How to Include Your Dog or Cat in Your Wedding Vows

There are so many fun ways to incorporate your pets in a wedding ceremony. A favorite of our couples is often having them walk, or drive down the aisle. This always creates such a lovely moment, and never fails to make grandma giggle! Or, some couples leave their pet with a sitter like us, and have cut-outs of their dog or cat on display during their wedding ceremony. That way they can feel their presence, all night long…! But what if you want to go one step further, and actually include your dog or cat in your wedding vows? Well, you wouldn’t be alone. It’s a big trend right now, and one we’re so excited to see more of.

If you consider your dog or cat to be part of the family, how could you not include them in your wedding vows! Here’s how to incorporate those furry friends in your ceremony with love, and create a few laughs.

When crafting vows, couples often find it difficult enough to express how they feel about their partner on paper. Finding the right words, placing them in the correct order, it’s an art. And one that can become even more challenging when you decide to throw Fido into the mix! But don’t despair because we thought we’d lend a helping paw, and reach out to ‘From Engaged to Married‘ on your behalf. They are hugely experienced officiants who have helped countless couples include their dog or cat in their wedding vows. So we thought who better to have a one-on-one with about crafting commitments to pets than these guys!

Fun Ways to Feature Your Dog or Cat in Your Wedding Vows

The key to writing good wedding vows, whether they include your dog or not, is to remember that this isn’t a stand-up routine. Shoehorning gags, and forcing jokes in between heartfelt lines, is no way to share your love and commitment to your partner. Let alone your furry companion! Humor is good, but it needs to feel natural. And actually, referencing your pets can be a really effortless way to create a light-hearted atmosphere during your ceremony.

As your dog sitter backstage, we don’t always get to hear the treasured lines you share with each other during your wedding vows. But we certainly hear the laughs, and the aww’s when our couples nail their pet inspired exchange. Guarantee your ceremony is paw-fect, and be inspired by these cute and funny pet  wedding vows:

“I promise to love and cherish you as much as I do our dog, Rex. From this day forward, I will lint roll the chairs whenever your family, especially your parents, visit. I will love you in sickness and in health, as long as you take care of the vet visits. I promise to cuddle with you as much as I do Rex and give you some treats whenever I give him some too”.

OR

 

“I vow to always calm down our cat, Sparky, whenever she is back from the vet”

 

Yup, We also Included them in Our Wedding Vows

As the owners of a wedding dog care company, my husband and I, just had to include our pets in our vows! And we’re so glad we did because it really helped to entertain our loved ones, and unify us, paws and all! Below are two lines we said to each other during our ceremony, which we thought we’d share with you.

 I take you  to be my lawful wedded husband. I promise to love, honor and respect you for all the days of my life. I will celebrate the joys of life with you; and I will treasure you as my companion. I will support your dreams, and walk beside you offering courage and strength through all of your endeavors. From this day forward, I will be joyful and proud to be your partner and your best friend — and I promise to give YOU more treats than the dogs!

I do take you to be my lawful wedded wife to whom I give my deepest love and devotion. I humbly open my heart to you as a sanctuary of warmth and peace. I will love you enough to risk being hurt, trust you when I don’t understand, weep with you in heartache, and celebrate life with you in joy. Perhaps most important I promise to never turn away any stray animal you bring into our home — except for raccoons and squirrels and maybe that pig you keep threatening to adopt!

Wedding Vows that get a Paw of Approval

We couldn’t resist sharing these dog filled wedding vows we hard recently too because they’re so sweet!

Partner 1: “I (name) take you (name) to be my lawfully wedded wife. I promise to love you just as much as I love our dog Scout, if not more so, I will clean up after him and make him sleep on the edge of the bed instead of right next to us. I love you, my wife, and you come first!”

Partner 2: “I (name) take you (name) to be my lawfully wedded husband. I promise to love you as much as my kitty cat Fluffy. I promise to pay just as much attention to you and cuddle with you as much as I do Fluffy, and I promise to keep her nails short, so she doesn’t cut you. You will always be my number one, buy Fluffy will be right by our sides with her furry little coat!”

Finishing your wedding vows with some dog inspired promises is such a delightful way to seal your commitments, and it’ll keep the mood light as you glide into cocktail hour. Here’s an example of how ‘From Engaged to Married’ often finish their animal-loving vows: “By the power vested in me by the authority of (couple’s dog’s name) I now pronounce you husband and wife or wife and wife, etc..

 So sweet! Having a dog give his/her paw of approval and act as a witness, is certain to make your guests ‘aw and aww’. Who can resist the love pawtion of Sir Fido. We sure can’t! That is why Furever Us was created, to provide a dog and cat sitter service during your wedding that is as carefree, and stress-free as pawsibble.

 

Last, but not least who can forget the famous poem by Taylor Mali “Falling in Love is Like Owning a Dog”. We have heard this poem in quite a few occasion and it never dissapoints. Ask your officiant to include it and we promise everyone will love it.

Falling in Love is Like Owning a Dog

by Taylor Mali

Falling in love is like owning a dog
First of all, it’s a big responsibility, especially in a city like [insert city].
So think long and hard before deciding on love.

On the other hand, love gives you a sense of security: when you’re walking down the street late at night and you have a leash on love ‘ain’t no one going to mess with you.

Because crooks and muggers think love is unpredictable. Who knows what love could do in its own defence?

On cold winter nights, love is warm. It lies between you and lives and breathes and makes funny noises.
Love wakes you up all hours of the night with its needs. It needs to be fed so it will grow and stay healthy.

Love doesn’t like being left alone for long. But come home and love is always happy to see you.
It may break a few things accidentally in its passion for life, but you can never be mad at love for long.

Is love good all the time? No! No!
Love can be bad.
Bad, love, bad!
Very bad love.

Love makes messes. Love leaves you little surprises here and there.
Love needs lots of cleaning up after. Sometimes you just want to get love fixed.
Sometimes you want to roll up a piece of newspaper and swat love on the nose, not so much to cause pain, just to let love know don’t you ever do that again!

Sometimes love just wants to go for a nice long walk. Because love loves exercise.
It runs you around the block and leaves you panting. It pulls you in several different directions at once, or winds around and around you until you’re all wound up and can’t move.

But love makes you meet people wherever you go. People who have nothing in common but love stop and talk to each other on the street.
Throw things away and love will bring them back, again, and again, and again.

But most of all, love needs love, lots of it.
And in return, love loves you and never stops.

Find out more about our Dog and Cat Sitter Wedding Service

Let us take care of the wedding pet logistics, all you have to do is show up. And we can do so much more than simply look after your pet during the big day! Browse our many engagement, honeymoon and wedding opportunities via our services page. We always love to hear from you. If you have any questions or looking for something specific, use our inquiry form.