Including Your Dog in a Celebration of Life Ceremony
This month, I’m chaperoning dogs at four weddings.
And recently… I also attended a funeral. For those of you old enough to remember Hugh Grant’s first breakout hit, Four Weddings and a Funeral in the 90s…
the timing felt almost too on the nose.
But it also got me thinking about something deeper, how dogs are part of every chapter of our lives, including the ones where we say goodbye.
It wasn’t something I expected to connect but it stayed with me long after. Because it made me think about something simple, but powerful:
Dogs are with us for every chapter of our lives.
So why wouldn’t they be part of how we say goodbye, too?
Rethinking What a “Funeral” Looks Like
Not everyone wants a traditional church service.
More and more, people are choosing something different, something that feels more like them.
A celebration of life might look like:
A gathering in a backyard or garden
Sharing stories over wine with close friends
Music, laughter, and memories instead of formality
For me, it would look like a really fun party at a dog park with my favorite food and drink (pork belly soft tacos and blackberry margaritas), a live 80’s cover band, and a pup cup station for the four-legged guests. Yes, I’d want to put the fun in funeral!
It’s less about tradition and more about connection and staying true to how people lived than how they died.
Where Dogs Naturally Fit In
For so many people, a dog isn’t just a pet.
They’re:
A daily companion
A source of comfort during hard seasons
A constant, grounding presence
They’ve been there through relationships, career changes, quiet nights, and big milestones.
In many ways, they’ve witnessed a lifetime.
Including them in a celebration of life doesn’t feel like an extra detail.
It feels incomplete with them.
The Question That Sparked This
Recently, another wedding vendor asked me: “Have you ever thought about doing funerals?”
She didn’t know that I’ve been ruminating on this idea for the last month. Nobody really wants to talk about funerals, and I felt wrong somehow for entertaining such a concept.
Dog of Honor® has always been about weddings—joyful, high-energy, once-in-a-lifetime celebrations.
But the more I sat with it, the more it made sense. Because what we really do isn’t just weddings.
We help dogs show up for the moments that matter most.
What a Dog-Centered Celebration of Life Could Look Like
We’ve started exploring what it might look like to support dog-centered celebrations of life in a way that feels just as thoughtful and intentional as our weddings.
That could include:
Chaperoning a dog during the service
Helping them safely interact with guests
Supporting meaningful moments (like walking with a family member or being present during a tribute)
Ensuring the dog is calm, comfortable, and cared for throughout the day
In some cases, it could also extend to event planning support, including:
Identifying dog-friendly gathering locations and helping to secure a permit for private use
Memorial details, like dedicating a bench or shade structure at a local dog park
Subtle ways to honor the role a dog played in someone’s life
Not overdone. Not performative. Just… meaningful.
Why This Matters
Grief doesn’t follow a script.
And neither should the way we honor someone’s life.
Dogs have a way of bringing:
Comfort without words
Familiarity in unfamiliar moments
A quiet sense of peace
Including them in a celebration of life can create space for both grief and warmth, sorrow and joy, to exist at the same time.
A Thought We’re Exploring
This isn’t an official launch.
It’s something we’re thoughtfully exploring as we continue to grow Dog of Honor®.
Because at the end of the day, what we believe is simple: Dogs belong in life’s most meaningful moments.
Not just the joyful ones. All of them.
We’d Love Your Thoughts
Would you want your dog included in your celebration of life? Or have you experienced something like this before?
We’d genuinely love to hear your perspective.
