Today the bride has more options than ever when it comes to choosing confetti for her wedding.
No longer do guests bring their own boxes of standard, pre-packed paper confetti to throw.
Too many venues have restrictions on what you can throw, so it has become usual for the confetti to be planned as part of the whole wedding theme.
The origins of wedding confetti The tradition of throwing confetti over the heads of the bride and groom as they emerge from church has its origins far in the past.
Long ago the newly-weds were pelted with grains, as a superstitious ritual to ensure prosperity and fertility in their marriage.
In some regions little flat cakes were thrown, in others the grains themselves, either of wheat or rice depending on the main grain crop of the area.
In Italy, sugared almonds or grains, known as confetti, were thrown at carnivals and weddings, also symbolising fertility and prosperity, and eventually the name transferred to what we know as confetti today.
Paper confetti In the last century grains were replaced with coloured paper confetti, prettier and less wasteful than throwing grain, but the tradition continued to be popular even though the superstitions associated with throwing confetti began to be forgotten and it was just seen as part of the traditional wedding ceremony.
Paper confetti began to be frowned on by venues, who struggled to clean up the mounds of paper pieces before the next wedding.
Bio-degradable confetti Eco-conscious brides nowadays choose bio-degradable confetti, either of soluble paper or freeze-dried rose petals.
Often these are presented in baskets carried by the bridesmaids, so all the guests in turn can throw a handful of the petals over the bride and groom as they leave the ceremony.
Metallic Confetti There is also a new breed of metallic confetti, punched from shimmering PVC.
While this can be very pretty sparkling in the sunlight, it is not bio-degradable and most venues don't allow it for throwing confetti.
Often it is used instead for table confetti.
Table Confetti Nowadays you can buy an infinite variety of confetti intended for table decoration at weddings and other celebrations.
These include all the metallic shiny confetti shapes and also custom printed confetti, where the names of the bride and groom or other words can be printed on each tiny piece of confetti.
You can even get photographic confetti and have the portraits of the bride and groom in miniature smiling up from the scattering of confetti on the table! Other table confetti includes shining crystals scattered over the table, or again freeze-dried flower petals for a more eco-friendly and natural theme.
Venue restrictions When planning the confetti to use at your wedding it is essential to check the rules of your wedding venue.
Some venues don't allow any at all, even the biodegradable paper type which dissolves in water.
Others will allow certain bio-degradable types, such as flower petals.
Some allow most types but charge an extra clean-up fee.
Other creative ideas for wedding confetti At beach weddings shredded coconut is a novel and biodegradable natural confetti.
Birdseed has been used as a natural confetti with little clean-up - the clean up being done by the feathered residents of the venue for free! Bubbles can be used to replace confetti, as a fun and whimsical touch to a wedding.