Planning the ultimate wedding day celebration requires careful thought, especially when you want to conclude the evening with a breathtaking wedding exit. There are several options but the most popular is the sparkler exit and to pull it off you need to know some things.
Planning Your Sparkler Exit
Organizing a successful sparkler send-off takes a lot of preparation from your wedding planner, venue, and photographer. You’re giving a bunch of possibly drunk guests flaming sticks so you definitely need a plan to make it all work out.
1. Choosing the Right Venue for Your Sparkler Send-Off
Before purchasing any wedding sparklers, you must check with your wedding venue to make sure they allow open flames on the property. I know several venues that don’t allow it. If they do allow it, it’s a good idea to ask about the rules and see where they normally suggest it. Usually you’ll want an area near a door of the venue with a long, wide straight stretch. This gives you plenty of space.
2. Choosing the Right Sparklers
I know this might seem weird, but not all sparklers are created equally. There are some that put off a ridiculous amount of smoke and shorter ones don’t last long enough. I suggest in investing in extra-long sparklers. This is helpful in a few ways. One, it gives everyone more time. I can’t tell you how many times sparkers have died early. Often, I like to have the bride and groom make a second pass down the tunnel, so having that time is great. The second thing is longer sparklers are safer. This let’s people hold them out further away from their body and from others.
3. Informing Guests About the Sparkler Exit
Sparkler exits are at the end of the night. Now it might be a fake exit or a real one, but the point is it’s later in the night. Many guests will leave before this happens, but if you communicate when it is, more people will stay longer to be there for it. This could be on signs around the venue or you might have something at the tables that say the timeline for the evening. Another option is to have the DJ make an announcement an hour to 30 minutes before.
4. Setting Responsibilities Early on
There are lots of responsibilities throughout the day, but you’ll also want to set responsibilities for the sparker exit early on. Sometimes someone from the venue will help or a wedding coordinator. There have been several where I was left to be in charge. Mainly, you need someone to get the sparklers out and get them to the guests, someone to arrange the guests, someone to help with lighting the sparklers, and someone in charge of cleanup.
Executing the Sparkler Send-Off
So you’ve got a great plan, but now it’s time to actually pull off the grand exit. To pull this off smoothly, you will need to take the following steps:
- The first step is getting everyone heading out. I would suggest having the DJ making an announcement and then someone ushering people in the right direction.
- Next, the guests need the sparklers. You can have them set out by the door or I would suggest having someone standing by the door giving them to people. This makes sure everyone gets one and people don’t take too many.
- Then, the guests need to be arranged so there are two lines and they aren’t too close or too far away.
- As the couple prepares to walk through, designated helpers must quickly light a bunch of sparklers so that the open flame is managed safely without causing any panic among the attendees.
5. Best Time for Your Sparkler Exit
Determining the ideal moment to transition from the wedding reception to the actual exit is important but difficult. I really don’t like having a rigid schedule for the reception. You never know how things are going to go. Often, we will have it set for a certain time, but then we end up doing it early because we are losing too many people.
In general, I would aim for around 3 to 4 hours into the reception. You also will need to take into account sunset because in the summer it stays light till like 9. You’ll want it dark for the exit.
6. Creating a Sparkler Tunnel for Dramatic Photos
How the guests are positioned will have an effect on the whole exit. One, if you don’t have many people it won’t be long enough to look good. Two, try to have the exit be a straight line so it looks like a long tunnel. Next, you want the guests close, but you don’t want anyone to get burned. If they have longer sparklers they can hold them higher up and get closer to the other line.
7. Using a Lighter Effectively for Sparkler Photos
In my experience, lighting the sparklers is the hardest and most important step. If it takes too long, the first people’s sparklers will have died or the people at the end won’t get lit in time. Designate a few people to be in charge of lighting. Lighters are the most common and safest thing but I have seen some venues use a blow torch. Make sure no one starts early. Wait till a planner or the photographer tells you to start. When lighting them, have people hold a bunch together at once. One someone is lit, have them use their sparkler to light others.
8. Safety Tips
I have yet to be burnt or seen anyone get hurt (knock on wood) but is it a possibility. A few things that will keep everyone safe. One, watch out for little kids and drunk people. Both need to be kept an eye on and probably shouldn’t be given a sparkler. Two, don’t crowd people. Try to spread out so everyone has space and sparklers aren’t close to each other.
9. Taking Your Time to Enjoy the Moment
This is supposed to be a big moment. Kind of the finale of the night. I like it when the couple has time to really enjoy it. That’s why it’s important that you time things right.
A few things that I tell my couples. Don’t rush through. Take your time. When you get about halfway, do a dip or kiss or something. Then, as long as things are still lit, we will run it a second time.
Photographing the Sparkler Exit
You’d think photographing a sparkler exit would be easy, but it really isn’t. Make sure your photographer has experience shooting them before you hire them. You’d think that the sparklers would create a ton of light but most of the time it really doesn’t. This means that focusing might be hard and that you might have to use a little bit of flash. I also tend to walk backwards with the couple, so you can’t be ultra clumsy. Also, if you have a really creative photographer, you can use the sparklers for some other photos.
Post-Exit Celebration
10. Planning a Reception After the Sparkler Send-Off
As I mentioned earlier, you want enough people there for the sparkler exit because some guests will leave early. So either plan for a fake exit or be ready to adjust times if needed. In these situations, tell the guests that it’s a fake exit and that the party is going to continue afterwards. The announcement will let people know that they don’t have to go home and there is more fun to be had.
Having an amazing wedding exit
I love sparkler exits and I think most guests really enjoy doing them. It is a bit involved and requires a good amount of planning but totally worth it. Now, if your venue doesn’t allow sparkler exits or you just want to be different, check out this post about alternative wedding exits.