Fire is Catching

And if you burn, we'll make it a photo op!

Continuing on with the theme of including overdone wedding trends in the Pyramid wedding, I give you - sparklers!  Like the photo booth, we've never attended a wedding with a sparkler exit, and I imagine that a lot of our guests haven't either, so we're doing it!

Found on Style Me Pretty/Photo by Life Writing Photography

About half of Sphinx's stories from his childhood begin with "well, we were making bonfires in the field behind the tracks...", so I always figured this was something he could get on board with.  The Board of Trade allows it, and the arcade area exiting the venue makes for a great place for guests to line up and wave some fire at us while we make out.

Sparkler send-off at the Board of Trade./Photo by G Chapin Studios

I'm not 100% sure how we'll be making these available and getting everyone together for the send-off, but we'll work out those details later.  Right now I'm just looking for a container for them, and will work on some kind of sign.

Found at Savvy Deets Bridal/Photo by Fixed Focal Photography

I've already taken care of getting the sparklers, after I saw Mrs. Panther's recommendation, I ordered a crap ton of sparklers from weddingsparklersusa.com (specifically four packs of the 36" showtime sparklers).  They claim to have a smokeless burn for four minutes, so you've got plenty of time to get everyone's sparklers lit and lined up and the photos will come out clearly.  Well, we couldn't just believe that claim, could we?

So after they came in, we decided to go play with some fire - for science!

Sphinx was trying to make a heart, and I probably would have been able to capture it all had I been pressing the shutter at the right time!

The long, metal sparklers burned nicely, with no smoke and I was able to capture some pretty good long exposure pictures with my DSLR.  

Swirling in a circle made a  really cool effect!

All in all, we were pleased with how these sparklers burned and the sparks they gave off.  I'm sure my photographers will have some better tricks up their sleeves to capture these awesome long exposure shots so that we can get something really cool like this:

Just a little pixie dust./Photo by Ryan Hammond

And the final results on the time - they burned for just at four minutes!  The test was a success!  

Can you spy our save the date card? 

And I am taking heed the warnings of brides like Mrs. Rucksack and Mrs. Unicycle, and not getting my hopes up too high if we don't get a picture-perfect exit.  Hopefully people will have fun with the sparklers anyways!

Do you have any tips for pulling off a successful sparkler exit?