Wedding Planner

Planning A Wedding With Stepparents

Divorce is a horrible period in every person’s life but the worst thing is that it doesn’t affect only the protagonists, but also the other people around them. And when I say that, I am thinking about the children who are forced to live a double life: one with the mother and the other one with the father. But things tend to get complicated when you have to think about planning a wedding with stepparents. If the relationship between stepparents is tense, planning such an event can turn into a fiasco, but relax, because throughout this article I am going to give you some tips on planning a wedding with stepparents.




Firstly, because they are stepparents, they should know that a certain wedding etiquette is required at an event like this. For example, at the wedding ceremony, stepparents should take a back seat and let the biological parents be in the first row. Although this is a decision that has to be taken by the bride, it is common sense that the stepparent stays next to or behind the biological parent.

Also, when talking about stepmothers, they should know that their wedding attire has to be simple, without anything that can outshine the bride’s mother. Those are the rules ladies, can’t fight them! The same rules say that stepparents should not dictate wedding decision but they are allowed to participate at the planning process if the couple feels comfortable with it. Also, etiquette says that both the biological father and the stepfather can hand over the bride, and can participate at photo sessions. In what concerns the photo sessions, more appropriate would be for the couple to take a set of pictures with the biological parents and one with the stepparents. But I repeat, if the 2 pairs of stepparents and the couple have an excellent relationship they can make arrangements as they please.

The thing which I consider very important is to remember that biological parents must be treated respectfully and they should have certain privileges during the wedding ceremony and reception. Stepparents have the role of encouraging the happy couple and being there if things get out of control. But a stepparent must never act like he or she is more important or more powerful than the birth parent because this might lead to some other unpleasant situations.

For me, planning a wedding with stepparents is a symbol of forgiveness and love, because not everyone can behave properly in different circumstances. In some cases, stepparents tend to mistreat the children “attributed” to them by means of marriage, because they resent not being able to have children or maybe the painful separation of their own children. These are isolate cases, and I am very happy and relieved when I see stepparents treating their stepchildren with kindness and love. Through a behavior like this and strong moral values, stepparents will be able to assure their stepchildren that not every marriage ends up with a divorce and not every person is necessarily bad (I believe this is the most common thought of a child with divorced parents).