Who should give me away?

Jesci

Because of my familly situation, I no longer have a father. (My parents are divorced and due to his family's ettiquite I don't claim any of them) My fiance's situation has left him both fatherless and motherless. He has a grandfather who is not related by blood but whom he claims as such (whom I have become very close to) and the same is true in my situation. We each have one uncle left on our respective sides. My mother has said that she believes that I should have a male of our family(s) give me away, wishing to keep the role of Mother of the Bride only. This brings me to the question... Who would be right to give me away? Of the males I have avaliable, I have not known any of them but for the past three years. What is the right thing to do?

sparkles776

Don't listen to your mother, do what you think feels right. Personally, I am not close to my father at all, and my mom is walking me down the aisle. To me, it is the only thing that felt right, at first she was a little resistant to it, but now is so excited and she says "I am the one that gave birth to you, so it makes perfect sense for me to give you away" If there isnt a male you are especially close to, I would strongly consider walking alone, or maybe walk with your FI, or meet him half way.

ThankfulSnail

No one needs to give you away. It sounds like your mother would not be comfortable in this role, so if I was in your shoes, I would walk down the aisle by myself. I've seen this at several weddings and I think it looks beautiful and empowering.

Jesci

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_who-should-give-me-away?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:0b54dc4a-4e11-4c48-9fc2-e3adaa933c10Post:ce21ec17-7491-4ef1-aa46-1d7ef6269a0d">Re: Who should give me away?</a>:
[QUOTE]Don't listen to your mother, do what you think feels right. Personally, I am not close to my father at all, and my mom is walking me down the aisle. To me, it is the only thing that felt right, at first she was a little resistant to it, but now is so excited and she says "I am the one that gave birth to you, so it makes perfect sense for me to give you away" If there isnt a male you are especially close to, I would strongly consider walking alone, or maybe walk with your FI, or meet him half way.
Posted by sparkles776[/QUOTE]

<div>Thank you, I really like the idea of meeting him halfway. I wasn't sure if it were "all right" to not have someone to give you away, we are the first generation of our families to not have the traditional parental set. The more I think about it, the more I like it!</div>

Kristin789

You are an independent woman with no father or like-a-father person in your life.

To invent someoen, or to "cast" someone in that "role" for your wedding, would just be bad.

So walk by yourself, or have FI meet you in the back and walk down together, or walk half-way by yourself and have him walk up to meet you and then walk down together.

ChristineNB

You could choose not to have an escort to give you away.  I walked out by myself, and it was fine. 

harr0610

I am in the same situation and nobody is walking me down the aisle. I'm fine with it. I am perfectly of capable of walking on my own and personally I've always felt the whole "giving a person away" thing was kind of odd anyways. No offense, I get the tradition, but I don't think it's weird or incorrect to just walk yourself.

stantokm

Definitely walk down the aisle by yourself since your mom isn't interested.  I'd love to do that (I don't really see the need to be "given away"), but I know that it's important to my dad to GET to do it...and everyone in my family would be wondering why he wasn't.