It used to be that people would throw rice at weddings, but nolonger. Some people never really noticed this change, others noticed by never knew why. Many people, however, knew that it was due to one gruesome fact: Birds eat the uncooked rice and their stomachs explode. The people who know that unfortunate "fact" are entirely wrong. It's simply not true.

The truth is that people like columnist Ann Landers and well-known TV and Radio personality Martha Stewart helped spread these rumors, likely believing them to be true, and because their opinions carry so much weight with so many people it became a known "fact". In actual fact, birds eat uncooked rice all the time, in the wild and at weddings, without any medical mishaps. Uncooked rice is completely harmless to birds.

There have been numerous debunkings of this myth over the years but for some reason it is still with us. If you attend a wedding these days you're very likely to see wedding bubbles, rose petals, confetti and with startling irony: birdseed. Our society has actually gotten to the point where our priorities during this part of the wedding have shifted from showering the couple with a symbol of good luck to making sure the birds are well-fed. It is of apparent comparative unimportance if the bride has to spend six hours in the shower getting birdseed out of her hair.

Oddly enough, it actually is a bad idea to throw rice at a wedding. Because of the shape and the relative hardness of uncooked rice, enough of them on the ground poses a serious danger to anyone trying to walk on top of them without rolling around and going for a spill. Even with less of it on the ground, the more people walking around on top of it, the more likely an accident is to occur.

So, although many have been doing it for the wrong reasons, they've been doing the right thing. Still, people should know the true facts behind their decisions because believing in myths is supposed to be a thing of the past. But girls, don't try that ring on before the ceremony. NEVER try that ring on before the ceremony. Bad luck, you know?

Alex is a wedding consultant for Gifts and Otherwise, an online retailer of wedding stuff.