Would You Do a Small or Big Wedding Kiss?

I am not one for overdone PDA (good for them! not for me!), but my partner comes from a very affectionate, passionate family. At his cousin’s wedding, the groom was basically licking the bride’s face (wide open mouth! saliva trail! visible tongue from the 5th row!) and I was privately mortified until I heard my boyfriend beside me quietly say “EW” in such a hilarious deadpan that I burst out laughing. Luckily, nobody heard me over the applause and I took it as yet another good sign of our compatibility.

We are now married and shared what I considered to be a perfectly sweet and appropriate kiss at our own wedding :)

I was so nervous about our kiss (so uncomfortable with PDA) so we spent months practicing a dipping kiss where my husband held my lower back while I leaned backward and we kissed. Despite all the practice, I got nervous in the moment and I accidentally held up my bouquet over my face! Everyone was like “we couldn’t even see the kiss!” I don’t know why I thought it was a good idea to do such a dramatic kiss anyway but my husband still loves to practice the dipping kiss all the time, 2 years later.

My partner and I got married just two weeks ago. Because of the pandemic, my older brother married us in my mom’s back yard. We talked a bit about the details of scrubbing the patriarchy from the language, but after planning and then re-planning the wedding I didn’t want to get into all the details anymore. My brother surprised us with this moment, when he said, “Meg, you can kiss your groom.” It was funny, made me feel seen, and totally derailed my anxiety about the moment feeling staged or awkward (smooching with just my parents to watch! awk!!).

We had a religious ceremony and at the rehearsal the priest walked us through the whole ceremony except the kiss because we didn’t want a Mr & Ms presentation (We kept our last names) so when I asked about it, he joked “don’t worry I won’t forget!” And then he did! We had a small kiss at the peace, but no official kiss. Then at the reception he sheepishly came up to do a blessing of the meal and admitted that he had slipped up and was going to make up for it now – so he called for the kiss and we went for it while our guests cheered!
So we got our moment :)
I love these pictures of everyone’s special moment its such a joyful part of a wedding!

At military weddings, servicemembers often form a sword arch for the newlyweds to walk through. It’s tradition for each pair to drop their swords and require a kiss before they’ll let the couple pass. At the last pair of swords, my new husband did a proper dip and smooch, to the crowd’s delight. It was such a fun, romantic, swoony moment! Definitely one of my favorite photos from the wedding.

I don’t know if you’d call our kiss big or small, but it’s one of my favorite photos from our ceremony for this reason: my older brother officiated our wedding and in the photo of the kiss, his face says “oh crap, I didn’t think about how close I would be to this moment!” Cracks me up every time I look at it!

Thanks for prompting me to think about my wedding day. It was so romantic that I once told someone that I felt sorry for Kate Middleton because she merely got a royal wedding, but I got an actual fairy tale wedding (thirty-one years ago)! Also, it was a big kiss.

I love this so much – what a beautiful thing to celebrate the love of others :) Our kiss was classic and sweet, but then my husband went in for a second one! I was so surprised and our families erupted with laughter. It was a sweet way to begin our life together, with a cheeky little surprise :)

What a joyous post and such lovely pics… oh gosh especially the one of Jamie and Risa both slightly lifting their dresses, so sweet!

I remember getting playfully scalded by our photographer for leaping up into my husband’s arms for our little pash – she was worried about getting the right angle of my feet hovering above the sand (beach wedding)

My husband and I are both a little shy about PDA and so had a short and sweet ceremony kiss. Afterwards, my grandma urgently pushed her way through the crowd at the reception to say “what was that? that was just a peck! I wanted more!” We both laughed so hard. She was so disappointed and we never expected that from her!

I barely remember the “first kiss”. However, when I first walked down the aisle, I hugged my dad and then turned to walk the remaining 5’ to my place in front of the priest. My soon-to-be husband, who had been waiting at the front next to the priest, bounded over, clearly forgetting everything from the rehearsal about our places. Reader, he tried to kiss me *before* the ceremony!

Everyone audibly giggled and the photos are priceless.

Such a heartwarming post and reminded me of my own wedding. We just shared a soft short kiss. I’m too shy in public.

Happy anniversary, Joanna!

(We’re not far behind you. 11 years in October, 4 kids, oh my. )

When I got married, we kissed quickly. It was an out of body experience for me, and I didn’t have a ton of feelings about it until later!!!
I do remember my husband wanted us to stand in this super expensive Persian rug of his to exchange vows (we got married at home- pre-corona- I know!!!!!), and I didn’t want to ruin his rug and I said no way. The floor is good enough for me, ha.

I really struggle with any public displays of affection (for myself, not others) so the kiss at the end of my wedding freaked me out. So much so that I apparently forgot how to kiss and bumped my new husband nose to nose. I felt like such an amateur.

My husband and I were lucky enough to have 2 weddings- one at Manhattan City Clerk’s office and one in Greece. In the clerk’s office we got married in front of 4 close friends and had a short but passionate kiss (I had to stand on my tiptoes to reach him since I was in flats!)

In Greek American weddings, the priest usually incorporates a moment for the kiss at the end of the service, but since we were married in Greece by Greek priests, the wedding ended and the kiss…never happened! And you know the craziest part? I am just realizing this 5 YEARS LATER. The wedding day and ceremony (and the fabulous after party up in the mountains) were all such an exhilarating rush that it didn’t even cross my mind! Plus our wedding photographer was amazing and the photos she captured from our wedding are absolutely stunning. So I guess it worked out in the end :)

Who says grandparents can’t handle a seeing a hot, steamy, wet kiss? When I’m a grandma, I hope my grandkids don’t censor their wedding kisses for me.

These are absolutely gorgeous, and I agree with the commenter who applauded your approach to diversity. One question: why are some of the couples listed by name, while others aren’t?

such a sweet post. happy anniversary, alex and joanna!

Thanks for the afternoon cry!! These are stunning.

Also it makes me think of The Wedding Singer. “Church tongue.”

Ah, goose bumps! Love all the love!

I really appreciate how you incorporate diversity into the blog and don’t call it out. It feels natural and like a step towards real inclusion in the world. Beautifully done as always :)

So sweet! The pic on the mountain is AMAZING!!!