Throwing Rice at Weddings Does Not Hurt Birds!
Stacy Lee wants to throw bird seed at my wedding Saturday out of respect for the birds. Apparently people don't throw wedding rice anymore because when the birds eat it the rice expands in their gut and kills them. Something about that didn't sound right, so we looked it up. Read the truth!
The truth is birds have been eating raw rice for as long as there have been birds!
It's totally a myth perpetuated by good-intentioned people who don't know much about birds or rice.
For example, rice only expands about 30 percent inside a bird's stomach. BIRD SEED EXPANDS 40 PERCENT!
Snopes.com says rice farmers have been fighting this ridiculous myth since it surfaced 30 years ago but it keeps re-appearing.
The reason some wedding venues ban rice is not out of concern for birds, but to avoid a mess and the ground becoming slippery with all that rice underfoot.