Incorporating Pets into a Wedding

This weekend I coordinated a beautiful Halloween themed wedding at a gorgeous old house in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle. Check out all the details in my Instagram story highlights – L+M Wedding – here. The bride and groom have two pets they love dearly, and since the dogs couldn’t be there in person, they found an adorable way to include them. It also reminded me of some other fun ways I’ve seen pets incorporated over the years, so I decided to put all these ideas here in one place!

At this weekend’s wedding the bride and groom named two cocktails after their pets. The couple chose two of their favorite cocktails and gave them a seasonal twist and their pet’s names. They had custom caricatures of the dogs made for the menu board and it turned out so so cute.

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I had a chance to meet Marley before the wedding and his likeness was perfectly captured in the caricature, don’t you think?

This idea could be recreated easily. There are several Etsy shops that do artistic renderings of pets, or a photo could be used instead. So much fun!

At the wedding I coordinated earlier this summer, the couple had treat bags for people to take home to their dogs. The bags were cellophane packed with some dog bones and tied with a ribbon, then the bags were placed in a big wire basket. It was such a simple idea with a big impact! And I had a pretty happy pup when I got home – she loved the treat!

I loved that they included the little note on the chalkboard about how much they love their dogs, and that picture of the two of them is just too cute. You can see more of their wedding in my Instagram story highlights – D+B Wedding – here.

In place of dog bones, I think a dog toy is another great pet favor idea. How fun would a big bucket of tennis ball favors be for an outdoor summer wedding?! “We met our perfect match, now go on home to your pup and play catch!”

And, of course, my favorite way to see pets incorporated into a wedding is for them to actually be there when it’s possible. I coordinated a wedding a couple years ago and their precious dog was the flower girl. She wore a floral collar and looked so so happy to be part of the festivities!

Sweet Bella! The photographer captured some pretty great moments of her at the wedding. Such a treasure!

Even if a pet can’t be at the actual event, it’s always worth asking if they can be there for pictures beforehand (or maybe even the ceremony too), and then recruiting a friend to take them home before the ceremony and/or reception begins.

As we plan for our wedding in just a month (what?!!) we’re brainstorming ideas for how we’ll include Penny. Honestly at this point we’re having such a hard time choosing so maybe we’ll just do all three of the above 😉 Too much?!