What To Throw At The Couple?
August 15th, 2006 @ 2:30 pm by Mrs. Bluebell
For no apparent reason, I feel compelled to create a pros and cons list of various items which guests can throw at the bride and groom as they make their getaway!
1. Rice. This is the traditional item to throw, and one of the first. According to this handy site, rice and other grains (& fruits!) were originally thrown at the couple to give them good luck, particulary with respect to fertility.
2. Birdseed. Due to the urban legend (not true apparently!) that rice is bad for birds to eat, a lot of people started throwing birdseed instead. This is equally slippery to step on, however, and still hard when it hits you in the face. Also, if there are cats around, it’s not exactly nice to lure the birds to the area. (True in my case.)
3. Confetti. Can be purchased in your wedding colors to match, doesn’t hurt if it hits you in the face, but still slippery. Also creates a bunch of litter that you really should clean up.
4. Flower petals. Beautifully romantic, can be purchased in your colors, doesn’t hurt if it hits you! But you have to be careful about them turning brown before you get to the toss time. I’ve heard freeze dried petals stay pretty but feel a little weird, and dried petals both look a little morbid and are crumbly. Plus flower petals cost more than a bag of rice. 
5. Bubbles. Not technically thrown, but rather blown at the couple. Very pretty and…bubbly! No cleanup afterwards, no pain. However, soap in the eye can sting, and I’ve heard tales of wedding dresses becoming discolored by bubbles popping on them. If someone spills their bubble solution, it will be veeery slippery and probably get on people’s clothes.
6. Sparklers. Also NOT to be thrown! This is probably what we will end up going with for our wedding. They look great in pictures, and you don’t have to clean anything up afterwards or worry about people spilling things. You might want to be sure none of your guests are pyromaniacs though. And if you have a really flowy veil, maybe take that off before you go running through the sparks. Plus you have to orchestrate everyone getting matches at about the same time and getting their sparklers lit close enough together so that the first ones aren’t out before you actually walk through them. But they’re oh so pretty!
Did I miss anything? What are you doing, or are you skipping this tradition altogether?
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23 Responses to “What To Throw At The Couple?”
I’ve heard of people throwing lavender. Hmm.. must smell good.
oh my… rice causing infection and hearing loss… that’s a lil’ scary…
i would stay away from rice… cuz you don’t want to think that you could have killed some birds…
sparklers… not to be thrown, hahaha…
i had rose thrown… someone actually threw it right in my face 
i think it’s suppose to be thrown upward not directly in the face
(i did like the pictures though)
sometimes i think bubbles aren’t enough… maybe bubble guns would create more ohhs~ and ahhs~
my brother mentioned when we were younger that he wanted silly sting at his… that was always in the back my head… i wonder if that would stain or affect the dress in some way?!?
dollar bills, lol… how about hundreds kekeke…
we were going to do sparklers. but, my family freaked thinking i’d burn my dress. so i think we are going the rose petal route. i don’t know if we’ll do fresh or freeze dried ones.
I’ve seen online and in stores, these stick like things with pretty ribbons on the end of them, and they wave them around.
K, I remember having one of those when I was little, but we called it “Ribbon Dancing” because the ribbon was loooong. And I wish we could do sparklers, but I think they’re illegal in CA. Anyone know? Also, I’m terrified of sparklers!!
Due to the logistics of us leaving on a bus with the whole wedding group (a DW), we’re not having a big send off. We are doing flower petals as we process back up the aisle and then we are doing a sparkler serende for our first or last dance with everybody gathered around us in a circle. Should make for some good pics. Our wedding coordinator suggested the real petals b/c the lovely smell adds aroma for the seneses to delight in.
Bubble guns! hahaha! Too funny. I don’t know what we’re doing for this yet- this particular detail was assigned to Mr Ant.
Daisy028, I just checked out your bio and we are date twins! Can you believe it’s only 3 months away! I’m so excited. =o)
Yeah, Amber! I had one, too! 
It’s a shorter ribbon, though, and I’ve seen them on Ebay, where you can get the ribbon personalized.
While I was in Asia on vacation, I saw on the news a video clip of a couple at their reception. The guests were spraying silly string on the couple and all of a sudden, the bride’s clothing, back and hair burst into flames. It must have been the gas in the cans reacting with something. Scary stuff so I would suggest staying away from silly string. Don’t mean to dampen the mood here, but just want everyone to have a safe wedding!
