Wedding Personalization: Ways to Honor Parents

Honoring Parents

In the past, parents were seen as the hosts of the wedding, based on their names being featured on the wedding invitation. They may have participated in the ceremony, and stood in the receiving line, and the father danced with the bride.

Now, according to top wedding trends, there are even more ways to honor your parents, and their lifetime of love and support, at your wedding celebrations, regardless of how much they may be paying for the wedding itself. Today’s bride and groom are more likely to pay for much of the wedding themselves, but they still want to pay lovely tribute to their parents and step-parents, as the case may be.

Here are the top trends in honoring parents at the wedding.

• Greet them during the wedding ceremony, as part of the ceremony rituals blending your two families
• Incorporate them into any cultural or religious rituals you’ll include in your wedding ceremony
• Print a special message of gratitude to them in your wedding program
• Have your parents perform a reading during your ceremony
• Have a parent perform a song during your ceremony
• At the cocktail party, display photos from your parents’ marriages
• Display a framed sign sharing details about your parents’ weddings, such as the location, what their First Dance song was, a copy of their vows, and more fun facts that guests will enjoy.
• At the start of the reception, consider making toasts to your parents, guests and each other in lieu of dancing a first dance. It’s a new wedding trend for the bride and groom to take the microphone, thanking their loved ones for their support and presence at the wedding.
• Let them plan an event their way, such as the rehearsal dinner at a fine restaurant, or the morning-after brunch. Parents enjoy getting to experience the thrill of planning these particular events, especially if they will not be full planning partners for the wedding itself.
• Have a sentimental thank you note and flowers or a present delivered to parents on the morning after the wedding, or on the morning you depart for your honeymoon.