Bridesmaids carry puppies as wedding bouquets and the whole world goes AWWWW.

I’m not a “bridal party girl”.

An army of bridesmaids and groomsmen on either side of the aisle seems to me a like a scary fort of happy smiling clones. It’s intimidating. All the people I loved dressed the same, standing to attention, for me. I just can’t deal.

I could be, however, a “bridesmaids-and-puppies girl”.

That… that changes things.

It’s the genius idea of Pennsylvania woman-come-bride Sarah Mallouk Crain and her now-husband Matt Crain.

Sarah decided to replace her bridesmaids’ flower bouquets with rescue puppies.

Mind. Blown.

Wedding-day nerves disappeared; the photographer had a field day; and the puppies well and truly secured the role of their species in all future wedding panning. No one is standing to attention any more.

“I think you can also see the pure joy in everyone’s faces when they’re holding a puppy. It was just so beautiful,” Sarah told BuzzFeed. “I’m normally a very calm, level-headed person but with the wedding day of course there’s some stress. Once we saw the puppies, every care in the world went away.”

The end result was (objective reporting aside) absolutely adorable.

Wedding photographer, Caroline Logan, who is responsible for the above death-by-cuteness-and-work-productivity-down-to-zero fiasco spoke to Masahable.

She said the puppies helped Sarah, Matt and their wedding party relax and feel natural in front of the camera. (Well… of course.)

“Who doesn’t love a litter of sweet rescue pups?” Logan said. “While photographing six rambunctious puppies definitely brought an added challenge, it also caused the bridal party to be more at ease. Having something to divert attention from that uncomfortable ‘Oh my goodness, I’m getting my picture taken… what do I do with my hands?!’ feeling to pure puppy bliss made for relaxed photos.”

(Key phrase: “pure puppy bliss”)

I hate to break it to you. But there have been some haters. Some people have questioned the negative (NEGATIVE???) impact of having puppies as part of the wedding party.

For example:

“But wouldn’t you want the attention focused on you on your wedding day, not the puppies?”

(Pretty sure the addition of puppies has meant Sarah and Matt’s wedding has received ALL the attention of the entire world. “Look at the puppies, and then look at me. That’s why I’m holding the puppies, so you will look at me too”.)

“Puppies stink.”

(Umm… Rude. Yes, puppies do have a particular smell. But it’s the most glorious smell of warmth and sleepiness and puppy. What better accompaniment to your carefully-chosen wedding day perfume?)

“What happens if they poo or pee all over the dresses.”

(Okay, there might be a point here. Wee on the wedding dress would not be ideal.)

Now we’ve successfully refuted the haters, we can get back to business. In that you can ADOPT the puppies of Sarah’s bridal party.

Sarah works for Pitties Love Peace a nonprofit organisation dedicated to finding homes for pit bull puppies. All the photographed puppies are up for adoption and they all have names. Each pup is named after one of the first ladies of the United States: Martha, Abigail, Dolly, Elizabeth and Louisa.

(I’m sure the First Ladies feel suitably honoured.) Heart. Melted.

Now I wonder what else might be replaced by puppies on a wedding day… The groom, perhaps?