Dogs at a wedding
Your dog has been there for every big thing that got you here. It feels odd for them to miss this one.
The good news: having your dog at your wedding is far easier than most couples think. And when it goes wrong, it nearly always goes wrong the same way — everyone assumed someone would look after the dog, without ever deciding who. By eleven in the morning that someone is your maid of honour, stood in the car park with a lead in one hand and a glass of prosecco in the other, missing the thing she travelled to see.
This is what I have picked up photographing dogs at weddings across Yorkshire: how to make it work, who actually looks after them while you get married, and how to end up with the photographs you are picturing.
I want my dog at my wedding — can I?
Almost always, yes. It takes two phone calls.
The first is to your venue. “Dog friendly” covers an enormous range, so ask the specific questions: can they come inside, or only into the grounds? Are they allowed in the ceremony room itself? Where can they not go — usually the dining room during the wedding breakfast? Do they need to be on a lead throughout? Most of the venues I shoot at can accommodate a dog in some form, but you want the detail in writing rather than a cheerful “yes, of course” eight months out.
The second call is to whoever is looking after them. That is the part couples skip, and it is the part that decides whether the day is lovely or stressful.
Who can look after my dog at my wedding?
Let us rule out the obvious candidates first, because every couple tries them.
Not you. You are getting married. You cannot hold a lead through your own vows, and you should not be thinking about the dog while you do.
Not your maid of honour or your best man. They have jobs on the day, and more to the point they came to watch you get married. Handing them a lead quietly uninvites them from your ceremony.
Not the guest who says they don’t mind. Someone who offers in February has forgotten by September, and by the time they remember they have had three drinks and your dog is under the top table eating a canapé.
What you actually want is a wedding dog chaperone. It is a real job, it has grown quickly in the last few years, and it is one of the most quietly useful suppliers you can book. Someone whose only responsibility that day is your dog — getting them there, keeping them safe and calm, producing them at the right moments, and taking them home once they have had enough.
If you are getting married in Yorkshire, the one I would point you towards is Fluffies Down the Aisle, run by Michelle. She came at it as a dog owner and a bride first, then turned it into the service she wished she’d had, and she is trained in pet first aid and certified in dog grooming. Her site says she is Yorkshire based and travels further by arrangement.
How a wedding dog chaperone works
The shape of the day is roughly the same wherever you book. Your chaperone collects your dog, brings them to the venue, gets them dressed and ready, and then holds them — out of the way, calm, walked and watered — until the moment they are needed. They appear for the ceremony, for the confetti, for the twenty minutes of couple photographs where a dog genuinely improves everything, and then they go quietly home before the evening gets loud.
That last part matters more than couples expect. Your dog does not want to be at a wedding for fourteen hours. They want to be at a wedding for about ninety minutes, at the right ninety minutes, and then they want their own sofa.
With Fluffies Down the Aisle specifically, the service covers all-day chaperone care, feeding and walking, dressing your dog for the occasion, transport to and from the venue, walking them down the aisle, helping out during the photographs, and staying with them throughout. There are two nice extras: a paw-print witness certificate as a keepsake, and a “dog’s-eye” film of your day, sent over the following day.
Booking runs through an availability form on her site — your names, date and venue — and Michelle replies personally, usually within a day. Packages are not listed publicly; they are confirmed when she holds your date, so it is worth asking early rather than assuming.
Can my dog be the ring bearer?
Yes, and it is the single most popular way to involve a dog in the ceremony. A small pouch or a ribbon on the collar, a short walk down the aisle, and a room full of people making a noise they will remember.
Three pieces of honest advice, having watched this go both ways.
Use decoy rings. Tie something that is not your actual wedding rings to your actual dog. The real ones travel with your best man as normal. Nobody watching can tell, and you remove the only genuinely catastrophic outcome.
Keep the walk short. Five or six metres, not the full length of a barn. Have someone your dog loves waiting at the far end, crouched down, with a treat in their hand. Dogs walk beautifully towards a person. They do not walk beautifully towards an idea.
Let go of the plan. The photograph at the top of this section is a dog who got halfway through a ceremony and decided he had somewhere better to be, and the entire room turned round laughing. That is the frame everyone remembers from that wedding. The planned version is sweet; the unplanned version is the one that goes on the wall.
Dog wedding inspo: what to dress them in
You do not need much, and less usually photographs better than more.
A tuxedo bib or a bow tie is the classic for a reason — it reads instantly in a photograph and it takes two seconds to put on. A floral collar is the one I would push you towards if you want something a bit special: ask your florist to make one from the offcuts of your bouquets, in the same flowers and the same colours. It costs very little on top, it ties your dog into the day properly, and it looks superb in close-up. A simple bandana in your colour is the low-key option and works well on a dog who will not tolerate anything else.
Whatever you choose: quick-release, nothing tight, nothing with parts small enough to swallow, and do a trial run at home a fortnight before. The morning of your wedding is not the moment to discover your dog removes bow ties with his back foot.
Getting the photographs
From my side of the camera, four things make the difference.
Do them early. A dog who has been at a wedding for four hours is an overstimulated dog. The photographs you want are from the first stretch, while everything is still novel and they are still listening.
Allow ten minutes, not thirty. Dog photographs are quick or they are bad. We get down to their level, someone they love stands just behind me, and we work fast.
Do not chase the camera look. Everyone wants the dog staring down the lens. Honestly? The better photograph is nearly always the one where your dog is looking at you — that is the picture that shows the relationship, which is the reason they are there at all.
Weather is not a reason to cancel it. One of the photographs in this section was taken in the rain, on a soaking wet autumn afternoon, and it is all the better for it.
Is it worth it?
Yes — with the one condition this whole article is really about. Have your dog there, and give the job of looking after them to somebody whose only job that day is looking after them.
Do that and you get the best of it: your dog in the photographs, in the ceremony, in the confetti, and then safely home and asleep while you get on with your evening. Skip it and you spend your wedding day quietly wondering where the dog is.
If you are marrying in Yorkshire, start with Fluffies Down the Aisle. And if you are still looking for a photographer who will actually get down on the floor with them, have a look at my packages.
