white dove History

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. Dove’s 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. 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 Australia. You can find dove providers in most states of Australia. 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.

White dove releasing is an art-form. There is much more to it than meets the eye. In order to explain this, 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 strongest 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 50km radius. In our case, birds from the Lennox White Dove Loft must be able to fly home from anywhere in that radius of Lennox Head.

If practical, we take the birds to the site of your release for a trail fly a week or so before the event. 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 around people (especially nervous newlyweds) so that you can be confident that the doves will be relaxed at your ceremony. Our belief is that hand releasing birds puts a lot of stress on them and if you have never handled birds before there is an art to it. So we provide an opening heart shaped cage/ basket from which to release the birds, this way is better for the Bride and Groom and healthier for the birds.

Even thought the birds are well trained before the event often birds do not make it home. This can be due to hawk/falcon or other birds of prey attacking and killing them.

We also offer beautiful white Fantail & Frillback pigeons to use as display birds. Fantails & Frillback pigeons are not good flyers and don’t go home on release. We have a whole assortment of cages/baskets that you can choose to have the fantails or Frillbacks displayed in during the ceremony. 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 like to attend the wedding rehearsal if possible to discuss the best place for the release to take place. 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.

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. Please contact us to discuss any questions you may have.