You can throw a wedding, but these days you have to be careful what you throw after the nuptials.

Aside from television ads and movies, showering the newlyweds with rice on the church steps just isn't done much any more.

“I haven't seen rice in two years,” said Jayme Steighner, wedding coordinator at the First United Methodist Church, 200 E. North St.

She said couples either throw nothing or they use bubbles, although she did see balloons released at one wedding in 2014.

“I don't push anything. It's whatever they ask to do,” she said.

“The tradition isn't really specific to rice — it's about grain and other symbols of fertility and wealth,” said Lia Paradis, associate professor and chair in the Department of History at Slippery Rock University.

“Dating back to ancient Rome at least, there was the tradition of having something symbolic that was supposed to bring a blessing of fertility on the bride and wealth to the couple,” Paradis said. “So people threw hops, barley, whatever. It's really only in modern times that it became most commonly rice.”

Paradis said the Romans baked tiny cakes for the couple to eat together in a ceremony called the conferriatio, meaning “eating together.”

“They threw dried fruit and nuts called confetti — coming from the same word — and that's where we get confetti,” Paradis said. “It's harder to be on the receiving end of nuts and dried fruit than rice.”

Paradis said throwing rice isn't only a western custom.

“In other societies, grains are given, or different parts of the bodies of the bride and groom are ceremonially touched with handfuls of grains, again to signify fertility,” Paradis said.

“I discourage those kind of post-ritual things,” said the Rev. James Gretz, director of the department for worship of the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh and administrator for All Saints Parish in Etna. “It is oftentimes about safety and it's about cleanup.”

Gretz said if there are more weddings or other services the same day, there may not be enough time to sweep up the leavings.

Whitney Camp, event coordinator for the Crystal and Terrace Rooms at the Butler Day's Inn had one request for confetti cannons. She said many venues don't allow confetti because it is difficult to pick up.

Couples also ask Camp if they can use sparklers and bubbles. Neither is allowed at the Crystal and Terrace Rooms.

“We have all marble flooring,” Camp said. “Bubbles get on the floor and can get very slippery. A lot of things can be slippery. It's a liability.”

Bubbles are allowed at Succop Nature Park in Penn Township, part of the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania, which has weddings nearly every Friday, Saturday and Sunday from May to October.

Davlin Smith, center coordinator at the park, said weddings support the property and benefit events and education programs at the park.

Smith said fake flowers, glitter, balloons or anything artificial is not allowed. There is a risk animals will swallow pieces of balloons.

“We have a lot of tall trees and if people use balloons they can get stuck in the trees. We have no way to get them down,” Smith said.

“Birdseed is fine. Rice is OK as well,” Smith said.

The park doesn't allow anything with fire, such as small hot air balloons called sky lanterns or Chinese paper lanterns.

Smith said things are thrown at about 40 percent of the weddings at the park.

“A lot of times now, if things are thrown now, it's thrown on the way back down the aisle,” Smith said.

“One of the things that's become very popular is dried lavender,” she said.

Another alternative is celebrating with sound — small bells, noisemakers or simply happy noise.

“I've done a few weddings where they didn't have anything,” Steighner said. “The crowd just clapped and cheered.”

Camp said now some couples plan a ribbon line. For this guests have long strands of ribbon to wave up and down. Cleanup is not a problem, and she said it is a very good photo opportunity. Instructions for the ribbon line are attached to guests' placecards or programs.

“It's a new solution for us,” Camp said.

“Each wedding is different,” Smith said. “Many people do not do send-offs anymore because the bride and groom don't even leave before the guests do.”