Before the wedding: anything the dog wears. Bandanas, collars, ring-bearer pouches. Useless the day after, and they need a trial run beforehand.
On the day: the keepsake. A portrait, a name sign for the new house, a printed blanket. This is the gift they open with everything else and keep.
After:photographs. If the dog was there, you almost certainly took a picture nobody else did — the official photographer was pointed at the couple. Printing one of those costs almost nothing and is regularly the gift people remember.
Check the venue allows dogs before you build a gift around it.Plenty don’t, and plenty of couples find out late. A tuxedo set for a dog who isn’t allowed through the door is a sad little parcel to open.
Check whose dog it is.If the dog belongs to one partner and predates the relationship, a gift built entirely around it can land awkwardly with the other. A portrait of all three — couple and dog — sidesteps that neatly.
And if you want something the couple will use rather than display, the practical route works too: a good dog travel bag for a honeymoon-with-the-dog, or the pieces in our practical dog gifts guide.
The gifting doesn’t stop at the wedding, either. For anniversaries and a Christmas present for the two of them, our gifts for couples with dogs guide picks up where this one ends, and Valentine’s Day gifts for dog lovers covers their first February as a married couple.
