"White Doves At Weddings!"
White Doves at Weddings - Bringing Back an Age Old Tradition
by Tamara Baker
For thousands of years, white doves have been a traditional symbol in
wedding ceremonies.
To the ancient Egyptians, the dove represented quiet innocence.
The Chinese saw the dove as a symbol of peace and long life.
To early Greeks and Romans, doves symbolised love, devotion, and
caring.
The dove was the sacred animal of Aphrodite and Venus, the goddesses of
love. In these ancient cultures, the groom would give a dove to the bride,
symbolising his promise to help care for her and for the family.
These days, Doves are regularly released at weddings as a blessing for the
bride and groom.
Doves pair up for life, so they are a true representation of love and the
eternal commitment that a couple have made.
This tradition has become hugely popular at weddings in the United
States, Canada and the UK in recent years. It is also quickly gaining
popularity in Australia.
There are many bird fanciers that have put their expertise to providing
doves for release at events in their local area.
It is easy to have a spectacular white dove release at your own wedding that
is just as enchanting as it would have been for people that participated in
the weddings of ancient times (probably much more!).
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White Dove releasing is an art-form. There is much more to it than meets the
eye. In order to explain this, I am going to reveal a secret to you. (SHHH!
Don't tell anyone)
The White Doves that go to weddings are actually white racing pigeons. Doves
and Pigeons are a bit like cousins in the animal world. They are not exactly
the same, but they are very similar. Only a bird expert would be able to
spot the difference at a wedding.
It is important that only pigeons are released at weddings. The reason for
this is that the pigeons have a homing instinct, the ability to fly back to
their home after they are released. Whereas real doves would just fly up
into a tree. You can't get them back so they'd have to fend for themselves.
How very cruel!
That is where the "art-form" I was talking about comes into it. Professional
Dove Releasers start by selectively breeding the most beautiful white
pigeons, with the pigeons that have the strongest homing instinct. This
happens long before they attend your wedding, taking everyone's breath away.
There is a lot of effort involved to get the birds with just the right mix
of beauty and brains! These birds then go through an intense training period
for the first year of their life -just like athletes preparing for the
olympics. After this we are confident that they will be able to fly home
from anywhere within a 80km radius.
In my case, birds from the Heavenly Doves loft must be able to fly home from
anywhere in Sydney.(Racing pigeons can fly back to their home loft from
hundreds or thousands of kms away). Using racing pigeons is the only humane
way to release "doves" because the birds will always go home to be well
cared for with plenty of food, water and security after the ceremony is
over.
We also choose the birds with a good nature and get them used to being
handled by people (especially nervous newlyweds) so that you can be
confident that the doves will be relaxed at your ceremony - No pecking
Birds!
The other aspect of the "art-form" is the way that the doves are presented
and released at your wedding. It is essential to have an experienced dove
release attendant at the wedding. Firstly because we have a whole assortment
of ornamental cages and baskets that you can choose to have your doves
displayed in, plus you have the choice of releasing the doves from your
hands or directly from their cage or basket.
Secondly, an important part of a good dove release is the placement of the
doves and the timing. By this I mean performing the dove release at the best
location and during the part of the ceremony that makes it a memorable
experience for the bride, groom and guests. We make it a high priority to
ensure good photos and video footage
too. Professional Dove releasers have to go to many weddings to learn good
placement and timing.
You may have seen an email going around recently. It is a picture of a pair
of newlyweds releasing their doves by hand. The groom is in a pin-striped
coat and the bride is wearing a strapless white satin dress.
The couple are enthusiastically tossing their doves into the air. But it's
not only the doves that find their freedom. The brides breasts managed to
escape from her dress when she threw her dove into the air. Their
photographer managed to capture the event perfectly! I am telling you this
story because it is another reason to hire professional dove releasers.
I know it feels great to hurl the doves into the air at the end of your
wedding ceremony. But we have alway recommended to our clients that you only
have to open your hands to let the doves free (even if the bride is wearing
a cast-iron bra and a dress with straps of steel so there is no danger of
exposing herself).
The reasons we tell people NOT to throw the doves are, firstly, the doves
need no encouragement to fly away. They love to fly and can't wait to get
out of your hands. But more importantly, when you see the photos of the dove
release in months to come, you will probably think that you look ridiculous
with your hands up in the air doing the "hallelujah" pose.These are all the
aspects that professional dove releasers consider when taking doves to your
wedding.
Another thing, if you are considering incorporating a white dove release
into your ceremony, don't (I repeat DON'T) let one of the groom's
know-it-all mates organise it for you. These are the kinds of blokes who
would try to get the best deal with everything by taking short-cuts....do
you know anyone like that? The problem is that they know nothing at all
about birds.
I occasionally get calls from guys like this who want to "buy some birds on
the cheep" (pun intended). I always tell them that we never let our birds go
to an event without a dove release attendant. If these guys ever do
manage to get hold of some cheap white birds, I certainly wouldn't want to
go anywhere near them - you never know what sort of diseases they might
have. Plus, you would be lucky if they don't go splat on the ground when
they are released because they don't have the fitness to fly very far.
Professional Dove Releasers always have clean, healthy, fit birds. They are
bathed regularly and because we know a sick bird when we see one, we are
always checking our pigeons for lice, worms and other bird diseases. By
hiring a professional white dove releaser, it's the only guarantee that the
doves at your ceremony will be perfect.
White Dove releasing is a gorgeous and elegant expression of peace and love.
So follow in the footsteps of brides and grooms from ancient times and
experience it for yourself.
Contact your local professional white dove provider or visit our website
http://www.heavenlywhitedoves.net and go to the dove links page to find
someone in your area.
About the Author
Owner of Heavenly Doves, Sydney, Australia.
Publisher of "Putting the Art in Your Party" a free monthly ezine bringing
you zillions of ideas to plan a special event with a difference.
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