5 Tips for a Flawless Sparkler Exit

One of our favorite kinds of wedding grand exits is the sparkler exit. Sparklers look awesome in pictures and really end your wedding night in a way that is fun for our couples and their guests! Here are our top five tips for a flawless sparkler exit!

 

1. Buy Long Sparklers!

Most sparkler or fireworks companies have two different sizes of sparklers. There are ones that are 36 inches that last just over 3 minutes, and a size that is 20 inches that last just 1.5 minutes. When you plan for purchasing sparklers be sure to buy the ones that are 36 inches long (or last for 3 minutes) for your exit. These longer sparklers will last the right amount of time and if you are like one of our former brides you may be lucky enough to run through twice! The smaller sparklers are awesome to use if you are looking to get any pictures of just the two of you after sunset writing with sparklers. For all our Utah wedding couples, we recommend checking out Utah Sparklers! We have worked with them in the past and trust their products and service.

2. Make Them a Part of Your Decor

Don’t just hand out your exit sparklers at the door and surprise your guests with a sparkler exit when they didn’t expect it. For a flawless sparkler exit, we recommend using the sparkler as part of your wedding reception décor. We’ve seen some of the cutest displays and tags that can be purchased for decorating sparklers for your reception. Another idea to make sure all of your guests know you that are doing an exit and when it will be happening is to have a sign set up near your sparklers. You can put a cute saying with the sparklers along with the time that you will be doing your exit. We love using Valerie from The Shabby Chic Sisters for her sparkler décor rentals! Definitely check out what she has available. Click here to learn more about wedding rentals from The Shabby Chic Sisters!

3. Have Torch Lighters and Two Helpers

We’ve had personal experience lighting sparklers during reception exits and know which lighters work the best and which ones to avoid. To create a completely flawless sparkler exit, we recommend using two torch lighters, and two people to light the sparklers. That will give you one person and one lighter for each row of sparklers. We’ve used normal stick lighters in the past and have heard of terrible experiences using matches. We don’t recommend either because of their unreliability and they tend to go out in the slightest breeze. Torch lighters are fast and will give you the best experience.

 

4. Where to Discard the Sparklers, and Who Should Use Them

When you are working on planning a flawless sparkler exit, one of the most commonly forgot about things is where the sparkler will go after they are used. It’s recommended to have two easy to find buckets of water or sand for the guests to put them in. Doing this makes clean up easy and safe.

We also recommend only allowing responsible adults and kids over 12 years old to hold sparklers during your wedding exit. It’s not that it isn’t adorable to see a 5 year old with a sparkler, it’s because it could be a safety risk for you, your guests, and us as your photographers. One of us is always walking backwards in front of you down the sparkler tunnel and the risk of an accident is much greater if smaller children or inebriated adults handle sparklers.

5. Wait for us to Give you Final Instructions!

Our final tip and maybe the most important tip for a flawless sparkler exit is to wait for your photographers. Before your guests line up we will get our settings and lights ready to go. Before your make your grand exit, we will come to you and give you some instruction and tips to have the best experience possible. We want you guys to have a blast during your exit, and we want to capture that fun in the best possible way.

There you have it! Those are our 5 best tips for creating a flawless sparkler exit. We love sparkler exits, and if you follow these five steps, you will have an awesome experience!

Are you on the fence still about doing a wedding exit at all? Check out this blog post about why we think you should definitely do an exit!