Sarah Lovett had only one requirement when her boyfriend, Ryan Brown, believed it was time to propose: Grace had to be there.
Lovett, of Loveland, walked into PetSmart 11 years ago looking for kitty litter. Her timing was awful: She showed up during an adoption event full of cute puppies. She definitely didn’t need a puppy.
Her life as a 23-year-old was a mess, she says. She had no direction and was in a bad relationship. But after peering into a crate and seeing a puppy all alone—the rest of her siblings had been adopted—she knew she had to take her home.
Grace romped through Lovett’s sadness. Lovett took her on road trips and began exercising more, probably just to keep up with her. It turns out her timing was perfect. She needed that puppy.
“She was the reason I got up in the morning,” Lovett says. “I like to say she saved me.”
She even dumped her bad boyfriend because Grace provided more than enough love. Then, a year later, Lovett met Brown. Grace approved right away, to the point of betrayal: Brown is now her favorite person.
“He came in for drinks, and I went to the bathroom, and she was in his lap when I came out,” Lovett says. “She never did that with someone she didn’t know.”
When Lovett agreed to marry Brown last year, there was no question that they would have Grace in their wedding, along with their new addition, a puppy named Gus. Lovett found a venue, Spruce Mountain Events in Larkspur, that allowed dogs for more than a quick photo. Grace and Gus would wear proper attire, walk down the aisle and be ambassadors for their special day.
“I just didn’t know how we were going to do it,” Lovett says.
Then she found Megan Logsdon, who owns a business that helps couples involve their pets in the festivities.
Grace, Sarah Lovett’s pup. Photography by Dylan Crossley Photo.
A niche business opportunity
Logsdon’s two huge dogs not only inspired her business, but they also helped her come up with the name: Here Comes the Floof.
Ruby and Zia have enough floof, after all, to fill a closet with fur coats. Logsdon found herself vacuuming three times per day, a common chore during shedding season. Her dogs would run through the house, obliterating any progress she’d made.
She and her husband, Doran, wanted them in their 2023 wedding but didn’t know anyone who could handle them.
“It was a huge downer,” she says.
They regretted it so much that Logsdon decided she wanted to be the person who could handle dogs for other couples. She believed she could do it: She’d grown up with dogs and worked as a veterinary assistant at a Fort Collins clinic before stepping up as a technician for a shelter in Denver. She started her business three years ago.
Logsdon worked more than 40 weddings last year, and she already had a dozen booked for this year by the end of January. Her services vary, with packages ranging from three to seven hours. She can do everything from walking dogs down the aisle and keeping them occupied during the ceremony to handling them at the reception, which is usually when guests want photos with them.
She can also transport pups to and from the wedding and stay with them overnight. She can help them “sign” the wedding certificate as witnesses with a paw print. She provides outfits for couples to rent for their dogs, and she even has ideas on how to pose them for photos.
Most of all, she says, she can ensure the dogs stay calm. Nearly all the dogs she’s worked with are friendly, but there are still a lot of strangers, loud music and guests who have had one too many glasses of champagne.
“I can read the warning signs,” Logsdon says. “Weddings are very stressful for dogs.”
It’s a niche business, and Logsdon doesn’t do it full time—she works as an ultrasound technician for a vet—but it’s growing. Half of her weddings last year were in Northern Colorado, but she will travel to Denver and Estes Park, and she’s worked as far as Telluride. She would love to offer the same service for cats, though it hasn’t happened yet because she was already booked when she received a couple of inquiries.
“When I started this, I thought I would work 10 weddings a year,” Logsdon says. “But Colorado is the perfect state for it because we are so dog friendly here, and lots of weddings are outdoors.”
More than a quarter of all venues now allow dogs, and that number is going up every month, she says.
Megan Logsdon, owner of Here Comes the Floof, with a dog at a wedding.
Photography by Story Maker Photo.
Training for the big day
K9 Help You, a Fort Collins-based dog training and boarding business, added dog training for weddings to meet the increasing demand. More and more clients came to them wanting their dogs to be a part of their wedding.
“We promote custom client services,” says Meredith Benson, owner and head trainer, “so it happened organically.”
Benson doesn’t think it’s unusual for owners to want their dogs there on the big day, and she doesn’t think it’s a generational thing, either. The trend emerged because trainers like her have adjusted to the demand, she says, and venues have caught on.
“It makes so much sense to me,” Benson says. “Sometimes you want them there more than your human family.”
She first trained a dog to walk down the aisle and stand by the couple as they got married in 2018, and she’s had more requests every year. Weddings aren’t her main gig—her services include intense training for hunting, therapy and medical alerts—but there are enough inquiries that she considers weddings a significant part of her business.
She can be with the dogs at a wedding, but she enjoys training them well enough that she doesn’t have to be there. The required training varies greatly with each dog.
“Some of my clients have put in some work already,” Benson says, “but it really depends on what they’re looking for. We had a family with a dad in a wheelchair, and the bride wanted to be walked down the aisle by the dog and the dad, so that meant working on no pulling on the leash.”
The key, she says, is socialization. Dogs that are used to different environments can usually handle a wedding. For instance, they won’t panic when people clap, a band plays or a guest cries. Benson has taught dogs how to ride in a gondola, resist the temptation to jump in a lake, sit for photos and behave themselves by their owners’ side during the ceremony.
“I love a good challenge,” she says. “Most people are willing to put in that time. It’s such a valuable family member up there.”
Benson has had to tell a couple clients no based on their dogs’ anxiety level or age, but it’s rare. When she doesn’t think it will work, she suggests putting the dog’s face on napkins or on the wedding cake or invitation instead.
“That way, it’s still like having them there,” she says.
Lovett couldn’t believe how easy it was to have her dogs in her wedding. It wouldn’t have been the same without them.
“I was so amazed,” she says. “It was just the coolest thing ever.”
