Wedding Blog
In true Type-A Rainbow form, I migrate towards the details before I take care of the big things (like, uhh… the dress?). My “detail du jour” is currently the send auf (heh). I have witnessed the good send auf—a beautiful bride running thru a sea of rose petals, the bad send auf—bubble bursting in groom’s eyeball, and the ugly send auf—tea. stuck. everywhere. Tea?! Whose idea was that?
Anyway, I’m currently weighing my options, whilst hoping my send off will be on the good side of the spectrum. Here’s what I’ve got so far:
Rose petals. Simple, classic, and easy. The only downside is that I always feel like rose petals detract from the exit picture. You see the rose petal on the grooms forehead? Hmm, how about something a little more… transparent?
Bubbles. I love seeing pictures of the bubble send off. The way they catch the light, they’re just so ethereal and whimsical. My only concern is the bubble-in-eyeball senario. I’ve seen it happen, and it ain’t pretty. Next up:
The ribbon wand, which I so lovingly stole.. erm, borrowed… from our very own Miss Fro Yo. I love how festive and colorful the ribbons are! I’m not exactly sure how gender-neutral flailing a ribbon around is, though. I’d much prefer something that the guys will feel comfortable with… like fire.
Never mind that I have an irrational fear of my dress going up in flames. Sparklers are so freakin’ glamorous and fairly inexpensive. My two favorite things! Plus, I feel like it’s something special just for my dad, who is a pyro in denial. He once caused our neighbor to call the fire department because they thought our house was on fire. They came screeching down the road: big red truck, fire hose, the whole nine. But our house wasn’t on fire at all. It was just my dad… burning a huge heap of pine straw in the backyard. Apparently that is illegal. I love my dad. 
I’m definitely leaning towards the sparklers, but I’m not sure if it’ll be dark enough outside post-ceremony to get the full effect.
Traditionally, when is the send off? I’ve seen it done post-ceremony, post-reception, and sometimes after both. What are you using for your send auf?
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Hey thanks for the shout out. 
I’m pretty sure we’re going the ribbonwand route, and we’ll do it after the reception, but I have seen it done at several different times.
I like the bubbles idea. Never thought about the bursting in the eye thing. How often does that happen?
I think traditionally, it’s post-ceremony, but we did ours at the end of the reception since our ceremony and reception were in the same place.
My mom arranged bubbles (without me knowing!).
If you decide to go that route, make sure people know when to stop blowing the dang bubbles! I couldn’t even see with all the bubble madness. People were chasing me and trying to shove that soapy happiness in my face!
I want sparklers, but I don’t think my venue is going to allow it. If I can’t get them to budge, I guess we’ll go the bubble route. My ceremony and reception are at the same place, so our send off will happen post-reception (if it happens at all - I don’t want to miss one second of my party). My father has also had the fire department called on him (more than once) for burning limbs/leaves/straw in the backyard. Too funny!
Haha, oh…that story about your dad reminded me of my dad and fire. We were clearing 5 acres of wood once and he decided to make a bon-fire. Doused in gasoline. Big enough that he had to make medieval-looking torch to throw at the pile to light it and run away before the heat burned his skin off. Dads and their “manly” stuff. Geez. lol
By the way, I’m doing bubbles at the ceremony and sparklers later that night. We just have to make sure the sparklers are displayed outside the building per contract details. Historic building + fire + open bar = potential disaster!
i’m not sure if we’re doing a send off. i love all the pretty pictures but the thought of a clean up, especially if it’s post ceremony, has me leery of the idea.
We’re doing bubbles, but not as a send-off, per se, because we’re not doing one, but rather during the recessional =)
I’m doing a send off after the reception mostly to make the clear statement, “Hey. Party’s over. Go home,” so that the assistants in charge of take-down have sufficient time to clear out before our reservation on the venue ends.
I love that sparkler picture!
I don’t even know if we’re doing a send-auf. We’re staying in the same venue for the night, so would our guests just send us auf to our room? A little awkward, lol.
BTW, send auf? AUF!! Loves it!!!!
We are doing our send off after the reception. I know our venue provides a bubble machine, and I’m pretty sure sparklers too… I need to go reread my contract. Anyways, we are going to go the sparklers route because it will be dark and you wouldn’t be able to see the bubbles.
I still don’t know what we’re doing. Bubbles can stain, my mother is convinced everyone will light themselves on fire with sparklers, and they don’t want anything that they’ll have to clean up since we’re doing the reception at their house. We shall see.
And I’m totally a details-before-big-picture doer. I have such a tendency to do that. :p
You can make bubbles with tear free baby soap!!
Sparklers are hard to get everyone to light at the same time and then get back to the area to hold over your heads.
