Ceremony Send Off?

How long is your reception? Why would you have a send off before the reception? Most guests will stick around the entire time because 9pm is pretty early for a wedding to end.

I went to a wedding where we ate dinner, watched first dance, had cake and did the send off. It was about an hour after the ceremony ended. The couple had lots of older guests and didn’t want any of them to miss the send off. The bride and groom explained they were doing to send off and going back inside for dancing. They walked out under sparklers, posed for pictures, and we then all went back inside.

I've attended weddings where they did ceremony "send off" photos when the ceremony and reception are in two different locations! For the ceremony, they had everyone blow bubbles as the couple walked through. It turned out really cute! You could do something similar. Otherwise, you could always "stage" a send-off at your reception right before your photographer leaves for the night, and continue the reception afterwards. Or, is extending the photographer's time an option? That way, they could stay to the end of the night and capture the send-off at the end.

People do staged send-offs, based on what I've seen on here. I've honestly never been to a wedding with a send-off, staged or otherwise. They just aren't common in my area. So you can also skip it if you want.

I’ve been to multiple weddings where the “send off” was staged. After the ceremony when the sun was setting we did a sparkler send off, and after they did photos we all went back inside to cut cake/first dances.

We staged our send-off, because it was getting ready to storm and the send-off was outside (glow sticks would be weird inside lol). It wasn't a big deal and we managed to get it all done and back under cover before the rain came.

We did a true send off and glad we did; however, I will say our photographer’s end time was 10:30, and I’m glad the wedding coordinator initiated it at 10 because it takes a few minutes to round everyone up, get them in line, and pass out the send off bubbles, sparklers, etc. Photographer will also give you a few instructions. So it took us about a good 20-25 minutes with sparklers.

I’ve seen lots of staged send off’s- that way you get the majority of your guests in the photos & continue the celebration. Talk with your photographer to see your best options.

View Quoted Comment I agree with Lisa

I have attebded one and 67 to 75% of the guests were gone before the send off. Mind you, the wedding took place Sunday evening

We did our “send off” after dinner. All of our guests had to travel to our wedding, so we wanted to make sure all guests were included. We had 100% attendance for our “send off” and about 75% of our guests remained until the end of the night.

I did a send off after my ceremony only!