First-Ever Doggie Wedding Coming to Shreveport

A new and unusual fundraiser is coming up this weekend for the Shreveport Dog Park Alliance. The group's leader Cynthia Keith says it's a huge pet wedding. She says the group is always trying to think outside the box on these fundraising ideas.

"And that's the way we keep the attention focused on the dog park," Keith says. "But this Sunday, from 3 to 5, at the Karpeles Museum, which is on Centenary Boulevard, we're going to be having the first-ever PUPtial Nuptials with "Speed Date to Find a Mate."

For a $20 donation, you get a novelty wedding ring and admission to a mass pet wedding and reception. The Speed Date portion will take place in the garden area of the museum from 3 to 4 p.m. Dog owners will have conversation-starters so their pets can meet other pups in 10-minute intervals.

"Then we will actually move into the sanctuary. This is an old church, it's now a museum," Keith says. "But we will have a mass wedding for everybody that wants to bring their dog in and exchange their rings with one of their new friends." And she tells KEEL News that dog gender doesn't matter -- the dogs (and their owners) are merely committing to continuing a friendship, possibly with "play dates" to the dog park.

The ceremony will come complete with a preacher to perform the ceremony, and with a doggie wedding party made up of rescued animals. "The preacher will have you take vows as a group," says Keith. "It'll be things like, 'Do you promise to wag your tail when we come into the dog park?' And the group will respond with, 'I doooo!'"

At the end of the ceremony, you exchange rings with your new friend, and head downstairs for a reception with cake and punch. So how should everyone dress for the event? Keith says for humans, it's casual. For the dogs, pearls, boas, bow ties, suits and dresses.

Get more details on the event on the Dog Park Alliance website.