Rituals
Lasso ceremony (el lazo): the words, the padrinos, and the minutes it takes
In the lasso ceremony, el lazo, two sponsors — the padrinos de lazo — lay a loop of cord, rosary beads, or flowers over the couple’s shoulders in a figure eight, where it stays through the blessing until the same sponsors lift it off. It adds about three minutes to a wedding ceremony, and it sits after the vows and the rings.
It is a Catholic wedding custom, long-established in Mexican and Latin American families and carried wherever those families are. The lazo is a single loop with no end to it, and the figure eight puts one partner in each circle: from the moment it is laid on, the two of them are inside the same shape.
Two things about it are worth getting right before anything else. The sponsors are not decoration — the padrinos de lazo are named people with a role, usually a married couple chosen by the two getting married, often the ones who provided the lazo, and they place it and lift it off themselves. And in a Catholic nuptial Mass, the words said over the couple while the lazo is on are the priest’s. Where a friend or family member is leading a ceremony outside a Mass, the wording below is ours to offer; where a priest is presiding, the script hands over and picks back up afterwards.
Also called: lasso ceremony · wedding lasso · el lazo · 3 minutes on the run-sheet
What happens, and who does it
The padrinos de lazo are asked, well in advance, and know their cue. The lazo is with them, or on a tray carried up at the right moment — not left on a table where it can be missed.
Introduces the rite after the vows and rings, and calls the padrinos forward by name.
Lay the lazo over the couple — over one partner’s shoulders, over the other’s, in a figure eight — with the couple standing or kneeling as the family prefers.
Says the blessing over them with the lazo in place. In a nuptial Mass this belongs to the priest; outside one, the wording below is written for whoever is leading.
Lift the lazo off — over both heads at once, slowly — and take it away, or hand it to the couple.
The lazo is kept. Many families keep the same one and use it again; ask, rather than assuming this one is disposable.
What has to be on the table
The words
Written here, for this page, and free to use or change. Nothing below is presented as traditional wording — where this rite has liturgy of its own, that liturgy belongs to the tradition and to whoever leads it, and printing an approximation of it would be worse than printing nothing. The lines in italic are stage directions and are never read aloud.
Warm
A ceremony outside a Mass, led by a friend or family member. Use the family’s own words for the sponsors’ names and titles.
[ After the vows and rings. To the guests. The padrinos are seated and waiting for their cue. ]
[PARTNER A] and [PARTNER B] have made their promises. What happens next belongs to their family: they are going to be lassoed together.
[ Name them, in the form the family uses. Wait for them to reach the front before saying anything else. ]
[PADRINO], [MADRINA] — the padrinos de lazo — would you come forward.
[ They lay the lazo over both sets of shoulders in a figure eight. Do not help unless you are asked. The couple stand or kneel as the family arranged. ]
The lazo is one loop with no end anywhere in it, and it goes over both of them at the same time. From here on, the two of them are inside the same circle.
[ The lazo stays on. Keep this short — it is heavier than it looks and the loops slip. ]
May they be bound like this for as long as they have. Through the years neither of them can see from where they are standing, and through whatever those years turn out to hold. May they be lucky. And on the days that are not lucky, may they be kind to each other.
[ Both padrinos lift together, slowly, over both heads at once. Watch for veils and hairpieces. ]
[PADRINO] and [MADRINA] will take it off now — and it stays with the family, the way it came.
Solemn
A church ceremony outside a Mass. Where a priest is presiding, the blessing beat is his — introduce, hand over, and pick up at the removal.
[ After the vows and rings. To the guests, unhurried. ]
[PARTNER A] and [PARTNER B] have made their promises. Now the lazo.
[ Name them in the family’s own form, and wait. ]
[PADRINO], [MADRINA], padrinos de lazo — please come forward.
[ They lay it over both sets of shoulders in a figure eight. Stand back; this is theirs to do. ]
One cord, with no end to it, laid over them both.
[ With the lazo in place. In a nuptial Mass this belongs to the priest — hand over here and say nothing over him. ]
May what has been joined here hold. In the years they can see and the years they cannot, may they be kept, and may they keep each other.
[ Both padrinos lift together, slowly, clear of veils and hair. ]
The lazo is lifted. What it marked remains.
Where it sits in the ceremony
After the vows and the rings, before the pronouncement. In a Catholic nuptial Mass it sits with the nuptial blessing, and the Mass sets its own order — ask the parish rather than the run-sheet.
Three minutes, and most of it is the padrinos: their walk up, the placing, the blessing with the lazo on, and the lift. Where las arras — the thirteen coins — is also being done, the two rites are usually taken together and the pair costs about six minutes rather than three.
The whole running order, with every element timed, is on the order of a wedding ceremony — the 3 minutes here go on top of whichever shape the ceremony is built on.
