Grand Exit: Options

We love a grand exit at the end or during the reception. Want to find out why? You can check out this post here where we talk about why you should have one. But what are your options if you do decide to have an exit? We’ve seen our fair share of exits and there are options that are really common, and some less so. We are here to break down your options so you can decide what might work best for you and your guests to cap off the night with some extra fun!

The most popular option: Sparklers

Sparklers are the perfect grand exit option. They look really cool in photos because we are able to take advantage of the mini firework at the end of the stick and the smoke it gives off creates really cool atmosphere around you. Better yet is it does a great job providing light on you. It makes it the perfect go to grand exit option because it is typically dark at the end of the reception and this is a fun way to end your night. Only downside is giving a bunch of drunk guests a fire stick. Might need to weigh the pros and cons of that, but from our experience, it’s been worth it and creates a really cool image to put at the end of your album or hang on your wall.

Bubbles

Bubbles are a fun way to end your night because they’re really simple, cheap, and the least dangerous option for drunk people. When paired with backlighting, the bubbles really show up and can create a really cool effect. It’s not a terribly popular option. Like I mentioned, we see sparklers at the end of 90% of receptions, but they are a great alternative in case your venue doesn’t allow sparklers. Fun fact, we did bubbles when we were married and it was totally a fun time!

Champagne 

This one is really cool and we have yet to photograph a champagne exit. It’s exactly how it sounds. Grab a few bottles of cheap champagne and have all your guests cheer for you as you exit while a few friends shake up a few bottles and create a champagne fountain of sorts as you run through. It looks like you’ve just won the World Series or something and is a great way to create unique imagery and have a shit that looks like our celebration. The biggest downside is it means you will definitely be a bit wet from the champagne spray. But from images we’ve seen online, it looks totally worth it. Just weigh those pros and cons.

What to avoid

The biggest thing to avoid is LED lights, unless they are crazy bright. The LED lights whether they’re wands or string lights or something else that I can’t think of need to be incredible bright to where I won’t need any additional lighting source. Once I pop a flash on my camera, it’s going to wash out those wands and lights and render them useless. We recommend avoiding LEDs and just using anything you want.

There’s a ton of things that work better than LEDs that won’t give off any light. We’ve seen people use mini American flags, rice, confetti cannons or just regular confetti. All of those work better than LEDS because they actually show up well in the image whereas the LEDs just look like you’re holding a stick after I add my flash into the mix. 

I hope this helps you decide what to do for your grand exit. We think they’re a really fun way to put the cap on your wedding day celebration and they end up being awesome final pages in your album or hanging on your wall.

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