Wedding program wording advice

amyelise25

FMIL will not be able to attend the wedding because of surgery.  I'm editing our program and  trying to figure out a way to mention her even though she won't be there in person.  On the one side I have info about the ceremony and have changed 'seating of the mothers' to 'mother of the bride seating' (open to other suggestions). 

On the other side I list the Wedding Party.  Would it be OK to leave FMIL listed?  Although she isn't attending, she is still an important part of our day.  We are going to work with our pastor to mention something about her absence. 

Maggie0829

Yes, I would still list your FMIL in the program.  You can even put a mention of her surgery recovery below her name if you wish.  I think it would be nice for your pastor to say something about her absence just so everyone will know that it isn't because she doesn't want to be there.

cudababy71

Yes, I would leave her listed. My matron of honor won't be at the wedding but she is still listed as such.

OwningAHome1981

Is your mom not walking down the aisel? B/c I don't think you need to mention the word seating... you can just say "mother of the bride", "mother of the groom". I would definitely mention the surgery and something about well-wishes and a speedy recovery to that effect.

OliveOilsMom

I did not list the seating of the Mothers in my program.  I started it like this:

Prelude
Wedding Party Processional: Song by Artist
Bride's Processional: Song by Artist


Usually Mothers and other important family members are seated during the Prelude music (about 15 minutes worth of music chosen by your musicians).  They don't get their own special song.  The music will change for the BM processional and then again when its time for the brides processional.

amyelise25

My mother will be proceeding down the aisle.  I'm glad to hear that others have had similar situations. 

We are doing a presentation of roses to the mothers and this is probably the time when we will have the pastor say something to the guests about FMIL.  We are trying to figure out who to present FMIL's rose to (someone else coming in from her state that can take it home with them to her, another elder aunt from FI's side, or maybe both to my mother and have my mother send FI's to her). 

Thanks for the advice.  We are trying to make the best of a sad situation.

OliveOilsMom

As for your rose presentation, I would provide it to FMIL's sister or other close relative.  And the pastor can say, accepting the rose on FMIL's behalf is her sister Jane.  FMIL cannot be with us today as she is recovery from surgery.  Jane will bring the rose home to FMIL and present her with the rose and well wishes of a speedy recovery.

Also, see if you can set up so that the wedding ceremony can be skyped to FMIL.  And in addition to the rose be brought home for her, send her a copy of the program to see that her name was still listed and she was thought of.

cwaggoner07

We did not have the seating of the parents in the program, but we listed the parents with the wedding party.
And like PP said, mention her absense during the ceremony so that everyone knows that she is regretfully not there, and missed by everyone.

OwningAHome1981

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_wedding-program-wording-advice?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:9Discussion:3cc48b45-0776-40ef-8303-16e9298cced6Post:7cc47e1b-3fb8-460b-9043-438a9097f399">Re: Wedding program wording advice</a>:
[QUOTE]<strong>We did not have the seating of the parents in the program, but we listed the parents with the wedding party.</strong> And like PP said, mention her absense during the ceremony so that everyone knows that she is regretfully not there, and missed by everyone.
Posted by cwaggoner07[/QUOTE]

We are doing this too... but we are also not having a religious ceremony so I felt it was the best way to have them mentioned, plus I'm getting walked down by both my mom and dad so my mom will be standing at the alter with me- she will not be seated.