Recessional toss and grand exit?

heevans93

I definitely want to do a sparkler send off at the end of the reception, but I was curious to see if anyone has done a grand exit and a recessional toss. I've seen some cute pictures when they pronounce you husband and wife, then as your walking back down the aisle, people will toss flower petals or bubbles. I'm just wondering if anyone has done a recessional toss at the end of your ceremony and a grand exit at the end of the reception? If so, did it work well or was it too much going on?

CMGragain

Once you cut the cake, many people will leave, especially of you are having a long reception.  You may not have many people  left to watch your grand exit.

artbyallie

Sparklers are hugely impractical for a sendoff anyway, if you have more than like 10 people. There is just no way to get them all lit at the same time and they won't stay lit for long enough.

BlueBirdMB

CMGragain said:

Once you cut the cake, many people will leave, especially of you are having a long reception.  You may not have many people  left to watch your grand exit.

A lot of people cut the cake very early in the evening these day, so cake cutting isn't really an indicator of an appropriate time to leave anymore like it used to be.

We had 120 people at our wedding and probably half stayed until the end for our grand exit, which was just fine.  I also think sparklers are dangerous.

[Deleted User]

We stayed until the end of our reception, we were having too much fun. However, the bulk of our guests had already left, including most of my bridal party. Could we have done the sparkler event for photos with the few people that were left? Yes, but I also would have had to pay for an extra 3 hours of my photographer sitting around waiting for that to happen.

Doing a recessional toss at the end of the cermony, you would need to talk to the venue about what you can do. If you are having a church wedding, they may not allow you to do anything indoors. Many churches already put restrictions on what you can even do outdoors which is why I think bubbles have gotten so popular.

theartistformerlyknownas

I've never seen a grand exit before. My H and I were the last ones to leave our reception. There were still a lot of people there til the end, but they were far too drunk to trust with open flame!

flantastic

I have been to multiple weddings where the guests waited outside to blow bubbles as the couple exited the church; that wasn't too bad because many of us would have been standing there talking anyway.

I also went to a wedding this summer with a grand exit from the reception - that was basically just obnoxious. There was a lot of time spent organizing the guests to be "just so" for pictures when people would just have been happier to wave goodbye to them as they went to the car and instead spend the extra 15 minutes of logistics in partying. It felt like we were photo props.

larrygaga

CMGragain said:

Once you cut the cake, many people will leave, especially of you are having a long reception.  You may not have many people  left to watch your grand exit.

Not if you aren't so stuffy as to forget about beer and music

msuprincess04

I went to a wedding that had a sparkler exit from the reception. Since the reception was at the hotel we were all staying at, they announced everyone to go over to the table and get your sparklers ready. Then we all lined up and the bride and groom walked through them and out of the area where the reception was held. This worked out well, I think. There were a lot of people left, so I'm sure there are some lovely photos. We were also already outside because the reception was outside. There were no big fires, but there was a very large hole put in a BM's dress by another very intoxicated BM with a handful of lit sparklers.

CMGragain

larrygaga said:

Once you cut the cake, many people will leave, especially of you are having a long reception.  You may not have many people  left to watch your grand exit.

Not if you aren't so stuffy as to forget about beer and music

Daughter had music, dancing and mimosas/bloody marys.  We were among the last to leave.  I think this whole grand exit idea is too attention seeking.

emmaaa

CMGragain said:

larrygaga said:

Once you cut the cake, many people will leave, especially of you are having a long reception.  You may not have many people  left to watch your grand exit.

Not if you aren't so stuffy as to forget about beer and music

Daughter had music, dancing and mimosas/bloody marys.  We were among the last to leave.  I think this whole grand exit idea is too attention seeking.

I guess we had a "grand exit" but not on purpose. We had a town car pick us up and planned for it to get there at a certain time. We went to go out to leave and everyone was out there cheering and sending us off. 

And really, the whole wedding could be considered attention seeking because the whole day is about two people. Not that it's a bad thing but let's call it what it is. 

thisismynickname2

msuprincess04 said:

I went to a wedding that had a sparkler exit from the reception. Since the reception was at the hotel we were all staying at, they announced everyone to go over to the table and get your sparklers ready. Then we all lined up and the bride and groom walked through them and out of the area where the reception was held. This worked out well, I think. There were a lot of people left, so I'm sure there are some lovely photos. We were also already outside because the reception was outside. There were no big fires, but there was a very large hole put in a BM's dress by another very intoxicated BM with a handful of lit sparklers.

Good grief, that's reason enough for me to never participate. I'm klutzy and as a guest, would avoid drunken sparkler shenanigans. 

I think post-ceremony, a woo-hoo of sorts (bubbles, eco-friendly toss stuff) should satisfy the photo-op desire. 

CMGragain

emmaaa said:

CMGragain said:

larrygaga said:

Once you cut the cake, many people will leave, especially of you are having a long reception.  You may not have many people  left to watch your grand exit.

Not if you aren't so stuffy as to forget about beer and music

Daughter had music, dancing and mimosas/bloody marys.  We were among the last to leave.  I think this whole grand exit idea is too attention seeking.

I guess we had a "grand exit" but not on purpose. We had a town car pick us up and planned for it to get there at a certain time. We went to go out to leave and everyone was out there cheering and sending us off. 