Such cute pictures! People will be throwing coins after our ceremony…but hopefully not directly at us!
@Miss Parfait: Lol! Getting pegged with coins would probably hurt a lot if they were aiming for you. :p
I haven’t really thought about this… I love the look of bubbles though! It’s so whimsical!
our send-off was after the ceremony, and we used rice! because of a change of plans, we couldn’t use petals, so rice it was! it hurt, it went in our hair and almost inside our ears! hehe our pictures are really funny ’cause we are cringing and smiling at the same time!!
We are doing bubbles after the ceremony, and sparklers at midnight at the end of the reception. I wanted to incorporate sparklers, but thought it would look better in the dark, and I think it’s more fun to do both!
I always answer this question when asked, but it’s b/c it was one of my favorite parts of the wedding. We used streamer throws. http://tiny.cc/JLZ So much fun, so colorful, great pictures, and easy clean-up b/c they stay attached to the throwers hand so churches and other places don’t get all freaked out by them.
We did the exit after the ceremony on our way to the reception. Mainly b/c we were staying the same night at our reception sight so it would have been odd to have a “grand exit” to some place we weren’t leaving.
I am not sure what we’re doing, we may do bubbles after the ceremony. Our reception is at the hotel we’re staying at so I agree with Miss Hamster, a little awkward lol.
Most of the send-offs I’ve seen in my area have been post-ceremony, though I think it makes more sense post-reception! (But who am I to say?) I personally love the sparkler send-off so much… SO MUCH!!!
I love the sparklers look! They’re so great! I’ve traditionally seen the send off post-ceremony - but I’ve heard of plenty of post-reception send offs, too!
And tea?!?!? Seriously?!?!
I love love love the sparklers idea. But yeah, the darkness factor is important. And if children are involved, that may be an issue too. But let us know what you decide.
If you want a more manly version of ribbon streamers, maybe they could do those poppers. The ones that people do at New Year’s and emit tiny streamers.
We can’t throw anything…so I’m thinking of something like streamers or pinwheels for the ceremony exit. We’ll see!
I am thinking of doing bubbles as we make our way back up the aisle as the new Mr and Mrs, and then having a sparkler send-off at the end of the reception. Hopefully it’s not too much, but I really want to do sparklers since we are getting married July 4th-weekend.
We did sparklers at the end of our reception because it was like, 11pm at night. Then we all traipsed off for the after-party. Awesome-tastic
My sister went to a wedding last year that had a sparkler send off. ATTN BEES: Wind and sparklers do not mix with alcohol and lazy fingers.
Some guy lost control of his sparkler and it landed on my sister’s shoulder. Burned through her clothes and caught her hair on fire! She has ugly scars from a second degree burn on her neck and collar bone all from a tiny sparkler. Her first thought was to phone me and tell me the whole story…because of my upcoming wedding. “Can you imagine that thing landing on your dress?!” Nope, no sparklers for me.
I really really really really don’t recommend the sparkler route. Everyone at the end of the night had obviously been drinking a bit and when the sparklers were lit, several people almost caught on fire. In addition, one of the groomsmen decided to light an entire pack of them and it practically exploded in a crowd of guests. You may think that your guests are mature enough to handle the sparkler thing, but accidents do happen and when people are waving fire wands in a crowd of people it’s just plain dangerous…
I Really love the ribbon wands. It’s so cute, and safe!
@Rebecca: Oh p.s. it wasn’t my wedding it was a friends wedding so I myself almost caught on fire when a lady was waving her sparkler two inches from my head
We actually did glow necklaces in our wedding colors purple and copper (orange), but they have all sorts of colors. It was sort of a last minute decision but it turned out awesome. We felt like rock stars running through a tunnel of people holding them up. I can’t wait for the pictures.
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Miss Rainbow, Tampa
Age and Occupation: 22, Makeup Artist
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Electrical Engineer/Programmer
Engagement Date: November 27, 2008
Wedding Date: May 2010
Venue: The Gamble Plantation
About Me: I'm a quirky (and slightly Type-A) freelance makeup artist who was born in Washington State, raised in Alabama, and now living with my one and only in sunny Florida. I'm fashion and beauty obsessed, and have recently discovered my inner domestic diva extraordinaire. I'm a wannabe chef, decorating addict, and trying desperately to be as crafty as possible---albeit only with a glue gun. I'm hopelessly in love with my fiance, and all things sparkly and feathery. Despite the glittery exterior, I'm a total hippie on the inside. When I'm not making up pretty faces, I love doing what I can to help people, animals, and the environment. Someday the FI and I will change the world, but first we're tackling our modern-vintage-Marie-Antoinette-meets-Alice-in-Wonderland inspired wedding. I just can't wait to be Mrs. Rainbow!
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