Traditionally, roles in a wedding day were set; parents of the bride were to pay for the wedding and as such, were the hosts of the wedding celebrations. Parents of the groom took more of a backseat – perhaps hosting the engagement party and planning the bachelor party.
Nowadays, couples are taking on the responsibilities of paying for and organising their own weddings, but that has made the role of parents on both sides unclear. The father of the bride will always be the one to walk her down the aisle, but how can you include other parents in your wedding day?
To help kick start your ideas, here’s some we have seen in the past few years.
* Have both parents of the bride walk her down the aisle for her grand entrance.
* Have both parents of the groom escort their son down the aisle at the beginning of the ceremony.
* Having the both Mums holding the respective wedding rings instead of the Best Man.
* Include all parents in the ceremony by asking them to work together in doing a reading.
* Candle lighting – ask your parents to light a candle for each of their families at the end of the aisle. Towards the end of your wedding ceremony, you can use the flame from each family candle to light your own family candle – a way to symbolise the joining of two families and the creation of your own.
* Have a close relationship with both your dad and step-dad? Have one take you from the start of the aisle to the middle, where you meet the other father figure. He will then take you the rest of the way down the aisle – so you can include both in your wedding day.
* Rather than just ‘dad’ making the speeches at your reception, ask mum and dad to work together for the traditional ‘father of the bride’ speech – and do the same with the grooms parents.
* We all picture the first dance as a beautiful moment in time – but with love songs being a little longer than you think, being alone on the dance floor with all of those eyes on you can begin to make you uncomfortable. Head off the dance floor, groom grabbing his mum and bride grabbing her dad for a little boogie. Then, have them dance together while you get your new father-in-law and hubby grabs his new mother-in-law for the last part of the song. Hopefully this gets the whole dance floor going!
* If you have a parent who has passed away, why not leave a seat the table free for them, and have their picture at the ceremony and reception? You could also have their picture in a locket/photo cuffs that you can wear and keep them close to you on your wedding day.
These are just a few ideas that might spark your own imagination. How are you going to include your families in your wedding ceremony?