Wedding Ring Bearers
In a formal wedding, page boys or young male attendants are always included in the wedding ceremonies. One of these attendants is a ring bearer. While it is the job of the page boy to carry the train of the bride’s wedding gown, a ring bearer is an attendant who is assigned to carry the wedding ring on a decorated pillow. In the Victorian era, the pillow was often replaced by other receptacles to hold the ring, one of them being the blooms of a lily.
Who Should The Wedding Ring Bearer Be?
A ring bearer is usually a young boy or girl, preferably above the age of 7, who may be related to the bride or the groom or maybe a child of a friend. He walks in after the flower girls or after the last bridesmaid in the wedding procession. He carries a pillow on which the ring is placed. One finds this practice less common now than earlier, but is still practiced in formal weddings. It is also a way of including young relatives or children of relatives or friends in the wedding ceremony. The pillow with the ring is almost always symbolic, as the real ring is given to the best man for safekeeping. The pillow has a lot of false rings sewn onto it for effect. In such cases where the real ring is carried by the ring bearer, it is tacked on so that it does not fall off during the walk to the aisle. It is always wise to choose ring bearers who are above the age of 7, as it is a huge responsibility to carry the ring safely to the altar without any mishaps along the way!