Tips for Walking Down the Aisle

Here are some tips for walking down the aisle and how to walk down the aisle at your wedding, from a wedding photographer who has seen about five hundred brides do it. Walking down the aisle may seem like the easiest thing in the world to do, but you and your bridesmaids will probably be very nervous on the day… so here are some tips from us to help you out.

1. Don’t stress about your page boys & flower girls

Whatever they do, it will be awesome and fun for everyone.

Who doesn’t love kids at weddings? Page Boys and Flower Girls are always a nice touch at a wedding and a great way to get your family directly involved on the day. They are cute, unpredictable and a real crowd-pleaser.

Don’t worry too much if you are not sure if they will walk down without an incident. Have them walk down together so they are more confident. And if they make it halfway down then turn back, just go with it, as everyone will laugh. Alternatively, you can have one of their parents or the Groom crouching down near the front so they have someone to walk to, or get one of the Bridesmaids to help them walk down.

Whatever they do, whether they cry, run away or walk down normally, it will be awesome!

2. Have a nice gap between bridesmaids 

Bridesmaids are your best friends and believe it or not, most will be very nervous as well. So tell them to take their time but also importantly, they should leave a nice big gap between each other. If they bunch up and walk too close to each other it can be really difficult to get a clear shot of them.

3. Take your time walking down the aisle

Don’t rush it… just walk normally. Not too fast and not too slow :)

Soak the moment in. It will give me plenty of time to get capture you and your Grooms expressions as you see each other for the first time.

One other thing I should mention is that you don’t need to do the whole step together, step together walk down the aisle. These days it just looks a bit unusual and is not necessary. Just take your time and soak it all in.

4. Don’t look at the camera.

Some ‘old school’ photographer may want you to look at the camera, but I don’t want you to. I want you to live in the moment and soak it in.

The wedding ceremony is all about the two of you, not the camera. So when you walk down the aisle don’t look at the camera. Concentrate on more important things, like looking at your Groom and all your family & friends smiling at you.

5. Walk down the aisle to the smiles of your family & friends, not a sea of phones & cameras.

Have an unplugged ceremony.

Your guests should be present and watching the ceremony, not trying to film or photograph it. Check out our other article about having an unplugged ceremony here.

6. Your Dad doesn’t have to be the only one to walk you down the aisle.

Most Brides will still get their Father to walk them down the aisle. And I think it’s a lovely tradition where the Dad is symbolically handing his daughter over to the Groom. But in this modern day where couples live together before marriage, and both parents have equally raised their daughter, there is no reason that both parents can’t walk their daughter down the aisle.

I am a father myself to two very young girls. And if or when they ever get married I would never just walk them down without my wife. It is a very old tradition which I personally think is very outdated.

Your Mum and Dad can walk you down the aisle.

For those brides who don’t have both parents, here are some other options that I have seen:

– Mum walks their daughter down the aisle.

– Brother walks his sister down the aisle.

– just the Bride walks herself down the aisle.

– the Bride walks halfway down and the Groom walks up to meet her and walks her the rest of the way.

– Step-Dad walks the Bride halfway down the aisle, shake hands with biological Dad who walks her the rest of the way.

7. Tell your videographer not to walk down with you.

This may seem like a strange point, and for most professional videographers it is fine. But there seems to be a worrying trend lately from a small minority of videographers where they following the Bride down the aisle from the front. 

You and your partner deserve to see each other walking down the aisle, not the back of some videographer.

So you have a videographer please request from them that they don’t walk down the aisle with you. 

8. Walk down however the hell you want!

It is your wedding! There are no rules.

Some well-meaning people may tell you that you have to do certain things because it’s a ‘wedding’. That is not true. 

Be true to yourselves. You don’t have to walk down seriously, with a great posture, holding your flowers at the right high, just in time with the music, with your dress perfectly place behind you.

Dance down the aisle, laugh down the aisle, hug family as you walk, blow kisses, cry, spin, sing!

So I hope these tips for walking down the aisle have been useful for you. Just be yourself,  have fun and live in the moment :)