Planning, Praying, Playing

Confetti-quette




Confetti - Small pieces or streamers of colored paper that are scattered around during the course of festive occasions. Nowadays, throwing flowers is more common...thank God the days of throwing rice are over, my Mother always did discourage me from playing with my food!

So what's confetti-quette then? Of course, it's the etiquette of confetti throwing!

I know, the world has gone mad, right? Wrong, confetti-quette is something that really is worth thinking about, for no reason other than 'the confetti shot'! 

We all want the perfect shot, right, where the petals fall slowly enough through air to allow a couple of shots to be taken in quick succession...thus allowing our photographer to delete the ones where either our eyes are closed or we've got a piece of confetti caught on our tongue!

So, here's my suggestion for confetti-quette... :

First things first - Does your venue allow confetti?

Now, if your venue says that they don't wish to pick up confetti, what do you do? Please don't do it anyway, you wont be allowed to get married there again! ; ) No, really, there are alternatives. Here are just a few:

Bubbles - these are gaining in popularity now and really can look so magical in a photo!

Bird seeds - these will VERY quickly get eating by the doves that you will no doubt want to release outside of the church! ; )

Do people bring their own confetti?

The only way to ensure you get a confetti shot is to provide it yourself. This way you're certain that confetti will be at your wedding venue! This also means you have control over the colour, size, and material of the confetti. You could choose between artificial petals and real petals. Biodegradable petals. Pink petals to match your colour scheme. Dried hydrangea petals or rose petals to match your bridal bouquet? The possibilities are endless.

Who gives the guests your specially selected confetti?

This could be handed out by Ushers? This is a task that is easy for little guests to do and will help them feel part of the wedding. After all, it's a special day for everyone. Alternatively, you could leave a basket by the exit door from the ceremony, for guests to help themselves? Or you make some Martha Stewart style confetti cones and attach some ribbon. You could then hang these on the backs of chairs. Decorative and useful!

Confetti containers?

Usually confetti is placed into little cones, but even with this, the options are many! You can make cones to match your colour scheme. You could simply have a wicker basket with the confetti, and guests can take a handful. Very rustic! There are other options too. The infamous CAOS of RockMyWedding had some lovely heart-shaped confetti pouches. Heck, you could stick the confetti into little organza bags if you want to!!!

If you want to crank up the fabulousity though, you can get confetti cones custom made. 

My lovely sister made these for us,

you can find something similar here: 

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6880356

How much confetti?

I think two handfuls is enough. One practice handful - the one where you get it on your tongue and have you eyes closed. One handful, worthy of place in your album, with the caption 'confetti shot' beneath it! 

Who gets confetti?

If it's an intimate wedding of say less than 50. I don't think it's entriely unreasonable to give it to everyone. If on the other hand, your guest list is pushing 200 (or more), this might become a logistical nightmare on the day. For the purpose of the confetti shot (and let's face it, that is the ONLY reason you're even considering confetti-quette), I'd say a minimum of enough confetti for half your guests. In hindsight, it would have been sensible for us to have more confetti available...we were lucky and got a good shot. I wouldn't leave it to chance though!

When to throw

Just after you leave the venue and everyone joins you! That way you get a photo of lots of your loving guests, as well as the beloved confetti!

Now, all that's left to consider is where you'll place that beloved 'confetti shot' in your house after the wedding day!