Inviting Pets

This has disaster written all over it. Please do not do this. Most people have cats and dogs some people have more exotic pets. Often times they do not play well together. If you throw a bunch of types of animals that do not know Eachother into a room injury to animals will likely occur. And lots of pets have certain dietary needs, restrictions and allergies. If one animal gets ahold of the wrong food items they could become very sick or you may even be responsible for the death of an animal or have to pay thousands of dollars for surgery. People could also sue you if injury happens to their animals. This is a horrible idea. People can leave their pets at home or hire a pet sitter for an evening. They do not need to bring them to a wedding

View Quoted Comment I agree 💯 percent.

View Quoted Comment I couldn’t agree with this more. I love my dog (probably more than any sane person should,) but you can ****% count me out from bringing him to a public event, with a bunch of strangers, random other pets, and alcohol. Recipe for disaster.

It sounds like a fun idea, but I'd be careful about doing this!! Cats and dogs often times don't get along, so you'll have pets constantly chasing and/or fighting one another. Like Ava also mentioned, different animals have different dietary needs, and each individual animal has their own diet. One person's dog may not be able to eat the same food as another's. Also, not everyone spays and neuters their animals...which can also cause problems with pets being territorial, wanting to mate etc. There's a lot that you would be liable for, and isn't worth the risk. Pet owners could sue you for their animals getting hurt/killed, people could also get hurt and sue you for that as well. You also aren't sure if every owner has gotten their pet vaccinated and up to date on all of their shots, rabies being the big one to worry about.

Being a pet owner, I advice you to please please don't do this.

I agree, keep your guest list to humans, leave the pets at home.

View Quoted Comment I agree with this! In theory, this sounds like a super fun idea! However, animals can be unpredictable, especially around other unknown animals. Fighting, being too playful, and also nonstop barking during the wedding could make the experience not so great for some guests. The liability likely isn't worth it. Plus, pets aren't as likely to sit still during the ceremony or formal reception events. As a pet owner, I wouldn't ever bring them with to a wedding (or really any other event where they'd need to be on their best behavior for an extended period of time), because I wouldn't be able to guarantee their best behavior for the whole time. I do love the idea of incorporating pets into the wedding though! You could still put together treats for guests to bring home to their pets, or include your pets in the ceremony (but have a plan for someone to take them home after the ceremony), or have cardboard cutouts of them, incorporate their pictures into the table numbers, name a signature drink after them, etc.

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I agree 100%. I LOVE my dog and bring him as many places as I can (dog friendly places, of course). I would never even consider bringing him to wedding.

Please don't do this. For all of the reasons the PPs listed above.

DO NOT DO THIS. Especially since you don't even know what kind of pets people will bring! If you insist on having live animals, hire a professional petting zoo. Do not have guests bring random, untrained animals to an event.

View Quoted Comment I agree with Ava this isn't a good idea.

Here’s the thing about multiple varieties of pets : they....don’t all get along. Which is to say...frankly, some of them are eachother’s prey. Rodents are great pets , but I couldn’t bring my dog around them, or he would spend the whole time trying to eat them (he’s a big squirrel hunter, so anything like them, he gives the chase— mice, bunnies, etc). Birds and fish are peoples’ pets, and cats are peoples’ pets, and I know plenty of cats that would be thrilled to catch a bird or a fish 😳. So, it could get a bit chaotic trying to provide for a variety of animals within the same space.


If you want animals at your wedding, you could try hiring a company that would come and bring domesticated animals to the event that are specially trained in events, and you could still do take home gift bags for the pet owners as a favor.

This is a really bad idea.
If you really wanted to do this, the only way it would not be a disaster is to hire animal care staff than know how to manage groups of animals that don’t live together.
As someone with four cats, there is mo way I’d bring mine, the fur would be flying!

You have to be so very careful. Let's say you have the perfect situation and have only dogs, for example, animal's temperaments vary and some might be aggressive towards other dogs or worse, people! I strongly urge you to rethink this idea.

They may still do this but I'd hope a lot of the pet owners would know their pet well enough to not bring them if they decide to do it. I have one cat who would be completely fine with something like traveling but the play area is a really bad idea for all animals. I've seen some dogs who can't handle that either. It would be stressful for everyone, the owners, pets, you, the guests watching the animals. Just don't do it for the pets sake at least.

To answer your question, I think it would be best to reach out to all of your guests that do have pets that will attend to ask what type of pets will be attending first.


For example if there will just be mostly dogs you could have a specific designated area just for dogs with a trainer with fun toys or obstacles courses! You may want to talk to a lawyer as well about possible liability however I’m assuming that none of your guests will bring their pet if their pet doesn’t get along well with others but there’s always a possible risk, so talk to a lawyer.
I would suggest a separate area for cats as well! Cats can be brats so you might need to hire a second animal worker/trainer, but just like the dog area you could have cool ramp setups and cat houses for them to clime on.
There are awesome recipes online for pupcakes and dog friendly foods, but like you would do with the person you may want to reach out to guests about that to see if any of the dogs have allergies or any specific diet. For example we home cook for our dog so we only give human grade baked goods to him as far as dessert treats. I would also recommend checking out your local dog boutiques because most of them also sell dog desserts and cakes etc!
This is a very unique idea, and whether or not someone agrees or disagrees with it is not the question here and definitely not what you asked LOL.
Depending on if anyone has rabbits, you could set up little rabbit hunts and put each rabbit in their own hut etc.

View Quoted Comment Absolutely! And even animals that are incredibly friendly with people and other animals could find this situation overwhelming and stressful and that could cause them to uncharacteristically act out aggressively out of stress or fear.

I would not bring my animals to a wedding. I don’t want to be keeping track of them all night. Also one has a bad stomach and can’t be eating unfamiliar or table food. They are well behaved but love people and will jump on everyone to get petted.


I would also feel very uncomfortable at an event with a bunch of animals. I’d probably leave if I didn’t know about it and would decline if it’s on the invite.

Climb*****

Just curious, what made you decide against your world travel theme wedding?

I really hope this is a joke...