Any of you having pets in the wedding?

[NewEnglandLady]

My FI have a 3-year-old newfoundland who is a very big part of our life. We've spent hours upon hours training him as a therapy and water rescue dog. When we got engaged and starting weighing our optoins for venues, a very-pet-friendly environment was at the top of our list because not only are we having our dog at the venue, but we are inviting several of our guests dogs as well (only two additional dogs are coming).

Originally I'd planned to make a collar and leash for our pup because it looks like a fairly simple process, but now I'm worried about the security of the collar/leash. Our dog is extremely well-behaved, but given the fact that there will be many people around AND the ceremony is near the beach (again, he's a water rescue dog so he LOOOVES the water) I'm worried that he might pull on my most-likely-not-well-made leash and then we'll have to stop the ceremony to put the leash back on. Plus he's 140 lbs., so it wouldn't take much pulling on his part to break a flimsy seam.

So my question is that if you are having your dog be a part of your day, what are you using for the collar/leash? I wanted something a little dressy (maybe satin), but now I'm wondering if a standard nylon collar and leash is the way to go. Or maybe a standard collar and hand-made leash? These little details are now what is keeping me up at night...

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

I would love, love, LOVE, to have our dog at the wedding. The only problem is he''s a chow chow who doesn''t like sharing mommy and daddy with anyone else outside of our house.

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

Now my mom''s dog is an absolute darling. She''d make a great flower girl in my opinion.

 

[Cleopatra]

What about a nice leather collar and leash? Leather is very durable and wouldn''t break - and also looks nice and formal (especially in a nice, well-made black leather)

I love your idea of inviting other dogs! So unique and thoughtful!

 

[laine]

What if you used the standard nylon collar and leash, but covered it with satin so it looked dressy but was sturdy underneath. You could sew satin around it or even glue satin ribbon to both sides of the leash.

 

[Pandora II]

FI wants the hedgehogs to be ring-bearers!

Only thing is they''re rather independent creatures and we could all be there for a week waiting for them to make it up the aisle. I suppose a trail of mealworms might do it - certainly it would be an interesting alternative to rose petals...

 

[musey]

Date: 8/29/2007 11:00:44 AM
Author: Pandora II

I suppose a trail of mealworms might do it - certainly it would be an interesting alternative to rose petals...

LOL Pandora! If you could get them down that aisle (even if it had to involve mealworms) it might possibly be THE CUTEST thing in the HISTORY OF THE WORLD. I just have this image of your hedgies with little satin bows tied around them!

We have every intention of using our little pup as ringbearer. He's the center of our lives, and I can't imagine not having him there! He's a little crazy still (at 16 months) so we're hoping he's calmed down more by then. Then again, he only weighs 6 lbs. so "crazy" isn't as big of a problem!

Advantage Bridal has some fun (and quite ridiculous!) petwear! I'm almost certain I saw a leash like you're describing, NEL, so I'm gonna go poke around for it.

Just for fun, here's our "future ringbearer":

 

[NewEnglandLady]

So fun to see everybody''s pets!! And thanks for the suggestions, I like the idea of black leather. Or covering a nylong leash in satin. I''ll check out a couple of boutiques--at this point my "to do" list is so long that getting any task done is a relief!

I only have on picture on my work computer and I''m covering most of him!

 

[musey]

How about something like this? This one is for small dogs but I bet they have them somewhere for larger dogs.

It would be a sturdier alternative to satin, perhaps!

 

[musey]

Or like this... It''s more like what laine was suggesting with sewing/gluing satin or ribbon onto a standard nylon leash (which I think is a GREAT idea). If you DIY''d it, you could have any color combo you want!

 

[NewEnglandLady]

Musy, you are a saint! I love both of those options, especially the second one! Thank you!!!

 

[musey]

Date: 8/29/2007 12:08:00 PM
Author: NewEnglandLady
Musy, you are a saint! I love both of those options, especially the second one! Thank you!!!

Good, I''m glad you like ''em!

 

[Nicki]

Well, no...my fish would probably have a hard time walking down the aisle.

BUT, I did want there to be fish involved somehow, so there''s a koi pond at our wedding location which fits the bill nicely. I don''t think I''ll have them hold onto the rings, though.

 

[labbielove]

We SO wanted Chloe to be our flowergirl, but alas, the venue is historic (i.e. no pet allowed) and is not close enough for someone to run her home afterwards,etc.

As a compromise, I am keeping her at the house while my sisters and I get ready and I will have some photos taken of me in my gown with her. I''m sad we won''t have any with FI, but she was my dog before FI and I met, so at least we''ll have some of "his girls" on the big day.

She''s a 4 yo yellow lab and we used this photo, in black and white, for our save the date magnets.
She was such a good sport during this process.

If you google "dog wedding wear" you''ll find a lot of options. My sister is making Chloe a "collar sleeve" to match the bm dresses for her photos, and we''re going to pin a little flower of some sort on.

 

[AmberWaves]

Not so much about leashes, but Martha Stewart has some pretty adornments for pets and the how-tos in her either the last mag or the most recent Weddings! Also, I totally know how you feel about a leash for a big dog, I had a 200lb bullmastiff who really knew how to drag me along!

 

[Sabine]

We would love to have our dog Brandy be part of the wedding because she is definitely already part of our family, and such a ham! But unfortunately, since she is a rescue dog, she has some issues, and she gets terrified around people she doesn''t know, and is even worse if we take her someone that is unfamiliar, so there is no way we could put her through that.

 

[Sabine]

I couldn''t resist one more...and I think a decorated nylon leash would be great!

 

[Sha]

Awww... such cute pictures of the doggie-woggies.

Sabine, I LOVE those photos of you and your FI/DH? with the dog... looks like he''s really part of the family. And the last one of him!! So cute!!

 

[GarysBride]

AWWW everyones pup is so cute I''ve posted our ring bearer a few times on here but just because here he is again

were going to just decorate his harness a bit with some satin or just leave it and give him a bow tie to wear

 

[Sabine]

Thanks Sha!

 

[GarysBride]

ok heres one more... heheh