# Doves released at weddings, etc. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 26, 2011, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doves-released-at-weddings-etc/597684 "2011-09-26T19:19:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![FirstLoser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@FirstLoser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FirstLoser)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2011, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doves-released-at-weddings-etc/597684/1 "2011-09-26T19:19:04Z")
On my drive to work this morning, I noticed two white doves by the side of the road pecking about for food. This is a rare sight here (rural Connecticut, USA) and not one I’ve seen before. My assumption was that they’d probably been released at a wedding or other event over the weekend. That got me to thinking…I’ve never seen a white dove in the wild in this area, but I’ve seen the practice of releasing them at events. So, what happens to those doves? I’m assuming they must be domesticated to some extent in order for someone to be able to provide them for weddings, etc. When they’re released, are they simply “on their own” and able to fend for themselves? In other words, if they’ve been fed and cared for domestically, can they survive in the wild? Or, are they somehow collected by the supplier and used over-and-over? ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2011, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doves-released-at-weddings-etc/597684/2 "2011-09-26T19:28:57Z")
If you do it correctly you release white racing pigeons, and they return to the owner. Doves and pigeons are the same thing. > **[White Dove Releases Directory For Weddings Memorials Funerals](https://www.white-dove-releases.com/faq.htm)** > > The White Dove Release Professionals Directory brings together ethical, professional, and trained White Dove Releases for your wedding, funeral, or memorial events. Largest membership in North America. If you do it incorrectly you pick up some white pigeons and they don’t survive. From an old column about throwing rice at weddings. > [@](#): > > (8) Steve Waldron reports having attended a wedding in which the bride and groom decided it would be neat to release two white doves at the end of the ceremony. However, the birds purchased at a pet store for this purpose had clipped wings and no survival skills. They made it as far as a tree, where they were attacked by squirrels as the children watched. I will spare you further details. The organist said he was not going to play for any more weddings where the ceremony called for an animal sacrifice after the recessional. > **[Should you not throw rice at weddings because birds swallow it and explode?](https://www.straightdope.com/21342244/should-you-not-throw-rice-at-weddings-because-birds-swallow-it-and-explode)** ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2011, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doves-released-at-weddings-etc/597684/3 "2011-09-26T20:46:45Z")
> [@](#): > > They made it as far as a tree, where they were attacked by squirrels as the children watched. I … can’t … stop … laughing! I’m so bad. ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2011, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doves-released-at-weddings-etc/597684/4 "2011-09-26T21:31:06Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > I … can’t … stop … laughing! > > I’m so bad. So am I! ROTFL in fact! :D:D:D:D ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doves-released-at-weddings-etc/597684/5 "2011-09-27T06:57:44Z")
This is the way to release a white dove: [Dead peace dove during a russian ceremony - YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsrbZHVOAt0) ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doves-released-at-weddings-etc/597684/6 "2011-09-27T10:09:40Z")
> [@Floater](#): > > This is the way to release a white dove: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsrbZHVOAt0](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsrbZHVOAt0) That is absolutely hilarious. all the more so because you know exactly what was going to happen. I am torn, which is funnier, this or the psycho squirrel? ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doves-released-at-weddings-etc/597684/7 "2011-09-28T02:24:17Z")
Ahem… _dragging thread back to where it began_ We released white doves at my father’s funeral. Daddy was cremated, and we had the flag folding ceremony and presentation by the AF Reserve Honor Guard. Momma had died ten years earlier and at Daddy’s request, we kept her in our homes (my sister and I swapped Momma back and forth) until he passed away. Then both were inurned together at the columbarium at Riverside National Cemetery. Since we had both parents together, the funeral director gave me a brochure about a business providing doves for ceremonies. The lady from the business recited a beautiful poem about “Lovers Reunited,” and then my sister and I, and each grandchild were given a dove to release. Once freed, the doves circled the group of people several times, before departing. The doves know the way home. ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doves-released-at-weddings-etc/597684/8 "2011-09-28T02:33:32Z")
I dunno. But releasing doves at a wedding is tacky as hell. I’d have cringed if that had happened at my wedding. Leave it to the celebrities who think that now they’re suddenly rich they have some semblance of “class”. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doves-released-at-weddings-etc/597684/9 "2011-09-28T03:33:57Z")
