Eco-Friendly Wedding Exits

It's the first Wednesday of the new month, and that means today we get another wedding photography feature by the lovely Raleigh wedding photographer, Carolyn Scott. This month Carolyn shares her ideas for an eco-friendly wedding exits that will all equate to wonderful wedding images. As well as some exits you may want to shy away from.


(photo credit: Kristy Hogan Photography)

Planning on leaving your wedding in style but aren’t sure how to do it? Here are some awesome wedding exits, from the typical to the unusual, all environmentally friendly exits that don’t harm animals or wildlife:

1. Sparklers: Sparklers are a very popular and well-loved exit strategy from wedding receptions, and there’s good reason! They make fantastic exit pictures with all of the little spheres of light. Just be careful not to catch your dress on fire and watch very carefully for small children and people around you.
2. Petals: Flower petals are another great, harmless, easy to clean up wedding exit. Consider using the petals from the bridesmaid’s bouquets after pictures.
3. Bubbles: Bubbles make a great daytime wedding exit and requires no clean up outside the venue.
4. Bird Seed: In lieu of rice, try throwing bird seed instead! It’s basically the same effect, but it doesn’t hurt the birds. And who knows, some flighty friends may come to help clean up!
5. Eco-Friendly Confetti: Try putting this eco-friendly confetti into a paper tube to use as an exit! It doesn’t hurt birds and actually dissolves with water. Consider using this for a winter wedding: it’s what they use for snow in television and movies!
6. Throwing Dried Lavender: Eco-friendly and smells lovely!
7. Ribbon Wands: Definitely safe, eco-friendly, and make for some awesome pictures.
8. Noise Makers: One of my favorites. Loud, incredibly obvious, and hilarious! Makes for great pictures of guests and family members laughing while the flower girls cover their ears.
9. Light Sabers: You know… for those of you with a fiancé who has a deep love of Star Wars. ☺

Avoid these exits that can harm the environment:

1. Any Release Involving Live Animals (Doves/Butterflies/Etc.): This is terribly, terribly cruel. Oftentimes birds and butterflies die during transportation to the wedding and it is absolutely inhumane to keep birds and butterflies in tiny boxes to be released after your vows. It’s not worth killing an innocent animal to impress your wedding guests.
2. Balloon Release: Balloons float up into the environment and eventually come back down, getting caught on trees. Birds and other animals can choke on the string and balloon materials.
3. Chinese Lantern Release: Despite the advertising of Chinese Lanterns as “eco-friendly”, they actually contain wire that can take months or years to dissolve, causing the risk of an animal dying an excruciating death, not to mention the possibility of it causing a wildfire or burning down someone’s house.
4. Glitter: Not biodegradable, causes pollution, and has the potential to cause great illness for animals who mistake it for food.
5. Confetti: Same concern as glitter.