Woof! Including Your Beloved Canine Family Member In Your Wedding Ceremony...

As I look back 2011, I smile as I remember the "wedding dogs" who were a part of many wedding ceremonies.

If you want to include your beloved pooch in your ceremony, here are a few tips that I offer having worked with many canine ring bearers and canine petal girls:

1) A Wedding Dog Can't Do Anything Wrong. A dog only adds more joy to a processional and/or ceremony. So, don't worry about what your pooch is going to do or not doing to do. On a wedding day, dogs bring pure happiness to a ceremony moment and guests love this.

2) Appoint A Wedding Day Guardian. Find a friend or acquaintance to be your dog's wedding day guardian - this way, your dog has a companion for the ceremony and possibly cocktail hour and can be taken home once reception starts.

3) Wedding Wear! I think it's adorable for a dog to have a wreath of flowers or bow tie on as "wedding wear." Couples love to get their picture with their dog and having a dog in festive wear only adds more fun to the day.

This photo features Diane and Fred Lee's beloved dogs who stole the show at their July ceremony at SODO Park!

Anna & Jason - A Few Years Later With Much Life & Love Lived...

A few years ago, I remember meeting Anna and Jason at a coffee shop in Tacoma. Their wedding was in a few weeks and they needed an Officiant.

Happily, I had the privilege of officiating their waterside ceremony along Hood Canal on a very hot May afternoon.

Anna was very pregnant at the time and I have this crystal memory of sitting on a bed writing out the marriage license paperwork with her.

I also have this sweet memory of walking across the grass with Jason to the ceremony area to get this wonderful couple married.

We fast forward to today - Jason & Anna are happy and well with their sweet son. I pulled this photo from Anna's Facebook page - it's beautiful, it's sweet and it has devotion, perseverance, joy, and change written all over it!