Confetti
Some help in choosing the right confetti for your wedding day or celebration.
Like so many of our ancient customs Confetti is a pagan tradition. Throwing rice or grain over the newly married couple it supposed to keep away evil spirits and grant fertility. Today confetti is accepted as an important part of any modern wedding service.
In Italy today confetti is derived from the word for confectionery and is more likely to consist of gifts of sweets and almonds which we know as favours.
The most common use of confetti is in wedding , however it can be used in any type of celebration. Consider the giant confetti cannons used to celebrate the winning of the Premier League or the FA Cup. However we are going to concentrate on confetti used on a smaller scale.
Broadly confetti can be divided into two main categories. The confetti you throw and the confetti for decoration only. Of course throwing confetti can be used for both purposes.
Throwing Confetti
Tradionaly rice was the only throwing confetti. Although you still see this it will swell up when eaten by birds and can be very harmful.
The most common types of confetti in use today is either real petal confetti made from roses or other flowers such a delphiniums, or paper confetti made from biodegradable rice paper . All of this confetti is biodegradable which is very important. Keep on the good side of the vicar or verger and do not mess up their church yard with confetti that will still be there for the next weeks weddings. You may even find that your vigar will start off your marriage service with a warning about not throwing any confetti inside church grounds !
Its always a good idea to check with your chosen venue before deciding on you confetti as some churches and registry offices have strict rules governing throwing confetti. Almost all will ban throwing confetti indoors and some will only allow throwing in designated outside areas.
Choose your confetti carefully as small petals may look pretty, but can take a lot of effort to remove from your hair and dress. Larger petals are easier to clear off and can look just as pretty.
We recommend keeping metallic, artificial or small confetti's to decorating the tables
Rose Petals are the most common type used. Perhaps this stems from a time when we were not quite as sweet smelling as we are today. These are totally natural, nothing added or taken away. The natural confetti shown on this site is air dried and if kept in a bag in a dry environment can be bought well in advance of the wedding. They are the petals of a small rose and usually broken down but perfect for throwing.
If you want a full size natural petal confetti then you will have to either use the more expensive freeze dried variety , preserved rose petals. Both of these are covered in the Table Decoration Section. The other option is to use actual fresh garden roses broken down. However it is the most expensive option needing about 24 full size blooms. They will also only last for about 48 hours so will need to be prepared near the wedding and then kept a little moister with a gentle spray. Perhaps you will have lots of other things to consider as the wedding approaches so although fresh rose confetti is a nice idea, unless you have lots of help, is it worth it?
An increasingly popular idea is pre-making confetti cones, boxes or bags. This saves trying to keep young children out of the confetti baskets as we all know how much they love throwing the confetti. This way you can limit the amount of confetti in each, and ensure everyone gets some. Most popular is the confetti cones, but you can also get confetti boxes either pre-made or to make up with boxes you can decorate and the small bags are also used quite regularly.
Table Decorations
In recent times it has become fashionable to use confetti as a table decoration. This can take many forms. From the same confetti used as throwing confetti or something completetly diferent.
Here are a few options not already covered:
Freeze Dried Roses
An extremely fashionable confetti. Both are very similar in apperance and both types of confetti are made from real full size roses. Freeze Dried Roses are just that. Roses that are put into a special machine which draws all the moister out and leaves them in a condition , where the colour and appearance is natual. Kept in dry ,dark conditions they should last a couple of months and be ready on the wedding day. Be warned ,they can absorb moisture, fade or go a little "yellow".
Preserved Roses
Preserved Roses are specially treated to last and last. Part of the process does remove all of the colour of the confetti. Colour is then added to complete a natural rose appearance. The advantage of this as confetti is that you can get a larger range of colours and it will last longer than Freeze Dried Confetti. The reverse side is that with the very dark colours, for instance red and burgundy, the colour may bleed if they become wet.
Artificial Rose Petals
Artificial Rose Petals, using modern materials, have now become made extremely popular as a table confetti. They are very realistic and used sparingly at the wedding breakfast look just like the real thing. The colour will not run and they will last forever. A no nonsence alternative to real rose petal confetti.
Metallic Table Confetti
Metallic Table Confetti is dye cast from metallic foil. It now comes in numerous diferent designs and colours. Just sprinkle a little onto each table. Not recommended as a throwing confetti.
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