There is no hesitation when it comes to dog owners admitting that their pets are like family. It’s the truth. Many of us dog owners see out furry friends as more than companions – they’re members of our families and therefore, they should be an important part of all of life’s big moments. We often involve them in graduation parties, baby showers, pregnancy announcements, retirement parties, birthdays, and of course, weddings! Weddings are one of life’s big milestones that many of us will happily involve our pets in. But just how involved do they get?
WeddingWire decided to do a little digging into the specifics of the role that our animals play in our wedding ceremonies. In order to get a better understanding of those roles, they conducted a survey on nearly 800 pet owners regarding how their animals fit into their ceremony plans and life after the big day.
It comes as no surprise that many of the pet owners were adamant that their pets would be a big part of their future. According to the stats recorded by WeddingWire, around 68% of those who participated in the survey revealed that one of their “must-haves” when getting married is someone who either owns a pet or would like to someday own a pet.
As for those who already have pets, many made it clear that their pet is part of a packaged deal. Out of those in the survey that already had an animal, 38% of people stated they had or would include their pet into either the wedding ceremony or the engagement. As it turned out, the involvement of the animals varied from being present at the event or just being included in the designs of the invitations to decorations. There was a further 37% who stated they had either bought or were gifted items directly related to their pets. Amongst these items accessories such as bow ties or leashes proved to be the most popular.
Another interesting finding of WeddingWire was that the pandemic has caused many pet owners to want to get their pets involved with their weddings even more. Since many wedding ceremonies have had to scale down due to COVID-19 and the health concerns of too many people gathered in one space, many couples are throwing what is known as a “minimony.” And many of these minimonies are being attended by the couples’ pets. In fact, Wedding Wire has found that 45% of couples either have had or plan to have a minimony sometime this year.
What do you think of pets being involved in weddings? Do any of these statistics surprise you? Let us know!