And really, the whole wedding could be considered attention seeking because the whole day is about two people. Not that it's a bad thing but let's call it what it is. 

It sounds like you timed your wedding perfectly.  I have no issue with this, as long as no one is herding the guests to the door for "The Grand Exit!" and handing out dangerous sparklers.
Daughter did the bubbles on exiting the church.  People blew the bubbles as they, themselves,were leaving for the reception.

flantastic

CMGragain said:

emmaaa said:

CMGragain said:

larrygaga said:

Once you cut the cake, many people will leave, especially of you are having a long reception.  You may not have many people  left to watch your grand exit.

Not if you aren't so stuffy as to forget about beer and music

Daughter had music, dancing and mimosas/bloody marys.  We were among the last to leave.  I think this whole grand exit idea is too attention seeking.

I guess we had a "grand exit" but not on purpose. We had a town car pick us up and planned for it to get there at a certain time. We went to go out to leave and everyone was out there cheering and sending us off. 

And really, the whole wedding could be considered attention seeking because the whole day is about two people. Not that it's a bad thing but let's call it what it is. 

It sounds like you timed your wedding perfectly.  I have no issue with this, as long as no one is herding the guests to the door for "The Grand Exit!" and handing out dangerous sparklers.
Daughter did the bubbles on exiting the church.  People blew the bubbles as they, themselves,were leaving for the reception.

Exactly. Emma, what you did is what I'd call a natural goodbye from people who care about you. What happened to us was "Okay, everybody head to the doors! Form two lines! Further apart! Leave space for the photographer! All the way to the car! We need all the guests!" etc.

emmaaa

flantastic said:

CMGragain said:

emmaaa said:

CMGragain said:

larrygaga said:

Once you cut the cake, many people will leave, especially of you are having a long reception.  You may not have many people  left to watch your grand exit.

Not if you aren't so stuffy as to forget about beer and music

Daughter had music, dancing and mimosas/bloody marys.  We were among the last to leave.  I think this whole grand exit idea is too attention seeking.

I guess we had a "grand exit" but not on purpose. We had a town car pick us up and planned for it to get there at a certain time. We went to go out to leave and everyone was out there cheering and sending us off. 

And really, the whole wedding could be considered attention seeking because the whole day is about two people. Not that it's a bad thing but let's call it what it is. 

It sounds like you timed your wedding perfectly.  I have no issue with this, as long as no one is herding the guests to the door for "The Grand Exit!" and handing out dangerous sparklers.
Daughter did the bubbles on exiting the church.  People blew the bubbles as they, themselves,were leaving for the reception.

Exactly. Emma, what you did is what I'd call a natural goodbye from people who care about you. What happened to us was "Okay, everybody head to the doors! Form two lines! Further apart! Leave space for the photographer! All the way to the car! We need all the guests!" etc.

Yeah, that's obnoxious. We didn't plan on people to send us off. We figured we'd say goodbye and walk outside. They just decided to do it on their own. It was only about 50 guests at that point

theartistformerlyknownas

My step sister had a choreographed grand entrance to her reception. They herded everyone out to two long lines, gave us baggies of sprinkles to toss... then the wedding party didn't show up for 45 minutes. Everyone was PISSED. Then she learned that sprinkles thrown at your head by angry people sting like a bitch. Most people left shortly thereafter.

Viczaesar

lolo883 said:

My step sister had a choreographed grand entrance to her reception. They herded everyone out to two long lines, gave us baggies of sprinkles to toss... then the wedding party didn't show up for 45 minutes. Everyone was PISSED. Then she learned that sprinkles thrown at your head by angry people sting like a bitch. Most people left shortly thereafter.

Sprinkles as in the things that go on donuts?  Regardless, I would have enjoyed watching this go down.  It sounds like a scene from a movie.

lovesclimbing

I have never heard of two exits, only one.  In my experience, people generally have a "recessional toss" (I've never heard it called that before) of petals or bird seed or bubbles or whatever at the end of the reception as they're leaving.

I also would caution against sparklers. I have been to one wedding that had them.  First off, they let off a lot of thick, awful smelling smoke.  Second, if you have more than a few people at the wedding (the wedding I was at with them had maybe 50-60 people doing the sparklers), you'll have a hard time getting everyone's sparklers lit, staying lit, and not burning all the way down before the bride and groom finish their exit. Finally, if you have any kids, it's dangerous.  Most of the kids at this wedding were well-behaved, but there was one family with about four or five young kids that are not well-behaved.  They ran around grabbing extra sparklers and even half burned ones that had gone out and re-lighting them and running around. I was afraid someone would catch on fire.

theartistformerlyknownas

Viczaesar said:

lolo883 said:

My step sister had a choreographed grand entrance to her reception. They herded everyone out to two long lines, gave us baggies of sprinkles to toss... then the wedding party didn't show up for 45 minutes. Everyone was PISSED. Then she learned that sprinkles thrown at your head by angry people sting like a bitch. Most people left shortly thereafter.

Sprinkles as in the things that go on donuts?  Regardless, I would have enjoyed watching this go down.  It sounds like a scene from a movie.


Yep, like donuts. I had already eaten mine during the wait because she didn't have enough food and I was starving.