Search ‘pet wedding attire’ and stand back to be amazed

A toast to doggies in tuxedos and Chihuahuas in chiffon.

Frank, a stubby English bulldog dressed in a navy tuxedo adorned with a goldsequined bow tie, ambled down the aisle through the North Carolina grass at his owners’ wedding. He looked quite the part — that is, until he plopped down to relax during the ceremony.

“Frank i e has such a human quality about him,” said the bride and owner, Emily Enriquez. “He has this big, broad-shouldered look, and I thought he would look really cute in a tuxedo.”

Enriquez and her husband, Brian Enriquez, decided they wanted Frank tobeapartoft heir March 2017 ceremony because he had served as a major part of their relationship — he join edt heir family a little over a year after t heyhad been dating. Emily Enriquez searched for high-quality attire (not from the average party store) to match the rest of the wedding party. On Etsy, she found a dog tuxedo and bow tie from Happydog Pet Cou- ture for $130.

The outlet is one of a growing number of Etsy shops and high-end pet couture designers catering to couples wishing to include their pets in their wedding. The animals may serve as ring bearers, or just welldressed crowd pleasers dur- ing the reception.

Search “pet wedding attire” on Etsy and more than 1,000 results will pop up. There’s Bark and Go, House of FurBaby, and many others, in loca- tions ranging from Florida to Kiev, Ukraine (where Happydog Pet Couture is based). Ilana Mobley, an owner of the Tampa-based FairyTail Pet Care, which offers a variety of wedding day services, said nearly one in every 10 weddings the company has assisted with, features pets in for- mal attire.

The Etsy shops’ pieces typically cost under $100. O ther formal p et attire can be found elsewhere online, with some pieces from larger pet designers costing as much as $300.

Moshiqa has cotton dresses with elaborate bead- ing and dog hats. (Lady Gaga hasdressedherdoginthe designer’s fashions) MaxBone (a favorite of Gwyn- eth Paltrow) sells pet bow ties, among other things.

Adrian Stephen Cabu- hat, a pet fashion aficio- nado from Manila, brought his Chihuahua, Coco Chanel, to his friend’s recent wedding in the Philippines. She wore a ruffled outfit by Juanita Esparza, a Gua- temala-based pet couture designer.

“She was a star of the night,” he said.

Anna Konokhova, the owner of Happydog Pet Couture, began selling on Etsy in 2016. She started maki ngelabor ate bows for her Shih Tzu, then branched out to dresses after receiv- ing requests from friends for additional designs. She did a design for a Yorkie in a wedding in 2015. She created a few more outfits for friends, unti l she posted photosonEtsyin2016.The post attracted many more requests from engaged cou- ples. Weddings are now her main business, she said.

Konokhova makes all her outfits by hand and commu- nicates with clients in vari- oust ime zones for ways to customize her creations, which typically arrive in four to five weeks. She became so dedicated to her craft that she would carry around a measuring tape so should could measure various breeds of dogs on the street in order to better serve her customers.

Ton ya Ha rt o f Wichita, Kansas, opened the House of FurBaby on Etsy four years ago, and started marketing to the wedding crowd in the last couple of years. Sales volume has soared from around 500 a year to about 500 a month. Hart says she plans to open a brick-and- mortar store in Wichita this month. She has dressed dogs from many breeds in outfits sewn by a hired seamstress.

For many couples, Hart said, “the pet is that one family that they share ,” which makes it especially important to include it in the wedding planning.

For Patti Crouch of Hous- ton, her love for her rat terrier, Lexi, even weathered Hurricane Harvey last year. She bought a white dress with a red bow from House of FurBaby (to match her Christmas-themed wedding) for Lexi, right before the storm hit. Despite a few complications (including delayed alterations for her own wedding dress), and in the chaos of planning, Crouch still included her dog.

“Sh e ’s been my best friend,” Crouch said of Lexi, who walked around with t he flower girl at the reception.

Casey O’Donnell and Kelly O’Donnell didn’t have their pets participate in the actual wedding this past summer, but they had them pho- tographed for a “save the date” announcement. It was abit tricky, they admitted, keeping Marty, an Old Eng- lish Sheepdog, and their cat, Pete,int heir attire, which they bought on Amazon.

Sometimes, though, just a decorative collar will do. “People takeitq uite seriously,” said Jodie Vigor of Cupid Collars in Surrey, England, which embellishes collars with silk or foam flowers and other deco- rations.

As for Frank, the tuxedo- wearing bulldog, his owners managed to keep him in his formal attire throughout the wedding.

“He liked wearing it,” Enriquez said, “because we fed him ham cons tantlyto keep him compliant.”

Halloween is here and none of our animal family is dressing up for the occasion.

Teddy, our Lab, is currently sporting a festive Halloween bow tie. Abby, our 16-year old cat, is unimpressed with the holiday in general. Wednesday, Jordan’s 1-year old cat, isn’t all that thrilled, either.

In 2017, 16 percent of Americans decked out their furry family members in Halloween attire, according to thebalance.com. The most popul ar co stumes fo r last year were pumpkin, hot dog, bumble bee and the devil.

Last year, Jordan was among the 16 percent who purchased animal costumes. We were standing in line at TJMaxx when sh es piedthe Halloween get-up.

“Look, wouldn’t Wednesday look adorable in this?” Jordan asked, taking a small costume off the rack. I shrugged. “What is it?” Jordan said rather dramatically, “It’s an ice cr eamcone. Look at the hat. Isn’t it the cutest thing? It’ sac herry. I could enter Wednesday in the vet’s Halloween costume contest.”

“Okay,” I sa id, try ing to recover from my shrug, “When is the entry due?”

Jordan did a quick check on her phone. “We’ve got plenty of time.”

“One day, two days? Could you be a little more specific?” I rolled my eyes.

“Midnight tonight.” Jor- dan replied.

I looked at my watch: 7:30 p.m. “Grab the costume.”

Jordan carefully placed the garment on topofc ook- ing utensils and a set of mix- ing bowls. I swear, I’m not making this up. We were figuratively making an ice cream cone.

Wednesd aydi dn’t put up much of a fuss when Jordan put the cone par tofthecostum eonher.T he then-black kitten rolled around trying to rub the costume off but afte rafe w tries went back to playing with her paper clips.

The cherry-on-top hat

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Living in Your Pet’s World

wasn’t as easy. Wednesday hated it. She shook her head and rubbed it up against a rocking chair. After about a minute, Jordan took the hat off the “not having it” kitten.

“Let’s set up the shot and we’ll put the hat back on her at the last minute,” I suggested.

Jordan agreed.

The first photos weren’t good. You couldn’t tell Wednesday was an ice cream cone. We decided to add a prop. Jordan grabbed her dad’s h alf gallon of vanilla ice crea mf rom the freezer.

We put the ice cream carton on the floor and plopped Wednesday with her cheeryon-top hat next to it. Jordan immediately started snapping photos.

With about two hours left before the deadline, we downloaded the new photos into the computer and started editing.

These were much better. You could tell Jordan’s precious kitten was a threescooped ice cream cone withacherryontop.Nota happy three-scooped cone but a three-scoop cone, nonetheless.

Wednesday’s pic won the contest. For their efforts, she and Jordan received a terrific basket filled with toys and treats and an ice cream gift card.

There was one casualty in the photo shoot. Jordan and I were so busy editing the photos we forgot about Ed’s favorite nighttime snack. When we finally did remember, it was ahalf-melted glob. KarinSpicer, writer, has been entertaining families for more than 20 years. She lives in Bellbrook with her family and two furry animals all who provide

for her

She can be reached at spicerkarin@gmail.com.