White Doves have long been recognized universally as a symbol of peace and goodwill. Forever moving forward, the dove is a true hope for the future - a future of peace. The Dove is a bird of prophecy and can help you see what you can create in your life." Doves not only symbolize peace and purity.White Dove Release has performed for a wide variety of occasions.An old world custom in Europe and in the South Seas for many years was to release doves at weddings to symbolize blessings, peace, love and prosperity for a married couple. White doves play a key role in life's celebrations because of the beauty and symbolism associated with them.Well as far as I know the dove first gained significance from the bible, when Noah sent the dove out to see if there was land after the flood destroyed the evil in the world.. I guess people then decided it means peace.
Doves and pigeons belong to the same group of birds, and homing pigeons are known for their ability to fly many miles to return to their home. Some of the companies who advertise doves for release at wedding say that their birds are trained to return home, but this would only be possible if homing pigeons are used instead of doves. Doves do not have a homing instinct.
Most of the doves will be killed by a hawk, hit by a car or will starve. Because the doves are completely domesticated, they have lost all ability to feed in the wild and will not instinctively keep close to cover when hawks are present.
Instead of having these beautiful birds released at your wedding you could still see a dove by having dove decorations. It doesn't seem right to send them to death just because releasing them at a wedding will look good in the pictures.The Dove is a picture of the Holy Spirit and the color white represents purity. The symbol of a Dove representing peace with God comes from the Genesis account where Noah sent out a Dove to see if the waters had gone down and it came back with an olive leaf.
Matthew 3:16 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; 17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased."
Genesis 8:11 And the dove came back to him in the evening, and behold, in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth. The use of snow white doves at weddings can be traced back to ancient Greek and Roman times when the doves were gifts from the Bride to the Groom. Even in biblical passages, the appearance of the snow white dove came to symbolize holiness, innocence and fidelity. Building their nest together, the white dove falls in love and mates for life; therefore, they are instinctively drawn home where the safety of their nest and a loving mate awaits them. Like many couples today, they take turns caring for their youngsters. They both sit and turn the eggs until their hatched. Then share the responsibilities of feeding the babies and keeping them warm until they have feathers of their own. These traits have endeared them to us with an established place in romantic literature and art.
There are many types of doves. However, the species that we commonly recognize to symbolize our love for one another is the snow white Ring Neck dove used by magicians and also found in pet stores. These birds should NEVER be released. They have poor flying ability, absolutely no homing instinct and if released into the wild will quickly starve or fall prey to predators.
The white birds that we use for releases are actually white Rock Doves. They are not what most would refer to as "doves", but pigeons. The term "pigeon" actually is from the French language meaning "dove". It’s important to realize that while doves and pigeons are part of the same family, unlike domestic doves, homing pigeons (Rock Doves) possess a natural "homing" instinct. These awesome athletes were developed over the last few hundred years using very selective breeding to augment their keen instinct of "home". This instinct is sharpened by intense training on a daily basis by a knowledgeable handler, which allows them to return safely to their loft following a release.
Our team of pure white "Rock Doves" receive the finest care to insure their health, safety and to insure their love of "home". Our family of birds has been developed using the finest stock of white racing pigeons from lofts across the country. We have the philosophy of breeding and training as a race loft to keep the quality of our birds at its highest. Our birds are loft flown every day, weather permitting, and then the young birds are taken on their training tosses. These tosses start at 5 miles and gradually advance to 50 miles in all four directions of our home and loft.
These magnificent birds cannot be released indoors nor can they be released in inclement weather conditions. They must also be released within enough time before sunset depending upon the location of the ceremony and the current season of the year to ensure their safe return home before dark.