> [@VOW](#): > > Then both were inurned together at the columbarium at Riverside National Cemetery. Nice coincidence: the word “columbarium” as an edifice for storing cremation urns comes from the Latin for “dovecote” or pigeon house, owing to their structural similarities with all the little niches. So releasing doves at a columbarium seems like an especially appropriate thing to do. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doves-released-at-weddings-etc/597684/10 "2011-09-28T04:29:15Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Nice coincidence: the word “columbarium” as an edifice for storing cremation urns comes from the Latin for “dovecote” or pigeon house, owing to their structural similarities with all the little niches. > > So releasing doves at a columbarium seems like an especially appropriate thing to do. Yes, the phraseology dovetails quite nicely. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doves-released-at-weddings-etc/597684/11 "2011-09-28T04:31:35Z")
Not that we’d want such gestures to be pigeonholed as exclusively a funerary rite, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Wizard\_One](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Wizard\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wizard_One)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doves-released-at-weddings-etc/597684/12 "2011-09-28T05:59:08Z")
> [@gazpacho](#): > > If you do it correctly you release white racing pigeons, and they return to the owner. Doves and pigeons are the same thing. > > [White Dove Releases Directory For Weddings Memorials Funerals](http://www.white-dove-releases.com/faq.htm) > > If you do it incorrectly you pick up some white pigeons and they don’t survive. > > From an old column about throwing rice at weddings. > > [Should you not throw rice at weddings because birds swallow it and explode? - The Straight Dope](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1096/should-you-not-throw-rice-at-weddings-because-birds-swallow-it-and-explode) Trust me, I have loads of BOTH doves and pigeons here, they’re NOT the same thing at all, in ANY stretch of the imagination. I’ve spent nearly 5 years in the Middle East, they have DOVES, not pigeons. Period. The “dove” was dead on launch, hence the massive back stroke of its neck before launch. Probably squeezed to death by accident. Unless you want to say that chimpanzee and humans are the same creature… ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doves-released-at-weddings-etc/597684/13 "2011-09-28T06:50:22Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Nice coincidence: the word “columbarium” as an edifice for storing cremation urns comes from the Latin for “dovecote” or pigeon house, owing to their structural similarities with all the little niches. > > So releasing doves at a columbarium seems like an especially appropriate thing to do. I had no idea that a columbarium is a place to store cremation urns - only knew the dovecote definition and was wondering why would a cementery have one. Ignorance just took a hit. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doves-released-at-weddings-etc/597684/14 "2011-09-28T10:58:32Z")
> [@Wizard\_One](#): > > Trust me, I have loads of BOTH doves and pigeons here, they’re NOT the same thing at all, in ANY stretch of the imagination. Merriam-Webster online: Definition of [PIGEON](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pigeon) 1: any of a widely distributed family (Columbidae, order Columbiformes) of birds with a stout body, rather short legs, and smooth and compact plumage; _especially_ : a member of any of numerous varieties of the rock dove that exist in domestication and in the feral state in cities and towns throughout most of the world Definition of [DOVE](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dove?show=0&t=1317207299) 1: any of numerous pigeons; _especially_ : a small wild pigeon ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doves-released-at-weddings-etc/597684/15 "2011-09-28T12:08:57Z")
No reason at all to squabble about the definition. ---
**Author:** ![Laggard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de053/32.png) [@Laggard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laggard)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doves-released-at-weddings-etc/597684/16 "2011-09-28T13:09:11Z")
Pigeons and doves are indeed the same thing. "In general terms “dove” and “pigeon” are used somewhat interchangeably. In ornithological practice, there is a tendency for “dove” to be used for smaller species and “pigeon” for larger ones, but this is in no way consistently applied, and historically the common names for these birds involve a great deal of variation between the terms “dove” and “pigeon.” A dove is simply a pigeon with better PR. ---
**Author:** ![Wizard\_One](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Wizard\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wizard_One)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doves-released-at-weddings-etc/597684/17 "2011-09-28T13:29:57Z")
> [@Laggard](#): > > Pigeons and doves are indeed the same thing. > > "In general terms “dove” and “pigeon” are used somewhat interchangeably. In ornithological practice, there is a tendency for “dove” to be used for smaller species and “pigeon” for larger ones, but this is in no way consistently applied, and historically the common names for these birds involve a great deal of variation between the terms “dove” and “pigeon.” > > A dove is simply a pigeon with better PR. True, as well as better habits. Pigeons tend to gather in large groups, doves tend to gather a small family group. The difference there is notable in urban environments, largely by the mess… 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doves-released-at-weddings-etc/597684/18 "2011-09-28T13:40:41Z")
I knew this thread would go to hell as soon as one person dove into making puns. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doves-released-at-weddings-etc/597684/19 "2011-09-28T13:54:59Z")
agreed, this thread is now as dead as a Dodo (yes…Dodo’s were a member of the pigeon family, no, this pun no longer works when it has to be explained to everywhere) ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doves-released-at-weddings-etc/597684/20 "2011-09-28T14:20:11Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > (yes…Dodo’s were a member of the pigeon family, no, this pun no longer works when it has to be explained to everywhere) Poor frog. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doves-released-at-weddings-etc/597684.md?page=2)