Bride includes her dog as flower girl in the wedding: 'She's my little shadow'
This four-legged flower girl stole the show at Briana Schaefer’s Nov. 4 wedding.
-- This four-legged flower girl stole the show at Briana Schaefer’s wedding ceremony in Chicago.
The bride said her golden retriever, Norah, is “part of the fabric of our family,” so not including her in the Nov. 4 celebration was never an option.
“She’s my buddy. She’s my little shadow,” Schaefer, 30, told ABC News.
She and her husband, Kevin Schaefer, have had Norah for four years and consider her their “dog-ter,” she said.
“She goes everywhere with me,” said the bride. “Everyone knows how obsessed I am with her, so most people asked if Norah was going to be in the wedding. We got her a little flower necklace.”
Norah was even part of the marriage proposal.
“Kevin proposed to me on October 1, 2016, at Montrose Dog Beach,” Schaefer recalled. “It was our five-year anniversary and he said he wanted to do it there because I always describe it as ‘heaven on earth.’ Norah was right there with us as he proposed.”
As a trained therapy dog, Schaefer said Norah is “pretty chill” and didn’t cause any doggy disasters on the big day.
The bride’s late dog, Tandi, who died before Norah came into the couple's lives, was also included in the wedding.
“My maid of honor, Alex Lister, surprised me by putting a small photo of Tandi on my bouquet,” said Schaefer. “I, of course, immediately burst into tears as she said, ‘This way you can have both your dogs with you on your wedding day.’”
The couple went on their honeymoon in Asheville, North Carolina. As much as Schaefer wanted to bring Norah along, she stayed at home with her mom because her husband insisted they needed some time alone.