Many people opt out of a grand exit, but to us a grand exit is a great opportunity for some of the best photos of your gallery. If you aren’t sure exactly what a grand exit for your wedding is or what it entails, this blog post is going to run through everything you need to know about adding a grand exit to your timeline and making sure it goes as smoothly as possible.

What is It?

A grand exit is really exactly as it sounds - you exit! Depending on your timeline and your priorities, you can either do this during your ceremony recessional, after your ceremony is over when you are heading to cocktail hour/photos, in the middle of the dancing during the reception, or at the very end of the night when the reception is over. You will form two lines with your family and friends and run through them like the do at football game announcements and have everyone cheer. It’s usually recommended to do this only with your wedding party, immediate family, or really close friends because of the logistics involved in getting literally all of your guests situated for this, but you can make sure to involve them all if you wanted to do it during the ceremony recessional or at the end of the reception. Many people will also change into their reception/going home attire at this point to really make sure you get some photos in those clothes, or put on your matching sweat suits to be comfy and cozy at the end of the night. You can have it simply like this, or many people opt to add “props” to the exit such as bubbles or sparklers. If you need some ideas for things you can use for your grand exit, check out this blog post for 10 options for your grand exit.

What it’s For

Most people will do formal grand exits for an added special moment in the wedding day. You can also get amazing photos if you do it when your photographer is still there. This really depends on when you plan on doing it - if you plan to do this literally at the end of the night when the reception ends, your photographer likely won’t be there in the evening to capture it. In this case, many people will do a “staged” grand exit, where right before the photographer leaves they will have your wedding party members and close family all go to the outside, designated area and do the exit. It's highly recommended that if you’re hoping for a cute photo is to do a kiss at the end of it when you’ve walked to the end of all of the people celebrating you. You can also have them gather behind you to all be in the photo cheering as well - this always is a super cute photo!!

When to do It

If you really don’t want to be pulled from the dance floor but want the photo, I would recommend doing this after your ceremony is over and you’ve finished the family portraits. Have your wedding party and those family members stick around to be able to do the fun grand exit with you and so you won’t have to get pulled out of the fun in the evening! If you want it to be the last moment of your day, you can have it about 5-10 minutes before the reception ends. Typically, this is a time that a coordinator would be helpful to have around to help facilitate and get people lined up and ready so it doesn’t take an eternity to get it situated, but if they aren’t there you can ask your DJ to announce it for you. If you want a photo, but also want it at the end of the night, you can pay your photographer to stay for the extra few hours so you guarantee you get the beautiful photos you’re looking for.

If you need help figuring out when you want to do your grand exit or need help figuring out the logistics involved, you can reach out to us at our contact page for some advice!

Some Examples from Our Weddings

These are truly some of our favorite photos of the weddings so we would love to show you some real-life examples! These are from weddings we have worked, and you can usually tell when they decided to do their grand exit depending on the lighting and the amount of guests photographed.