The Giving Away

So, we are doing one or two slightly--just slightly--unusual things at our wedding.

For instance, someone is giving me away. That isn't unusual, although it goes against a lot of recent trends. What's unusual is that, even though my dad will be at the wedding, he won't be giving me away.

A lot of years ago, before I even met Dave, I decided that whenever I got married (if I got married), I wanted my dad to officiate. This, of course, created a problem, because it would look silly for him to walk me down the aisle, ask who was giving me away, and then give me away, and the do the ceremony. I always get this sort of mental image of him hopping back and forth from standing at my side to standing up in front of everyone and then hopping back down to my side to answer his own questions.

The problem wasn't really a problem for long, though. I happen to have two very awesome godparents, who have always been a very big and very special part of my life. In fact, I was even the flower girl at their wedding when I was very little. So it only made sense that if my dad wasn't going to walk me down the aisle, my godfather should.

I agonized for a while about whether or not it would hurt my dad's feelings or anything if I asked my godfather (who is also my uncle on my mom's side) to walk me down the aisle. It made sense to me--after all, in the long run it means more to me for my dad to marry us than to give me away--but would it make sense to him? Do dads dream about giving away their daughters the same way that daughters dream about their dads giving them away? Hmm..

I shouldn't have worried, though, because my dad is awesome, so of course he understood and is cool with the plan.

I've thought about exactly what will happen when we get to the "who brings this woman to be married to this man?" line. I think it makes the most sense for my godfather to say something like "her parents and I," or "her family," but I don't know. There's still time to ponder on that one. What do you do when you're being given away by someone who isn't your parent, but your parents are there? Does the Book of Common Prayer have an instance for that one? How about Emily Post?


(my godfather with one of my bridesmaids)


I'm really happy with this plan. That walk down the aisle is going to involve three of the most important men in my life--my dad, my godfather, and my future husband.