Brittney and Matt's Sparkler Send-off at Camp Lucy

Hope your 4th was a fabulous one! I, personally, missed the fireworks - darn drought! We're lucky enough to have amazing fireworks at several of our weddings each year, and sparklers at probably close to half of our Austin weddings. I figure this pretty much makes us sparklers experts! Sparklers can be a fun and dramatic finale for your celebration, but there are a few things you should keep in mind:

Consider your space. Is there enough room for your guests to comfortably form two lines and still have plenty of space for the two of you to walk through? How about when those guests are wielding sticks of sparking ambers? Make sure there's plenty of room that you minimize your risk of being touched with a sparkler. Did you know that sparklers burn at a higher temperature than a lighter? You don't want them too close to your (or your hair or your dress!).
Be honest with yourself - are your guests responsible? Remember that most of your guests will likely be quite inebriated by the end of your celebration - how responsibly will they handle fire?
Buy the 10" sparklers. Sparklers come in all sorts of sizes, and "they" will tell you that you need to buy the long ones. Don't do it! The huge sword-like sparklers burn far longer than needed and let's be honest, do you want your drunk guests holding fire longer than necessary? ;) The 10" sparklers are plenty long enough because we at STC have sparkler-lighting down to an art. We know exactly when and how to light them so that the timing is perfect. Any longer and they'll put out too much smoke, shorter and they'll go out before you've made it through the line.
Check with your venue. More and more venues are prohibiting the use of sparklers. Sometimes there's some wiggle room but you want to choose your battles wisely - how important are wedding sparklers to you?

So how about you - what will you use for your wedding send-off?

Happy planning!
jessica