Variations
A braided cord, a double rosary, or a strand of silk flowers — all three are used, and families often have one already. A rosary lazo is the heaviest and the most likely to catch on the way off, which is a rehearsal problem rather than a reason to choose differently.
Some families have the couple kneel for the blessing with the lazo on, which needs a prie-dieu or two chairs placed so the guests can still see them. Others stay standing. It is the family’s call and it changes nothing else in the script.
The thirteen coins are a separate rite with their own padrinos, and the two are commonly done in the same stretch of the ceremony. Give each its own line on the run-sheet — together they are about six minutes, and two sets of sponsors need two sets of cues.
The current US Catholic marriage rite names the placing of the lazo or the veil as an option important to Hispanic and to Filipino families — the same slot in the liturgy, used by both. What differs is the practice around it: Filipino weddings commonly have a cord, the yugal, placed by its own cord sponsors, alongside a veil placed by its own veil sponsors, where Hispanic practice more often has one padrino couple handling the placement. We are not going to assert a shared history for the two customs, because we have not found one documented. Ask the family which they mean and who is placing what, because that answer decides who stands where.
Where it comes from
The lazo is not a nice touch added on top of a Catholic wedding; it is part of the rite. The Order of Celebrating Matrimony used in the United States carries the blessing and placing of the lazo or the veil, and the blessing and giving of the arras — the thirteen coins — as named options, described as traditions important in Hispanic and Filipino families.
What we will not tell a couple is where it came from before that. The claim that el lazo descends from a pre-Columbian or Aztec practice circulates widely and we found nothing that documents it, so it is not on this page. What is documented is that this is a living custom with a place in the current liturgy, which is the part an officiant actually has to plan around.
Where this was checked
For Your Marriage, the US bishops’ marriage-ministry site, lists the order of a wedding within Mass, including “The Blessing and Placing of the Lazo or the Veil” and “The Blessing and Giving of the Arras” as optional rites, each described as “a tradition important in Hispanic and Filipino families”. The historical origin of the lazo before its place in the current rite is not claimed here — we found no source for it that we would print.
Checked
Questions
What is the lasso ceremony at a wedding?
El lazo is a Catholic wedding custom in which two sponsors — the padrinos de lazo — lay a single loop of cord, rosary beads, or flowers over the couple’s shoulders in a figure eight, one partner inside each circle. It stays on through the blessing and the same sponsors lift it off afterwards. It is long-established in Mexican and Latin American families and travels with them; the lazo itself is usually kept, and often used again.
Who puts the lasso on the couple?
The padrinos de lazo — two named people asked well in advance, who in many families also provide the lazo. They place it and they remove it; the officiant introduces the rite and steps back rather than doing it for them. Getting their names, and the form the family uses for them, is part of the preparation.
When does the lasso go on during the ceremony?
After the vows and the rings, before the pronouncement, and it stays on through the blessing said over the couple. In a Catholic nuptial Mass it sits with the nuptial blessing and the Mass sets the order — ask the parish rather than assuming the run-sheet applies.
How long does the lasso ceremony take?
About three minutes, and most of that is the padrinos: walking up, placing the lazo, the blessing spoken over the couple, and the lift at the end. Where las arras is done in the same stretch, the pair of rites costs about six minutes and needs two sets of sponsors cued separately.
Is el lazo the same as the Filipino wedding cord?
They occupy the same place in the liturgy and they are not run the same way. The US Catholic marriage rite names the placing of the lazo or the veil as an option important to both Hispanic and Filipino families — one provision, both communities. In practice, Filipino weddings commonly use a cord called the yugal, placed by its own cord sponsors, alongside a veil placed by its own veil sponsors; Hispanic weddings more often have a single padrino couple place the lazo. Whether the two customs share a history is not something we found documented, so we do not claim it either way. What matters on the day is asking the family which of the two they mean and who is placing what.
Can a friend or family member lead the lasso ceremony?
Outside a Mass, yes — the wording on this page is written for exactly that, and the padrinos do the physical part regardless of who is leading. Inside a Catholic nuptial Mass, the blessing said over the couple while the lazo is on belongs to the priest, and a lay officiant introducing it and then speaking over him has changed the rite rather than led it. Ask the family who is presiding first.
The lazo is three minutes. The ceremony around it is the rest of the afternoon.
Answer some questions about the couple and get the whole ceremony written around this rite — the wording that introduces it and the words for the beat where the lazo is on, the padrinos named on the rehearsal checklist with their cue, and a run-sheet that already counts the three minutes.
The other rituals with their wording written out
- Handfasting4 minTheir hands bound with cord while the vows are spoken, and the wording that goes over the wrapping.
- Unity candle3 minTwo tapers lit from the family candles and touched to one center flame. Indoors only.
- Sand ceremony3 minTwo colors poured into one vessel — the outdoor answer to the unity candle, and the easiest to include children in.
- Cord of three strands3 minThree cords braided, one of them held by neither of them, named for a clause of Ecclesiastes 4:12.