Rice? Bubbles? Flower petals?

[zekele]

What did you/are you going to have your guests pelt you with during your ceremony exit? Why did you choose one over the other? I''m thinking of going with heart-shaped eco-friendly rice for its convenience, but I am drawn to the beauty of flower petals and the fun of bubbles. I''m having trouble deciding and my mom really wants me to pick flower petals - but I''m not sure what I want! Any advice is appreciated.

FYI: Our ceremony will be outdoors at a country club, and the guests will have a cocktail hour on the country club patio after the ceremony. We will not have a receiving line.

 

[ellaila]

Hi,

We''re doing rose petals. Our ceremony is outdoors, and we''re hanging paper cones filled with petals on the backs of each chair, with a little note printed on them saying something like, "Please shower the bride and groom with these petals as they make their way down the aisle as husband and wife!"

I didn''t even think about rice to be honest. I think the tradition is nice, but ever since I heard how bad it is for birds (true? urban legend? not sure, but either way I don''t like it!), I don''t think it''s the PC thing to do! And I''d just personally rather be showered with rose petals than with bubbles -- roses are more romantic than dish detergent.

I''m not anti-bubble at others'' weddings, mind you -- just for myself, personally, I prefer the petals. (Maybe an age thing? I''m mid-30s.)

Just my opinion!

 

[laine]

The rice being bad for birds is an urban legend, as far as I know. Some places don''t permit rice or birdseed bacause it can be a liability if you step on it and slip. Birdseed can also grow and leave you with lots of weeds. Flower petals sound pretty, but it seems like it might be hard to throw them far enough to hit the bride and groom since they''re so light. Bubbles are nice, but they seem a litle overdone lately.

Of the weddings I''ve been to, one did birdseed, one did bubbles, and one did lavender (small like rice, but smells good). Another did silly string, but that was an informal second wedding and it left spots on her dress. All the other weddings haven''t done anything. I think all looked equally nice, it really comes down to personal preference.

 

[SoonIHope]

One thing I saw pictures of that I loved was giving each guest a sparkler to wave (NOT throw!

) as the bride and groom leave. It looked reeeeeally pretty so I would consider that if it weren''t for the fact that we''ll be staying in the same house where the wedding and reception are. So it seems a bit silly to have a big send-off.

 

[SoonIHope]

a pic

 

[JCJD]

Bubbles!

I will say that our groomsmen were blowing the bubbles straight at our backs while we were trying to get into the car, so my veil was sticking to me. No stains though, thank goodness - I wore the veil the whole night!

 

[ellaila]

Albicocca, I love the sparklers too! What a sendoff! I was just telling my fiance about them last night actually when we were watching the fireworks -- funny how it all comes back to weddings, eh?

 

[Mannequin]

After the ceremony I would have done flower petals of some sort, but we are not allowed to use anything like that at our church.

I am not sure if we''ll be able to do that for the reception or not yet...

 

[AmberWaves]

I remember hearing that the founder of Girl Scouts of America had a grain of rice get into her ear at her wedding and lost the hearing in that ear! Since hearing that almost 20 years ago, it stuck with me! So maybe rose petals, or little feathers...Maybe nothing! I''d feel bad for who has to pick up the stuff!

 

[SoonIHope]

Date: 7/5/2006 11:41:19 AM
Author: AmberWaves
I remember hearing that the founder of Girl Scouts of America had a grain of rice get into her ear at her wedding and lost the hearing in that ear! Since hearing that almost 20 years ago, it stuck with me! So maybe rose petals, or little feathers...Maybe nothing! I''d feel bad for who has to pick up the stuff!

Hehe, I don''t want a feather puncturing my ear drum either!!!

 

[njc]

Bubbles! This isnt the best pic (all i have at work), but I absolutely love ALL of our pics of us coming out of the church surrounded by bubbles. Our guests have such great expressions on their faces too... laughing, trying to blow bubbles, having to re-dip the wands... great pics. I really liked the ideas of sparklers too, but our leaving pictures were being taken in the daylight and we also couldnt figure out an easy way for everyone to light them!

ETA: They didnt stain my dress or anyone elses clothes that I know of!

 

[Kaylyn]

That sparkler picture made me think of two words:

Veil and fire.

 

[AmberWaves]

"Hehe, I don''t want a feather puncturing my ear drum either!!!

"

At least it''ll be better for the birds!!

 

[jewelryjunkie]

Each of my guests were given some dried lavender wands. Then they stripped off the flowerettes from the wands using their fingers and threw them at us. Smelled divine!!!

And it wasn''t a big mess to clean up. The little lavender flowerettes are very similar to rice or birdseed but they won''t kill birds or grow weeds. I would highly recommend using dried lavender.

 

[pinkflamingo]

i have heard of live butterflies as well- but my friend decided against it- what if they died and she were pelted with dead bugs?
i think bubbles are a lot of fun. that would be my rec!

 

[flopkins]

we did bubbles. we weren''t allowed to do anything else. otherwise I think I woulda gone w/petals, maybe. but the bubble pics turned out great!!!

 

[ellaila]

Date: 7/5/2006 1:54:46 PM
Author: pinkflamingo
i have heard of live butterflies as well- but my friend decided against it- what if they died and she were pelted with dead bugs?
i think bubbles are a lot of fun. that would be my rec!

Ha! Never would of thought of that! I could see that maybe being not such a good omen

 

[Fancy605]

Is there any rule saying you can''t have both. I bet bubbles and flowers would look cute together. (i dunno--the petals may pop the bubbles)

I know--do diamonds!

 

[appletini]

I had sparklers and it was so cool, but my second choice would have been bubbles.

 

[tcpurple]

Sparklers...never heard of that but I like it. The picture was awesome! I vote for flower petals. I went to a wedding that had bubbles and one of my co-workers decided to dump have the bottle in the foutain and the other half on me.

It made a ugly ring mark on my dress.

 

[lovemybug]

i REALLY wanted flower petals but at my church we were not allowed to, as the ink from the petals stains the carpet i guess, and they thought the petals would stick to people''s shoes and get tracked back in the church. we were going to have nothing, one of our friends has a deep booming voice, and he was just going to announce us as mr and mrs and have people applaud as we walked through. my sisters thought it was sad to have nothing though, so as a surprise to me they bought a bunch of bubbles and tied ribbons in our color on them the night before. the bubbles do look nice in our pictures but i would really have loved the flower petals. check with your church and make sure they''re allowed before you set your heart on them though.

 

[cpster]

I would do colorful flower petals for fantastic photographs.

Our wedding location wouldn''t allow petals, so we did bubbles which still photographed well.