Alternative to Giving Away

ShellePurdie1

My father passed away 7 years ago and my cousin, who is really like a brother to me as well as my best friend, will be walking me down the aisle. While I have no aversion to the traditional "Giving Away of the Bride", I was thinking of rephrasing it to emphasize the fact that while I will now be my husband's wife, my cousin will always remain important to me as well. Has anyone ever heard of someone rephrasing this way, or should I just skip it altogether?

southernbelle0915

I'm sorry to hear about your dad.

You don't need to do the give away at all. I had both my parents walk me down the aisle. We got to the front, hugged/kissed and they sat down. There was no "who gives this woman?" or any of that. Very simple. 

Your cousin can walk you down the aisle without doing the give away. It's obvious that he's very important to you if he's walking you down the aisle on your wedding day! I would just skip the formal "give away" if I were you.

artbyallie

You can skip the 'giving away' part and just hug him at the end of the aisle.

Or the officiant can ask "Who supports this woman in her decision to marry this man?" or "Who gives their support of this union?" or something to that effect that makes it clear you're not being given to or by anyone.

JennyColada

I haven't been to many weddings, but I've seen a fair amount on TV and they never seem to say anything. That seems like a good route. It would feel awkward to me otherwise!

peachy13

My father also passed away and his brother, my uncle, will be giving me away. The way I am dealing with it is putting in the program for the ceremony timeline "giving of the bride" and then underneath in a different font, my uncle name and writing "bride's uncle" next to his name.

So maybe you could do something like:

CEREMONY

Your names, date, etc.

Entrance

Giving of the bride

Joe Smith, cousin of the bride

Reading

Vows, etc.

princessleia22

My parents are still alive, but since I got married in my mid-30's and had lived 2,000 miles away from my parents for over 10 years, I didn't really feel right with the "giving away" wording. So my father walked me down the aisle, then the minister asked "who supports the marriage of this couple?" and we had all four of our parents stand and say "we do". We liked the idea of including all our parents in that moment, rather than just my dad, and they all appreciated that we wanted to include them in our wedding and have them show their support. We also had our mothers sign our marriage license as witnesses, instead of BM & MOH.

 

We also actually thought about having all our guests (we only had 25) or just our immediate family (parents & siblings) respond to the support question, but that just seemed too complicated... and potentially risky.

[Deleted User]

CMGragain

@MsKatieHall, Get a life!

vmj23

As others have said, there was no "giving away" at my wedding.  My dad "walked" me down the aisle (he's in a wheel chair so my nephew actually pushed him and I walked next to him.  Got to the end of the aisle I hugged him/kissed and that was it. 

Dana831

Just skip it or have the minister say "who supports the marriage if this couple?" And have your cousin say "I do" and then he sits down.