What’s great about weddings now is that there are no hard and fast rules as to what you should and shouldn’t do – and walking down the aisle is no exception. Here are some aisle alternatives that you’ll love.
Giving away
Choosing someone to walk you down the aisle can be an emotionally-charged decision, especially if a parent has died, you were raised by someone other than your parents or you simply don’t have a relationship with your parents.
Similarly, if your parents were divorced and re-married when you were young, you might find yourself with a choice of two potential ‘fathers’ hoping to be chosen.
It is important to remember that at the end of the day, you will be married to the one you love and once the day is over, it will no longer seem so relevant who walked you to get there.
That said, if you want to consider other alternatives to the traditional father give-away, you could ask your mum, grandparent, sibling, best friend or even take your pet with you.
To open up your horizons, you can start to think about the ritual as being a person of support rather than someone who is giving you away.
Take your love instead
If you choose to forego the third party accompaniment, a lot of couples are also choosing to walk down the aisle together, arm in arm, to signify that they are starting this new journey together as equals.
Alternatives to this include walking down the aisle one after the other, or meeting your partner halfway down the aisle and walking the remainder together.
But if the very thought of walking down any sort of aisle give you the chills, there are alternatives for that as well.
Change the shape
Circle ceremonies are becoming more and more popular.
Here, there ceremony is designed with seating in a circle or spiral, so you and your partner can walk through the spiral to get to the center, where you will be married.
It’s one of the aisle alternatives that has become popular because this way, all guests find it easier to see the ceremony and it creates a more intimate setting.
Alternatively, you can have guests gather in a circle and leave two spots for you and your partner, which you will fill when the ceremony starts.
It really creates a community feel for your wedding, but won’t work too well if you are expecting hundreds of guests.
Backstage
Another aisle alternative is to keep the ceremony space closed off and out of view of guests so you, your partner, and wedding party can be at the front of the ceremony space.
When the guests enter the room, they become the ones to walk down the aisle to join you and your partner.
Bridal party walk
In the spirit of togetherness, why not get everyone to make the walk together?
You can start a line close to the ceremony space and walk in together, with the wedding party at the front.
The guests can either then take seats or gather in a group around the couple.
There are plenty of options and creative ways that you can do away with the aisle walk if you don’t feel like it’s something that suits your personality or the style of wedding you wish to have.
