News

<h2>Overpriced destination weddings, holiday weddings with costumes, riding down the aisle in a white horse-drawn diamond-encrusted pumpkin carriage...modern weddings can rapidly escalate into arena-style Vegas shows.</h2><p>So, when a conflicted falconer decided to consult the moral compass of the internet about whether or not they&#39;re wrong to refuse to loan their trained owls for their friend&#39;s themed wedding, people were quick to help deem a verdict.</p><h2>AITA (Am I the As*hole) for refusing to let my friends use my owl as a ringbearer in their wedding?</h2><blockquote> <p>I am a Falconer and perform in Falconry shows with my owls. There is some debate in the community over owls being used, but it has gained a lot of traction over the years and I find my owls are easier to manage for me personally than my other birds were.</p> </blockquote><p> </p><blockquote> <p>My friend is having a Harry Potter-themed wedding and is begging to have me work with one of my owls to have the ring flown down the aisle to them, bringing up how well trained they are and how it will really sell the moment.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><p> </p><blockquote> <p>Now, in theory this could be done. After all, 9 times out of 10 they&#39;ll do exactly as I want it&#39;s just the 1 time I&#39;m worried about and I don&#39;t exactly want to take that risk with wedding rings.</p> </blockquote><p> </p><blockquote> <p>I explained my concerns to my friend and said it wasn&#39;t a risk I&#39;d advise they take. I offered as an alternative me coming with <em>all</em> my owls and helping them and the guests take pictures with them and maybe even do a little brief flying show as a gift to them.</p> </blockquote><p> </p><blockquote> <p>My friend is upset with me, saying she has seen how well I&#39;ve trained them, she has complete confidence they won&#39;t mess up, and how this would be such a huge thing for the wedding.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><p> </p><blockquote> <p>It&#39;s their risk to take I guess but I am just not entirely comfortable with this...am I the as*hole for saying no?</p> </blockquote><p> </p><blockquote> <p>Should I just agree but stress that if a f*ck up happens, it&#39;s not on me as I warned them?</p> </blockquote><h2>Best case scenario here is that an owl swoops down and delivers the rings like a howler letter in the dining hall of Hogwarts, but worst case scenario? Let&#39;s just say it&#39;s a good thing that wedding dresses are white...</h2><p>Involving animals in any important event, even if they&#39;re expertly trained, is always a risk. Sure, it&#39;s adorable to have your golden retriever pose for the wedding photos, but what happens when your dog realizes that they&#39;re a sixty pound wolf-like carnivore surrounded by endless platters of food? Are those Instagram posts of Max in a doggy tuxedo really worth him grabbing the white table cloth and running on the dance floor with hundreds of dollars worth of catered hors d&#39;oeuvres.</p><div className="ad-splitter"></div><p>Birds and weddings aren&#39;t exactly a new combination, but even releasing doves is frowned upon these days. An owl delivering your rings might be how they&#39;d plan a wedding in the fictional fantasy universe of Harry Potter where snakes can speak to humans and centaurs roam the woods, but here in reality? Owls have no idea what marriage means.</p><h2>Luckily, people were eager to weigh in on this unique wedding drama. Here&#39;s what the jury of internet strangers had to say:</h2><blockquote> <p>NTA (Not the As*hole). There&#39;s an old saying &quot;If in doubt, don&#39;t.&quot; This applies here. You are under no obligation to agree to their request for whatever reason. Simply decline. If they can&#39;t accept it and your friendship suffers then they weren&#39;t as good of a friend as you thought they were. They should respect your decision instead of being upset with you. - LoveBeach8</p> </blockquote><p> </p><div className="ad-splitter"></div><p> </p><blockquote> <p>NTA but maybe just use a fake ring instead? That way if anything goes wrong, just laugh it off and whip out the real ring. - DannyBigD</p> </blockquote><p> </p><blockquote> <p>NTA - They are YOUR birds and you care for them. They are also animals, not props. All that being said, Intelligent people at weddings DO NOT use the actual rings for such times.</p> </blockquote><p> </p><blockquote> <p>Kids drop them, don&#39;t &#39;perform&#39; in front of others as expected, and many other things happen that would cause something valuable and &quot;precious&quot; (pun intended) from not being available at the proper moment. SO, if your primary concern is losing the rings, make sure that the best man has the real ones on his &#39;wand.&#39; Maybe why he&#39;d be called the BEST man - LOL. - Smitty_80013</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote> <p>NTA- your owls are your responsibility and so is their welfare, not her wedding. You&rsquo;ve gone above and beyond in what your offering to compensate not doing what your friend wishes. Your friend either needs to respect your decision and accept the counter-offwr or look at another company that could do what she wants. - Dramatic-Dish8009</p> </blockquote><p> </p><blockquote> <p>NTA. This isn&rsquo;t a movie. It&rsquo;s a live, unpredictable animal who poops! What if it poops on her dress? Or scratches one of them up? Or what if it freaks out? I&rsquo;d ask them if they would sign a document stating the risks and that you will not be responsible in the event that rings are lost, dropped, or eaten by the owls. I&rsquo;d also put in there that if anything happens to the owl, they will be responsible for all vet bills related to the event. - omnixe-13c</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><h2>So, there you have it!</h2><p>Everyone agreed unanimously here that this falconer wouldn&#39;t be at all wrong to reject their friend&#39;s request to use their trained owls as it&#39;s a pretty unique and stressful ask. Risking a disaster at such a pivotal point in the ceremony isn&#39;t worth the potentially majestic moment. Good luck, everyone!</p><div className="ad-splitter"></div>

Person asks if they’re wrong to refuse to train owl as ring bearer for friend’s wedding.

