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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!).


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 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.
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 always 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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