A Guide to Using Sparklers for your Wedding Exit

A Guide to Using Sparklers for your Wedding Exit

A wedding exit is the last WOW moment of a wedding and the grand exit for the bride and groom before starting their lives together. 

The wedding guests get to cheer on the newlyweds as they walk past all their loved ones that they chose to spend this incredible experience with. What better way to create a magical ending moment for your wedding than to add some sparklers to the occasion?

When I was planning my wedding, I wanted to do something special and not so traditional and I thought sparklers were a fun and beautiful addition to a send-off. I tried to do some research on how best to use them in a wedding, but I came up short.

Other than some photos from a past wedding, I could not find much guidance on how I should plan to use the sparklers, which sparklers to buy, or other important information. I ended up spending a lot of time coming up with all the necessary details to ensure smooth execution.

In the end, I did have my dream wedding exit, and now I want to recreate the same wonderful experience for other couples, minus the stressful planning and research.

So I decided to start my own wedding sparkler business not only with the right accessories and sparkler choices but also with all the information and tips from my experience to help you create your special exit moment. With all the other planning that goes into a wedding, I hope my guide to using sparklers during your grand exit will help eliminate any additional unneeded stress so that you can focus on planning the rest of your special day.

What is a Wedding Exit?

Traditionally, a wedding exit involves the bride and groom walking out through the church doors after their ceremony. Often, wedding guests will stand creating a pathway and toss rice, birdseed, or confetti towards the newly married couple as they walk down towards their “Just Married” car.

In movies, I’ve even seen doves flying, bands playing, and of course, the tin cans trailing behind the newlyweds' white limousine. This may be a more extravagant version of what you have in mind, but in reality, are usually quite simple.

However, when you choose to create your wedding exit, send-off line, farewell line, or grand exit, you want it to be unique and for it to go smoothly. So, here are some suggestions and information I found useful in planning my grand exit with sparklers.

Choosing the Right Sparklers for your Exit

Once you decide on having sparklers for your grand exit, you then need to choose the right kind of sparkler. I would have never thought about the details or sizes of sparklers, but it does make a difference to have an effective and smooth send-off line. Namely, the size or length of the sparkler will determine how long the sparkler will go off for.

This is important since you want to make sure that all the guests have their sparklers lit when the bride and groom walk down the line and that the sparkler doesn’t go out by the time they walk down. So the determining factor in deciding what size sparkler to get is the number of guests that you are going to have at your wedding.

Our 36-inch sparklers are perfect for larger weddings. Each sparkler lasts for almost four minutes which should account for the time it takes to light the sparkler and for guests to get ready for the exit. These long-lasting sparklers will give the bride and groom enough time to walk down the line and have the sparklers going off the whole way down. If you are going to have a wedding of 250 or more guests, the 36-inch sparklers are your best bet.

For smaller, more intimate weddings, I suggest using our 20-inch sparklers. If you have a wedding with 150 guests or less, longer sparklers may drag on for too long and be a bit unnecessary. These smaller sparklers last for around a minute and a half and should give you a good amount of time for your shorter exit line.

You do still have to account for lighting your sparklers and for set up time, so I would not recommend anything smaller than 20 inches for a wedding exit. The last thing you would want is the sparklers to fizzle out before the bride and groom get to have their grand exit.

Where to Have Your Wedding Exit

It may not seem like a significant detail, but it is important to decide where your wedding exit is going to take place so that you have all the details organized and the equipment in place. 

Some wedding venues have rules and regulations around where you can use sparklers since they do involve the use of fire. So make sure to look into that before planning. If you are getting married in a chapel or church you may want to stick to tradition and have the wedding line outside the doors, or maybe you rather have it in a different area. 

Depending on where your wedding venue is located, there will be different options available; some suggest having the grand exit in a nearby field or parking lot. The important thing to remember is you need somewhere where there will be enough space for all the guests and where there are no obstructions or safety hazards.

Coordinating Your Guests and Getting Them in Position

For a safe and smooth execution, it may be a good idea to have someone in charge of organizing the send-off line. They can make sure that guests are positioned- typically in two rows with a walkway in between, give out the sparklers to the guests, and coordinate lighting the sparklers quickly and efficiently. 

I would suggest at least eight feet of space between the rows of people so that the bride and groom can easily walk safely through the sparklers held in the air. The order of the send-off line also may be of importance to you; sometimes, the bridesmaids, groomsmen, and close family are positioned at the beginning of the line, and so it would be helpful to have someone ensure this happens. 

If you have one or two people that can set up the guests and ensure everything is in order, then your wedding exit will have a more polished execution.

Lighting the Sparklers for your Wedding Exit

The most important thing to remember when lighting sparklers for a wedding exit is that it is done quickly and efficiently. You want to ensure that all the guests can light their sparklers on time and that there is little time wasted since we don’t want any sparklers to burn out before the farewell has begun.

Whoever you put in charge of organizing the send-off line should have multiple flames and a few people to help light all the sparklers down the row of guests. Either candles or blow torches are the best to use, which provide a sizeable continuous flame. That way, with a bigger flame, many sparklers can be lit simultaneously, and there will be no time wasted in re-lighting matches, for example.

Basic Safety Guidelines

Using sparklers at a celebration can be fun, but you need to remember we are still talking about fire, and so there are some safety issues you need to keep in mind. Make sure that you have at least one fire extinguisher present just in case anything goes wrong. Also, it is a good idea to have a few buckets full of water or sand nearby for everyone to put their sparklers in after they are done. This will provide a safe place to put out any sparklers that are still hot or smoking and make for an easy clean-up as well. 

You also need to make sure that you have a first aid kit. It is always a possibility that someone can get injured while using sparklers and so it is best to be prepared. You want to have both bandages and ointment available in case you need to treat a mild burn or injury. 

Let’s hope this is not the case, but it’s always better to be safe than sorry! My last safety tip is to avoid serving guests drinks before the wedding exit so that their hands are free to hold their sparklers. Typically, the grand exit would take place after the wedding ceremony and before all the fun happens at the reception!

A Quick Recap

I have given you a lot of information, so here is a quick overview of how to execute an exciting and seamless wedding exit with sparklers:

• Use 20-inch sparkles for smaller weddings and 36-inch sparklers for a bigger wedding: choosing the right size for your exit will make a difference
• Choose an appropriate location for your wedding exit to take place
• Plan out how and where exactly you want your guests to stand
• Have multiple ignition sources for efficient lighting—candles or torches are ideal
• Ensure the safety of yourself and your guests as best as you can with a fire extinguisher, first aid kit, and safe disposal site for the sparklers
• Have someone in charge of handing out sparklers, lighting them, and of other equipment needed
• Inform your wedding photographer of the plans so they can take great photos of the wedding exit

This guide is made up of tips and suggestions from my own experience as well as the experience of many other couples who used sparklers in their wedding. I was so very happy with how my wedding exit turned out but spent a lot of time figuring out all the details to execute it properly.

I hope that this guide is not only interesting and helpful but that it will give you all the information needed to plan your beautiful sparkler-filled wedding exit!