I think most people can agree that little kids are not the best people to trust with an important task. However, for some reason, tradition still dictates that a couple should select a young child to deliver two very precious pieces of jewelry down an aisle while balancing them precariously on a pillow. Does anyone else see a problem with this plan? No? OK, as rife with error as this whole arrangement is, there is absolutely no denying that ring bearers are adorable. Sweet stories about ring bearers never fail to make me smile — and the more havoc they wreak, the better (as long as it's not my wedding).
For our own wedding, my husband and I had our plump corgi-lab mix trot down the aisle with a little pillow that had two fake rings sewn on. He definitely stole the show, but he still did a wonderful job (even though he still doesn't know the rings were counterfeit. Shh, don't tell!). I searched Twitter and a funny Reddit thread about scene-stealing ring bearers to collect the sweetest stories I could find. I dare you not to laugh at these stories about ring bearers who didn't quite stick to their role (but were totally adorable anyway).
My nephew was three when he was the ring bearer at my wedding. We thought he was old enough to do it right. He probably actually would have, if we hadn't kept him up late at the rehearsal dinner the night before.
He only took about three steps before he threw the pillow off to the side, where it skidded under a pew. He ran to my sister and was fast asleep in about 45 seconds.
Everybody had told us to put fake rings on the pillow, and have the Best Man keep the real ones in his pocket. We didn't listen.
The Best Man had to scramble down from the altar and find the pillow to recover the rings.
Ah, memories!
I was supposed to be the ring bearer at my aunt's wedding when I was [a toddler]. I cried and ran outside instead, then danced and fell asleep at the reception. Much like how my own wedding went, actually.
Praying ring bearer
I was the ring bearer on my aunt's wedding when I was four years old. I lost "the fat ring" (my words to describe her husband's ring) playing in the backyard minutes before the ceremony and burst into tears, while my dad looked for it like a mad man with a tuxedo on and a small flashlight on his hand. Good times.
My big brother was the ring bearer at my parents wedding. He cried the whole time, and no one knew why until he made a comment about six months later about his 'wife.' He'd thought he was marrying his cousin, [who was] the flower girl.
— u/keti24
This article was originally published on
