When planning your wedding, you’ve probably thought a lot about what sort of ceremony you want to have, how you want your wedding party to look, what sort of songs you want to dance to, whether you want to participate in certain traditions throughout the day, and many other things that shape your wedding day. Have you also thought about how you want it to end?

A rising trend in modern weddings is to celebrate with a big send-off after the reception. It encourages your guests to stay through the whole reception (which helps prevent your party from fizzling out shortly after cake is served), it provides a dramatic setting for some photos of you and your beloved while also involving your guests, and it’s a fun way of marking the end of your wedding day and leaving you with a specific, vibrant memory to end your day.

Interested in doing a send-off but not sure what to pick? We’ve detailed a few examples that we love below!

Sparklers

The grandest of grand exits. Using sparklers for your reception send-off is the most lavish of the popular options. Your guests have fun lighting and waving them, your photographer loves that they are a big light source and are thus the send-off with the highest chance of turning out beautiful photos, and you get to walk through a tunnel of sparkles with your newlywed. Hold a set of sparklers yourself, share a kiss with your love in the middle of the tunnel of fire and smoke, and your send-off is almost guaranteed to be magical. Plus, it’s the perfect excuse to go out with your photographer after sunset to take a break from the chaos of your reception and get some cool night portraits of just you two with a few extra sparklers. The downside: many venues have banned sparklers from their property due to the fire hazard, and if your wedding guests have been enjoying your open bar a bit too much you may find it to be too risky to let your college buddies hold sticks shooting fire close to you. (Though trust me – we do these all the time and we’ve never experienced anyone being accidentally caught on fire by the sparklers, inebriated or otherwise!) Also, be sure to order the longest sparkler option available to make sure your guests’ sparklers don’t run out before they’re all lit and you’re able to start walking through the sparks. Regular 4th of July-type sparklers from your childhood aren’t likely to last long enough from the time the first sparkler is lit to the end of your exit, so extra long ones are available to order online.

Glow Sticks

Do you like the idea of being surrounded by a tunnel of light for your wedding reception exit, but want something less common than sparklers (and something a little more fireproof)? Glow sticks might be the answer for your send-off! Guests can have fun partying on the dance floor with glow sticks, necklaces, bracelets, etc. during your reception and then take it outside to wave their neon colors as you pass by. Your photographer can use a slower shutter speed mixed with a flash to freeze you in the middle of the chaos but still capture the trailing glow of the waving glow sticks, creating a unique and fun look that lends itself especially well to weddings that anticipate a fun party and want a more vibrant and modern look to end the day. You can even purchase glow items that match your wedding colors if you want something more coordinated. One fun alternative spin on this as well would be to use lightsabers! As with sparklers, we recommend looking for long glow sticks that will move a lot while your guests are waving them to get the coolest effect in the photos. We also recommend passing the glow sticks out toward the middle or end of the reception instead of the beginning, to avoid having them fade before your night ends and to prevent anyone from leaving it on the table at dinner and failing to pick it up again for the send-off.

Confetti Poppers

Nothing says “party” quite like confetti! We love the idea of having guests launching confetti overhead as you celebrate the end of your wedding celebration. The confetti can be random colors to have that classic party look, or like the glow sticks it can be coordinated to your wedding colors. Keep in mind the environmental impact of your confetti celebration and only choose biodegradable confetti, or opt to host the send-off along an easy-to-sweep location like an indoor foyer or a parking lot (and be sure to get permission from your venue first regardless, as many have bans on confetti or similar small loose items). While this send-off is most easily captured during the day when there’s natural light available, it’s more forgiving to your photographer’s external lights as well – just keep in mind that the color of the confetti may be washed out if your photographer’s flash needs to be especially bright.

Streamers/Ribbon

Much like with glow sticks, streamers or ribbons can be a fun way to coordinate your send-off with your wedding colors while still incorporating something fun for your guests to do. This is generally a pretty inexpensive option, and you can even make them yourself if you get some sticks/dowels/straws and spools of paper streamers or ribbon from the local craft store. This option is fun no matter your photographer’s approach – while we at Beauty of the Soul Studio prefer to use a slightly slower shutter speed in order to capture some movement in the waving streamers surrounding you, while still getting a nice sharp photo of you and your beloved sharing a kiss or smile in the center, you can also still get gorgeous photos if your photographer ends up needing to shoot with a higher shutter speed and freeze everything in the photo. The downside: this is much harder to capture at night because your streamers aren’t giving off light to help your photographer with an otherwise dark image, unless your venue has some great ambient light where you want to host the exit (like some outdoor lights that can be left on near the door to the venue where you’ll walk out). This send-off is otherwise best left to the end of your daytime wedding reception, or even after your ceremony when you’re leaving the church/ceremony site, when there’s still plenty of sunlight.

(Fake) Snow

If you’re planning a winter wedding, lean into the theme and have your guests toss snow during your sendoff to create a winter wonderland! It’s fun for your guests, and you’ll give the illusion that there’s a light dusting of snow on your hair and shoulders. It’s a great option for both day and night send-offs. As with the confetti, check on the environmental impact of whatever fake snow you choose and consider natural options like potato flakes, which are biodegradable but deceptive enough to be used on professional movie sets for snowy scenes.

Bubbles

Who doesn’t feel magical when standing in the middle of a cloud of bubbles? This is a common send-off in my own family, so it holds quite a bit of nostalgia for me personally – for the handful of weddings I attended as a kid and teen, my family has almost always waited outside the church doors to blow bubbles for the bride and groom before we all head over to the reception (and we did it at my own wedding as well, of course). While this option, like the streamers/ribbons, also doesn’t emit its own light, it’s a great option for both daytime and nighttime send-offs because bubbles lend themselves well to an external flash if needed. (Check out the photo below for an example of a nighttime bubble sendoff!) An experienced photographer comfortable with external lighting equipment can set up a flash to backlight the bubbles, helping them pop against the nighttime darkness, while also lighting you two from the front so you stand out in the sea of bubbles. A bubble machine or two can help elevate the number of bubbles surrounding you, especially if you’re having a smaller guest list or don’t expect many people to stay til the end of the reception despite the send-off planned. Bubble machines certainly aren’t necessary in most cases though, and bubbles are one of the most budget-friendly send-off options because you can usually buy the little containers in bulk online for a few cents each!

Lightsabers

Okay, sure, these are pretty much the same as glow sticks. But we just wanted a designated place to show off the creativity of our 2020 couple Afton and Dave, who had lightsabers AND bubbles. At night. INDOORS. Indoors ended up being the result of February cold weather making everyone realize “uh, it’s a little chilly out to stand around and blow bubbles?” and it totally worked for them! The lightsabers weren’t even a planned addition to this sendoff but because they had the genius idea of gifting these incredible, huge lightsabers to their wedding party right before the reception, everyone played with them all night long and the tunnel of lightsabers just sort of happened. A lesson learned that if you like multiple options, do multiple things!

Have we skipped your favorite send-off option? Have you seen any unique reception exits that we haven’t talked about here? Let us know in the comments below!