Wedding Send Offs: The Guide to the Perfect Wedding Exit

Wedding Send Offs: Guide to the Perfect Wedding Exit

Wedding Send Offs: The Guide to the Perfect Wedding Exit: You and your fiancée have finally made it official. You are husband and wife! Together as one, and it’s the end of the night and you have just finished the first dance! There’s only one thing remaining. The sendoff also known as the grand exit. Some of my most prized images are ones that occur when everyone is involved in the moment. All too often you will have guest witnessing the moments behind tiny cell phone and iPad screens, when they ought to be in the moment. Not the sendoff. The sendoff is immune to the cell phone photographers, because they have bubbles, glow sticks or sparklers in their hands. I LOVE THAT! So I figured I’d share some of my favorite sendoffs and highlight the ones that photograph the best.

Bubbles – The bubble exit! Yes. This one seems to photograph nicely. In all my years of photography I have to say that this grand exit strategy is the safest. You never hear about a kid who was burnt with bubbles. Or that someone was waving their bubbles so furiously that they hit someone in the face with a bubble. Sounds funny? However there are some stories I can tell you about grand exits that will make you reconsider your sendoff. In any event, you are probably wondering why doesn’t everyone do bubble grand exits. Simple answer. Grand Exits involving bubbles are best done during the day time. If you have a ceremony location and a reception location, setting up an exit from the ceremony location is a good fit and ensure that you have the lighting needed to get epic images.

Sparklers – Exiting at night time? Sparklers is the way to go. Sparkler Grand Exits can be epic. They produce ambient light which photographers love for night time pictures. They create an energy that is unmatched by the other grand exits. What’s the down side you ask? Danger! If you are going to have kids at your wedding, realize that sparklers equal a fun time for kids. Sometimes they don’t realize how they can hurt someone with a sparkler. Pair an excited kid with some adults that may have had one, or two, or twenty adult beverages and you can have a nightmare. It’s not all bad though, you can definitely have some sober individuals like wedding planners and event coordinators ensuring the safety of everyone by monitoring the grand exit so that it goes off without a hitch.

Glow Sticks – This is another grand exit that you can pair with a night sendoff. Glow sticks are safer than sparklers and can sometimes produce equally appealing imagery. Now I can’t tell you that glow sticks are better than sparklers because that’s simply untrue, but if you read about sparklers and want a similar look that embodies safety than this is your exit strategy! Glow sticks can be dangerous in that some people can accidently hit the bride and groom or someone standing next to them when waving them. Nonetheless, pain is beauty, so it’s all worth an epic shot right?

Rice or Bird Feed – Super traditional way of doing a grand exit. This is the wildcard because it can be executed at night time and during the day with the same amount of effectiveness. Outside of a little mess to clean up afterwards this strategy is tried and true.

Intimate moment – Taking a few seconds to yourself as husband and wife before you head to where the night will end is a nice option. I’ve had couples share a kiss in the limo or in their getaway car as the guest just walked away to their cards. Taking time to set up a few shots is a great send off and doesn’t take much coordination from outside people. Love this idea? Feel free to pair it with any other grand exit as well.

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed! Ed.