Whether it is a wedding or some other celebration if one wants to have pretty white birds released, well, why? And second of all, if you insist on releasing white birds, use a professional. Do not, as apparently happened in Queens this past weekend, do it yourself. The birds will suffer and die and that is not what your wedding or special event should be about, right?
Corey is a New Yorker who lived most of his life in upstate New York but has lived in Queens since 2008. He's only been birding since 2005 but has garnered a respectable life list by birding whenever he wasn't working as a union representative or spending time with his family. He lives in Forest Hills with Daisy and Desmond Shearwater. His bird photographs have appeared on the Today Show, in Birding, Living Bird Magazine, Bird Watcher's Digest, and many other fine publications. He is also the author of the American Birding Association Field Guide to the Birds of New York.
Same thing for butterfly releases. Releasing some farm raised Painted Ladies from who-knows-where is a bad idea. Plus, most of them are half-dead or half-frozen when you get them. At Beth’s cousin’s wedding, they released butterflies and they all just flew at the bride and groom and landed in their hair. It was awesome.
John Acorn who used to have that show called The Nature Nut did segment on his show on this topic once. That was a great show!