Creative Wedding Entrance Ideas for Your Reception

Why have an ordinary grand entrance at your wedding reception when you can have an extraordinary one? It is your big day, after all. Whether you're working with an unlimited budget or you don't have a ton of money to spare, there are so many ways to arrive at your wedding reception in style.

1. Organize a Flash Mob With Your Wedding Party

What better way to surprise your guests than with a flash mob only your wedding party knows about? Regina Osgood, owner of Meant2Be Events, had a couple that decided to go this route and it was a huge hit. "The bridal party was allowed to enter just as they normally would, but they were in on what happened next," she tells us. "Once the bride and groom were announced, the DJ changed the song, cuing the full ballroom of guests to come to the dance floor where the flash mob began. Everyone talked about it all night long."

2. Go Big or Go Home

For brides whose wedding budgets know no bounds, it doesn't get any grander than showing up at the reception in a helicopter. Wedding and event planner Courtney Hammons, of A Magical Affair, has literally seen it all. "We recently had a couple that did a kabuki drop for their grand entrance," she says. But her personal favorite? The couple that arrived via ski boat to their reception.

3. Use a "Built-In" Grand Entrance

"Many catering halls have dramatic entrances built in, such as coming up through the floor in a glass elevator or doing a stage curtain entrance," points out Lynn Jawitz, owner of Florisan Wedding and Event Design in NYC.

4. Try a Rose Petal, Confetti, or Balloon Drop

All of these things can be done either expensively or inexpensively depending on your approach, notes Kelsey Doorey, founder & CEO of Vow To Be Chic. For example, you can buy a few thousand rose petals online for cheap (less than a hundred dollars) to create a beautiful and fun entrance, she says.

5. Put on a Show

Impress your guests with some talents of your own. "Break-dance your way onto the dance floor, sing for the crowd, or find yourself a great costume or mask to wear," recommends Florida-based wedding planner Aviva Samuels of Kiss The Planner. Snow machines, fog machines, and confetti cannons will also liven things up a bit.

6. Play With the Lights

Key Largo wedding planner Lynn D'Ascanio, of D'Asigner Events, once worked with a specialty lighting company that projected fireworks and 3-D flying dragons onto the ceiling of a tented event for a Chinese wedding as the couple walked in. If your theme lends itself to something cool like this, we say go for it.

7. Get Some Sparklers

"If your entrance is outside and after dark, superlong wedding sparklers can make a really spectacular picture as you dance your way through them to the real dance floor to do your first dance," says seasoned wedding planner Sandy Malone.

8. Do a Silhouette Entrance

According to Stefany Allongo, founder and chief consultant of The Majestic Vision, something different and fun is using a projection screen to create your silhouette for your guests to see. "You can start your first dance behind the screen and then proceed to the dance floor. It makes for a gorgeous photo." Plus, it's a total crowd-pleaser, too.