explains. “You have to have plenty of outdoor space. Even something that is a big farm property could restrict dogs because they have animals on the property, so you should always call ahead of time. I would say a good number of venues do allow it because it’s rising in popularity so much.”

No matter how much you love your furry friend, you have to be realistic about his or her temperament in a party situation. “If you have a dog that jumps up on the table, you shouldn’t bring them to your wedding,” Olsen advises. “The dogs that do the best are the ones that are able to just sit at your feet and hang out and just stay close. If you worry about your dog running off, you shouldn’t even consider it.”

If your dog will be walking down the aisle, rehearsals are a must. You might want to have a member of the wedding party in charge of holding the dog during the ceremony, so they’ll need to get used to each other ahead of time. They should have treats and emergency dog bags at the ready, too, though Olsen says she has yet to see any dog take a pit stop along the way.

You also need to decide how long your pet can reasonably be expected to behave at a wedding. Olsen recommends taking dogs home or to a hotel room after the cocktail hour, especially if it’s going to be hot outside. Otherwise, she warns, “it’s just going to be something you’re going to think about the entire reception. It’s kind of hard to have a dance party with a dog — although I’ve done it.”

Olsen recalls one wedding in the Adirondacks where the couple’s Great Dane and pit bull were a part of all the festivities.

“From our first conversation, when we started planning their wedding, they said, ‘We just really want you to know we’re really into our dogs and we are driving across country from California so that we can bring them,’” she says. “These dogs were used to being part of family events, so that they didn’t need as much attention. There were absolutely no complications.”

At that wedding, the dogs were even a part of the decor. Olsen had an artist turn their picture into a hand-carved stamp that was then applied to all the cocktail napkins and party favors. They also wore LED lights on their collars, so when the sun set, no one was worried about losing them.

Beware that especially cute pups are liable to steal the show, like one bride’s teacup Chihuahua, which jumped on her train during the first dance. “It was sort of coasting on the dance floor, lying on her train,” Olsen remembers. “It made for really great photos.”

Similarly to how some couples have opted to hire babysitters to take care of the children at their wedding, hiring a dog sitter is a good way to maintain peace of mind. “If anything should go wrong, the last thing you want to do is worry about your dog on your wedding day,” Olsen said. “They should add to your wedding, not take away from it.”

If you decide not to invite your pet to the wedding, you can still honor it as part of your family. One easy way is to use a photo or portrait of him or her in your Save the Date cards. Or, you could go one step further like another couple Olsen worked with, who commissioned a watercolor portrait of their King Charles spaniel and created a signature cocktail named after her for the evening. (Peep the surprisingly tasteful results at MarthaStewartWeddings.com.)

Whether they’re there in spirit or in real life, Olsen says there’s some symbolic value to a pet’s presence. “It’s something that bonds you as a couple.”

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