I, Laura Kiel owner of The Bridal Binder, am writing this blog from a personal standpoint and what I experienced planning my own wedding. Every bride has envisioned their dream wedding since they were a little girl. Of course, I started organizing my Pinterest boards within the hour of getting engaged. One of my boards was "Send-Off/Exit Ideas" and majority of my pictures included the classic sparkler send-off as those pictures are always gorgeous and I wanted those stunning pictures of my husband and I at our own wedding. What I didn't put into account was venue standards. Little did I know, our dream send-off wouldn't meet reality once we found our dream venue.
My husband and I starting making a list of what we wanted in a venue and venue tour after venue tour we finally found our dream wedding venue on the beach. We ended up booking the venue but the only downfall was that the property didn't allow fire. This was a minor setback but we loved the venue so much that I was determined to research other send-off ideas.
Wedding Planning Tip - make a pros and cons list after each venue tour to help narrow down to your dream venue
As I look back on our wedding, I thought, "I can't be the only bride this has happened to or will happen too." This blog is to enlighten other brides to be unique and to not be afraid to research ideas.
Our venue had very specific standards regarding what we could and couldn't do for a send-off. Aside from fire the venue wouldn't allow confetti, rose petals, rice, bubbles - essentially anything that would make a mess and require a clean up was out of the question. This had me stressing and the only other safe option I found was glow sticks but I then turned to Pinterest. Needless to say, I didn't love the pictures with the glow sticks.
I was flipping through an Oriental Trading magazine looking for budget-friendly options/ideas and I then came across fiber optic wands. I folded the corner to mark the page, thought about it and came back to the idea the following week. Again, I turned to Pinterest and to be honest there wasn't many pictures to get a visual on what the wands would look like. My husband and I discussed the option and decided to go with the fiber wands. They were very inexpensive and little did we know, they would provide great memories!
Wedding Planning Tip - don't order send-off items until you have a final head count. Be sure to order at least 5-10 extra to have on hand.
The wands came with a tab that was to be pulled out prior to use. When the wands arrived, a few were already glowing due to the tab accidentally coming out and I was able to see the wands and get a visual. I then realized that the wands had about 4-5 different settings that changed their color and light effects. This was great knowing the guests could choose a setting of their own during our send-off.
As I didn't want to pull the tabs until wedding day, it was a challenge to pack the wands as the tabs were loosely attached to begin with. It made for some funny and laughable moments as we continued to have to find a way to click the button if the wands turned on while in the bubble wrap.
The wands made it to the venue and were set up in a basket as planned for display ready for send-off. As the night went on, a few guests grabbed wands earlier than the send-off and they were a hit on the dance floor. Other people had photo props on and some were dancing with the wands, including my husband. It was an amazing time on the dance floor and we made some amazing memories.
It came time for the send-off, guests lined up outside. Each had different light colors and settings on and they were having a blast. My husband and I did our final walk through everyone and it was so much fun, wands were going crazy, lights everywhere. Guests even took the wands home and I received videos the week after the wedding as people were still enjoying the wands, my heart was happy!
I was so anxious for the pictures and even the wedding video to come back. We received the wedding pictures back and I absolutely LOVED the outcome of the wands in the pictures. Everyone had a smile on their face and genuinely looked like they were having so much fun. In the end, that was all that mattered to me. We watched our wedding video and the wands glowed as we walked through and they really reflected in the video the outcome I was hoping for. In the end, the fiber optic wands were the perfect send-off!
For those who are planning a wedding and have the road block of not being able to use sparklers for any reason, I am writing this to tell you that there are other options and fiber optic wands are a similar alternative. As there aren't many pictures of a fiber optic wand send-off on the web, I hope our wedding pictures in this blog help give you a visual of the outcome.
I have linked the fiber optic wands below as these were the most affordable that I found and honestly there were a few (may 5 or less) that didn't work but they come per dozen and price out about $1.60 per wand.
If you have further questions on anything please email me at laura@bridalbinderevents.com and I would be happy to chat with you!
VENUE: Sundial Beach Resort and Spa in Sanibel Island, FL
PHOTOGRAPHER: Monica Grace Photography
VIDEOGRAPHER: Complete Weddings and Events
Be sure to follow me on social media!