Positive Feedback On Butterfly Releases

I have never seen that done but it sounds really cool. What is the negative stuff about it? if not that you can do the dove release instead.

The bad points I have heard is they die before they are realased, they drop red liquid when they fly away (painted ladys). I just dont` want them to be dead when I have my guest go to realease them. I heard you have to keep them between 40-45 anthing lower could harm them (death) and they come awake at 65 and above. So I guess you have to just plan it right. I thaught of Doves but I wanted something different.Thanks

Hi there,
I just got married last September in Canada and released butterflies. We had 48 people and 50 butterflies. One per person of course. It was fun. It was actually chilly at my wedding...about 55 degrees, so it took the butterflies a bit to wake up. They flew out of the boxes and sat on people`s shoulders, heads and clothes. My father-in-law actually had one stay on his jacket for 15 minutes before it flew away. It wasn`t the picture perfect fly away scene but it made for fantastic pictures with butterflies sitting gracefully on my guests. None of them were dead.

You just need to keep them in a cooler of ice before the ceremony, hand them out as people are seated and then release them right after the ceremony. That will give them the time during the ceremony to wake up and be ready to fly. Provided your outdoor temp is above 60 degrees!

Good luck!

I`ve never seen it done either. I think that would look just beautiful!!

I was just at a wedding where this was done and thought it was a really bad idea. First, someone has to take care of the poor things as they grow. Apparently, they make quite a bit of noise and you have to wake up every few hours to check that they are at the right temprature, otherwise, they die - a hassle no one needs on top of other wedding day issues.

At the wedding itself, I thought the way they were handed out and released (after a poem was read) really interupted the flow of the ceremony. Instead of everyone being focused up front on the bride and groom, everyone was looking around and chattering about the butterflies. Some people had dead ones and when mine flew a way it left a sizable "shell" - very strange to deal with.

Personally, a wedding is a beautiful enough occassion all by itself. Sometimes too much other symbolism can take away rather than add to the moment. My recommendation - forget about it.

I don`t know where the person got those butterflies, but there are places where they ship them a day or two before the wedding and they are already butterflies. They just have to be in a cool place until the wedding.
If you are concerned about the butterflies dying, try selecting a few people to release a larger quantity from boxes and if one or two dies no one will know.
It is best to do your research. There are plenty of places to get butterflies. You have to find the one that works best.

Just wondering where we can order butterflies here in canada??
Does anbody know, has anyone tried this??

-jc

I had it set in my heart that I wanted butterflies to be a theme at our wedding. We were married August 31, 2002 in Regina. I looked around and eventually found a couple sites on the net where you can order from, got a little disheartened because the cost was so high; also was discourged due to the wedding date in August, thought it may be too cold.

Upon doing further research and talking with many butterfly experts, I decided to order the butterflies as intended. I decided on the Monarchs as the Painted Ladies are not even half the size. Ordered from a wonderful gentleman from Ontario.

My bridal party and I (and other females) went out on a butterfly hunt as part of the stagette party, we had a blast, minus the mosquitos! Caught many sulfur butterlies.

Two days prior to the wedding, my butterflies arrived in a careflly, chilled, packaged box. Each butterfly was individually packaged in triangle boxes with our wedding date and names printed on the box. Each butterfly looked comfortably chilled.

On the day of the wedding, we took the butterflies out of the big box and brought them to the church. We could not afford one for each guest so we disbursed them to those who meant so much to us. We ordered a total of four dozen and kept a few for the next day. No one knew about the butterflies until exiting the church. The release went well, the sun was out. The photos turned out amazing!!! We had one butterfly that cooperated for a number of photos. If you care to see one, email me at cas1@accesscomm.ca. The butterflies (8) that we released the next day at the gift opening stayed around my motherinlaws house for one week after. They then migrate to Mexico.

If you are having second thoughts or unsure of where to order, email me personally. People are still talking about the butterflies!

Two of the butterflies did not survive, one of which is now mounted in a shadow box as a keepsake. I have no regrets! Only lasting memories and a everlasting respect for the monarch butterfly.

I wanted to get butterflies for my wedding until I did some research. If you order a significant quantity, some are almost always going to die before you release them. Also as the butterflies are sometimes shipped crosscountry, they may not be native to your area and will no doubt die fairly soon anyway or interfere with the local environment.
Christina, I totally disagree with you catching wild butterflies to fufil your own needs. At least buy butterflies that are specially farmed for the purpose. You are destroying their habitat just to have them at your wedding. If you did this in a national park, you are also breaking the law. And framing a dead one to have on your wall shows that you have no concern over their welfare.
If anyone wants to read more about this, there are a few good articles at http://www.greennature.com.
I used to think butterfly releases were beautiful and romantic too and would definately make for some lovely photos. But to me, I would rather see them `in the wild` than have them released into a foreign environment and have dead butterflies on my wedding day.
And your wedding day will be a beautiful event anyway, regardless of whether you have butterflies or not.

Christina, I see nothing wrong with catching your own butterflys to add a special touch to your day, you will let them go anyways. As far a framing one, I think that was also a really great idea too! It gives you a way of remembering your day. At least you didn`t through it in the trush!! So many people complain about the smallest stuff in life, instead of worring about the bigger issues> some people may even think you should have given it a proper burial, man I tell ya!!!! They are raised to be released for these occasions!

My son and daughter-in-law were just married on 7/26/03. We had a monarch butterfly release for them
It was one of the most beautiful thing I ever seen. One caution. Do not release them if they are cold, gradually warm them up especially if it is a hot day. Do not keep them in the refrigerator. Put ice in a cooler and keep them at about 60. Warm them up before about 5-10 minutes before release. I would do it again. It was wonderful and everyone was amazed. It was a surprise for my son and his wife. They loved it. Good luck if you do this. Any questions just e-mail and in subject put butterfly release.
Sandy