I’m too paranoid to do anything, or have anything thrown on me. I’m crazy like that. We did do the bubbles thing at my friends wedding and they came out great in the pictures, but I felt kinda silly blowing bubbles and my bf just left the bubbles on his seat. I personally like the sparklers idea, but I’m too OCD, and will probably have a panic attack on coordinating it just right.
We’re doing sparklers! Be sure to check with your site first and make sure it’s OK, and have big buckets of water handy to put the sparklers out in. We’re having 120-ish guests at the wedding and bought 200 sparklers for the send-off. Most of our guests prob. won’t stay to the end, so we’ll have tons of sparklers–people can use two or three if they want!
My friend did dried lavender. I was just asking her about how she liked it (since I was considering it for my wedding).
She said it didn’t hurt at all but that it got in her hair and dress but she didn’t realize it until after the reception when they got back to the hotel and she took her hair down and lavender was everywhere.
The one downside is it might not match your colors.
I like the idea of bells being rung. Nothing to pelt you in the face and no chance of them being slippery.
I remember I was at a wedding when I was much younger, and the bride/groom weren’t allowed to use rice because it attracted rats. I believe they ended up using bird seed, but bird seed doesn’t smell very nice … another couple used bubbles, but most of the people didn’t bother blowing them.
i always regretted not having something thrown at us. we had an indoor wedding tho, so i think rose petals might have been the only thing that would have made sense. but if i could choose - i would pick sparklers too!
I’m having bells rung. I really don’t like the idea of things being thrown at me. My fiance says that his best man wants to throw his bell at me, and I told him that he’d be in big trouble if any bells got thrown at me!
RICE CAUSING DEAFNESS - URBAN LEGEND
The founder of the Girl Scouts didn’t really lose her hearing because a piece of rice fell into her ear on her wedding day. In Savannah, her hometown, it’s pretty commonly known that her husband was an abusive bully. His hitting her caused the ear damage.
She spent very little time at home after that… and in the midst of her many travels with her girlfriends, she founded the Girl Scouts.
That story about the rice was the PC way of handling an issue Southern debutantes weren’t supposed to talk about. Ask any of the old people in Savannah… they’ll tell you ALL ABOUT IT.
I made ribbon wands for my daughter’s outdoor wedding. They looked pretty waving in the air. Her wedding is featured on the Knot–search Amy and Doug Squaw Valley. I used sticks used for chocolate roses that can be purchased at Michael’s or in bulk on line. I then attached the ribbon with double faced tape and also tied the ribbon on the sticks. I bought the ribbon in bulk also. You will use a lot of ribbon.
I am getting married soon and have been racking brain trying to decided between rose petals and dried lavender.
Lavender spells so good but it’s so small I’m sure it would get in your dress and hair.
I wonder if petals would be the best way to go. Does anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks
We went with bubbles this past December. All parts of the wedding were held indoors at a hotel where they gave us Run of the House, and we had three separate rooms for the ceremony, cocktail hour and reception. We had no trouble getting folks to blow bubbles. Our officiant had lots of personality and told everyone that if they blew enough bubbles it would be open bar. It was open bar anyway, but it sure helped get them motivated.
Mrs. Bluebell, New York
Age and Occupation in 07: 26, Finance Manager
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 27, Playing with the cat and/or Consulting
Engagement Date: December 25, 2005
Wedding Date: June 2007
Venue: Bride's family summer home in the Adirondacks
About Me: Trying to find the perfect balance between family tradition (marrying at the house everyone else in my family gets married at), making our's modern, interesting and different from everyone else in my family's, and incorporating some Chinese tradition for my Chinese fiance. I really have no idea what it's going to end up looking like!
Also, I picked Miss Bluebell for my name because I have blue eyes and I'm a loser like that.
Well, since we are having our ceremony and reception in the same place, and we are also staying there that night, I don’t know if it would be sensible. Although when I was little and a brownie scout, I remember hearing a story about the Girl Scout founder, Juliette Gordon Low, and how she got a grain of rice stuck in her ear at her wedding. The stuck grain led to an infection and hearing loss. So I think I’d rather get some “PC Rice” the kind that biodegrates. But who knows? Maybe some dried leaves? Herbs?
As long as it isn’t dirt, I’m fine not knowing yet!