Overpriced destination weddings, holiday weddings with costumes, riding down the aisle in a white horse-drawn diamond-encrusted pumpkin carriage...modern weddings can rapidly escalate into arena-style Vegas shows.So, when a conflicted falconer decided to consult the moral compass of the internet about whether or not they&#39;re wrong to refuse to loan their trained owls for their friend&#39;s themed wedding, people were quick to help deem a verdict.AITA (Am I the As*hole) for refusing to let my friends use my owl as a ringbearer in their wedding? I am a Falconer and perform in Falconry shows with my owls. There is some debate in the community over owls being used, but it has gained a lot of traction over the years and I find my owls are easier to manage for me personally than my other birds were.   My friend is having a Harry Potter-themed wedding and is begging to have me work with one of my owls to have the ring flown down the aisle to them, bringing up how well trained they are and how it will really sell the moment.   Now, in theory this could be done. After all, 9 times out of 10 they&#39;ll do exactly as I want it&#39;s just the 1 time I&#39;m worried about and I don&#39;t exactly want to take that risk with wedding rings.   I explained my concerns to my friend and said it wasn&#39;t a risk I&#39;d advise they take. I offered as an alternative me coming with all my owls and helping them and the guests take pictures with them and maybe even do a little brief flying show as a gift to them.   My friend is upset with me, saying she has seen how well I&#39;ve trained them, she has complete confidence they won&#39;t mess up, and how this would be such a huge thing for the wedding.   It&#39;s their risk to take I guess but I am just not entirely comfortable with this...am I the as*hole for saying no?   Should I just agree but stress that if a f*ck up happens, it&#39;s not on me as I warned them? Best case scenario here is that an owl swoops down and delivers the rings like a howler letter in the dining hall of Hogwarts, but worst case scenario? Let&#39;s just say it&#39;s a good thing that wedding dresses are white...Involving animals in any important event, even if they&#39;re expertly trained, is always a risk. Sure, it&#39;s adorable to have your golden retriever pose for the wedding photos, but what happens when your dog realizes that they&#39;re a sixty pound wolf-like carnivore surrounded by endless platters of food? Are those Instagram posts of Max in a doggy tuxedo really worth him grabbing the white table cloth and running on the dance floor with hundreds of dollars worth of catered hors d&#39;oeuvres.Birds and weddings aren&#39;t exactly a new combination, but even releasing doves is frowned upon these days. An owl delivering your rings might be how they&#39;d plan a wedding in the fictional fantasy universe of Harry Potter where snakes can speak to humans and centaurs roam the woods, but here in reality? Owls have no idea what marriage means.Luckily, people were eager to weigh in on this unique wedding drama. Here&#39;s what the jury of internet strangers had to say: NTA (Not the As*hole). There&#39;s an old saying &quot;If in doubt, don&#39;t.&quot; This applies here. You are under no obligation to agree to their request for whatever reason. Simply decline. If they can&#39;t accept it and your friendship suffers then they weren&#39;t as good of a friend as you thought they were. They should respect your decision instead of being upset with you. - LoveBeach8    NTA but maybe just use a fake ring instead? That way if anything goes wrong, just laugh it off and whip out the real ring. - DannyBigD   NTA - They are YOUR birds and you care for them. They are also animals, not props. All that being said, Intelligent people at weddings DO NOT use the actual rings for such times.   Kids drop them, don&#39;t &#39;perform&#39; in front of others as expected, and many other things happen that would cause something valuable and &quot;precious&quot; (pun intended) from not being available at the proper moment. SO, if your primary concern is losing the rings, make sure that the best man has the real ones on his &#39;wand.&#39; Maybe why he&#39;d be called the BEST man - LOL. - Smitty_80013    NTA- your owls are your responsibility and so is their welfare, not her wedding. You&rsquo;ve gone above and beyond in what your offering to compensate not doing what your friend wishes. Your friend either needs to respect your decision and accept the counter-offwr or look at another company that could do what she wants. - Dramatic-Dish8009   NTA. This isn&rsquo;t a movie. It&rsquo;s a live, unpredictable animal who poops! What if it poops on her dress? Or scratches one of them up? Or what if it freaks out? I&rsquo;d ask them if they would sign a document stating the risks and that you will not be responsible in the event that rings are lost, dropped, or eaten by the owls. I&rsquo;d also put in there that if anything happens to the owl, they will be responsible for all vet bills related to the event. - omnixe-13c So, there you have it!Everyone agreed unanimously here that this falconer wouldn&#39;t be at all wrong to reject their friend&#39;s request to use their trained owls as it&#39;s a pretty unique and stressful ask. Risking a disaster at such a pivotal point in the ceremony isn&#39;t worth the potentially majestic moment. Good luck, everyone!

Overpriced destination weddings, holiday weddings with costumes, riding down the aisle in a white horse-drawn diamond-encrusted pumpkin carriage...modern weddings can rapidly escalate into arena-style Vegas shows.  So, when a conflicted...