A Dove Release at your Wedding

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 and the UK in recent years. There are many bird fanciers that have put their expertise to providing doves for release at events in the UK. 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!), just make an an enquiry here at Wedding Entertainment GB.

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. 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.

Professional Dove Releasers start by selectively breeding the most beautiful white pigeons, with the pigeons that have the stongest 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. 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. Also, the birds with a good nature and used to being handled by people are chosen for wedding releases, 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. There is 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!

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.

Always hire a professional Dove release company such as the ones we recommend; and then you will know that the birds have been well cared for, the release will go really well and it will be a fantastic addition to your wedding day.