Wedding Party Entrance Ideas: 5 Ways To Make A Grand Entrance
To start with, there is a lot of confusion over whether an entrance happens before or after the wedding ceremony.
Technically, the time when the bride formally enters the ceremony space to initiate the wedding ceremony is called the “processional.”
Then, when the newly married couple is officially introduced as such as they enter the reception space together, that’s called the “grand entrance.”
And while these are technically two different things, you can actually use the wedding party entrance ideas on this for either or both of them.
1. Friendship Tunnel
We’re not sure what else to call this, and for some reason, the term “human tunnel” just doesn’t sound right to us.
So, we’re calling it the “friendship tunnel.”
Basically, the various members of your bridal party, groom’s party, and maybe a few others line up on either side of a path and form a tunnel with their outstretched arms.
Then you walk through that tunnel into the ceremony or reception space (depending on whether you’re doing this before or after your ceremony).
It’s a simple concept, but you can do a lot with it, and it’s also an option that gets everyone involved and makes them feel like they’re more a part of the whole thing.
And that’s always nice.
This can also look fantastic, especially if everyone is dressed up nicely and you’re at a historical venue with traditional architecture or something like that.
2. Sparklers
This is the same basic concept as the friendship tunnel, except that everyone holds sparklers instead of making a tunnel with their arms.
Be careful not to get burned.
It’s probably best not to try to make a tunnel of sparklers because they are technically on fire, and you don’t want any of those sparks catching on something.
That’s not the same as having open flames like candles, but it’s still good to play it safe with sparklers.
And speaking of candles, you could also modify this by having everyone hold candles or paper lanterns instead of sparklers.
That would be a cool look.
3. Red Carpet
This one’s pretty classic and could arguably be called the traditional standard for wedding party entrance ideas.
The carpet doesn’t need to literally be red, though.
It can be whatever color you want it to be.
In fact, it actually doesn’t even need to be a carpet.
If you want to be a little bit more unconventional, you can substitute the carpet for anything that effectively serves the same purpose.
For example, you could get an aisle runner made from some interesting material, or even have one printed for you with a meaningful design on it.
You could also make your own aisle runner out of flowers, or even have the kids from both your families draw and paint stuff on a long roll of canvas or burlap.
There are functionally limitless ways for you to get cute with this.
However, whether you use carpet or some other material, be sure to secure it tightly in place so it doesn’t become a hazard.
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Schedule a Tour4. Biodegradable Confetti
Confetti is another of the common go-to wedding party entrance ideas, but there’s one major problem with it: it’s generally made of plastic.
This means that, in addition to being nigh impossible to entirely clean up, it’s also not friendly to the local ecosystem.
And since, like glitter, you’ll probably never be able to get rid of it all, it’s inevitably going to end up somewhere it shouldn’t.
To avoid that, or at least to prevent the damage caused by it, try switching out standard confetti for a biodegradable alternative.
There are actually multiple options available these days.
That way, even if you can’t clean it all up (you won’t), you can at least rest assured that it will not cause any harm to anyone or anything.
In fact, you can do even better than that by using confetti made from seed paper so that new plants sprout where it lands.
5. Flower Petals
Like the others, you can do this one a couple of different ways.
You might decide to drop a bunch of flower petals on the ground before the entrance to form an aisle runner out of them.
Additionally, you could have your flower girls or someone else walk in front of you and toss them out of a basket as you both walk down the path.
Another variation might be to have your friends line up on either side of the path, as in the previous ideas, but have them toss flower petals into the air instead of holding sparklers.
Instead of just petals, you can also use whole flowers.
That’s not against the rules.
Mind The Basics
In addition to these that we’ve gone over, feel free to come up with even more wedding party entrance ideas by modifying these.
For instance, you could swap out a red carpet for a path lit on both sides by mason jar oil lamps, or you could exchange the sparklers for little handheld signs of some kind.
The important thing is that the basic principle remains the same.
No matter which variation you choose or what changes you make, the concept is that either one or both of you is walking down a path toward a special space where you’ll be officially announced either as a bride (processional) or as a married couple (grand entrance).
Beyond that, it can be simple or as complex, and as expensive or as affordable as you want to make it.