Honoring Lost Loved Ones

By Rev. Laurie Sue Brockway
Wedding Goddess Wisdom

It is traumatic to lose a loved one at any time, but when this happens close to your wedding day it can devastating and almost surreal. I have gone through this with a number of couples and it is never easy.

One thing that most brides and grooms come to see after the initial shock is that the one who has left them would not want them to abandon their wedding plans. Their loved one would have wanted to dance at their wedding and in some ways, spiritually inviting them to do can bring a sense of peace to all involved.

Of course, how and if you include a mention or moment for this loved one depends on how you and your mate, and your families, deal with loss. I personally believe it is important to at least acknowledge when someone very close dies. But for some couples and family members, it is too difficult when it is so fresh. They fear they will not be able to hold it together. Others, quite appropriately, want to remember the one who has passed, but not make it a focus of the ceremony.

There are many poignant ways to honor your loved one. These ideas can be used for any of the people you have loved and lost – even those who passed on quite some time ago.