Northeast Florida

Cold Sparklers
Fired on the Downbeat

Twenty seconds of sparks, timed by the person already running your music - not a second vendor watching from the back of the room.

500+ five-star reviews • No flame, no smoke haze • Jacksonville • St. Augustine • Ponte Vedra

COS Celebrations provides cold spark fountains for weddings across Northeast Florida, including Jacksonville, St. Augustine, Ponte Vedra Beach and Amelia Island. Cold sparklers produce a fountain of sparks without flame or lingering smoke, which is why many venues that prohibit open flame or handheld sparklers will still allow them. COS Celebrations adds cold sparks to a DJ package rather than renting them separately, so the sparks are cued by the same person running the music.

The mistake I see most often with cold sparks is treating them as a product instead of a cue.

Two machines, thirty seconds of effect, and if they fire a beat and a half late the whole thing reads as an accident. Guests do not applaud sparks. They applaud timing - the door opening, the drop landing, the sparks going up on the same beat.

That is not a hard thing to get right. It just requires the person triggering the machines to be the same person who knows exactly where the downbeat is, which is why we run them off the DJ booth rather than handing a remote to a groomsman or hiring an effects company that has never heard your entrance song.

The other honest thing worth saying: your venue decides, not us. Cold sparks get allowed in a lot of rooms that ban open flame, but not all of them, and finding that out three days before the wedding is a bad afternoon. Ask early.

From Real Receptions

What Cold Sparks Actually Look Like

Four different weddings, four different rooms. Fountain of Youth and Flagler College in St. Augustine, Timuquana Country Club in Jacksonville, and The Clay Theatre in Green Cove Springs.

Bride and groom dancing with cold sparks and live saxophone at Fountain of Youth wedding in St. Augustine
Cold sparks and live sax, Fountain of Youth, St. Augustine
Bride and groom walking through two firing cold spark machines during their grand exit under the Timuquana Country Club portico with guests cheering on both sides
Grand exit under the portico, Timuquana Country Club
Black and white grand exit with cold sparks and petal toss at Flagler College Ponce de Leon Hotel in St. Augustine
Exit with a petal toss, Flagler College
First dance with cold sparks at The Clay Theatre wedding in Green Cove Springs Florida
First dance, The Clay Theatre
Bride dancing surrounded by cold sparks at a Fountain of Youth wedding reception in St. Augustine
Middle of the dance floor, Fountain of Youth
Where They Land

The Three Moments Worth Spending Sparks On

The grand entrance

The most reliable of the three. Everyone is seated, everyone is facing the same doors, and phones are already up. This is the one I recommend if you only want sparks once.

The first dance

The most photographed. Sparks behind a couple mid-song give your photographer a backlit frame they cannot stage any other way. It works best on a song with a clear lift about halfway through.

The send-off

The practical one. After dark, an exit shot usually means a flash in everyone's eyes. Sparks light the shot for you, and they take twenty seconds instead of the fifteen minutes it takes to get a hundred guests outside holding lit sparklers.

Not all three

I will talk most couples out of doing sparks at every moment of the night. The effect works because it is rare. Fire it four times and by the last one nobody looks up.

Two Different Things

Cold Sparks or a Handheld Sparkler Exit?

These get talked about as the same idea and they are not. We have done both, and one of them is much easier to pull off than couples expect.

Cold sparks if

Your venue bans open flame. You want the effect indoors. You want it timed to a specific moment in a specific song. Or you simply do not want to spend the last fifteen minutes of your reception organizing guests in a parking lot.

Handheld sparklers if

Your venue permits them, you have an outdoor exit path, and you want the classic tunnel-of-guests photograph. It is a genuinely better shot when it works. It needs a coordinator, a plan for lighting them, and guests who have not entirely given up on the schedule.

Pricing

What Cold Sparklers Cost

Cold sparks are priced as an add-on to a COS Celebrations DJ package, which starts at $1,500. There is no separate delivery fee and no second company to coordinate with, because the machines come in with the rest of the gear. Your total depends on hours of coverage and what else you add - live saxophone, lighting design, a photo booth.

See full pricing
Questions

Cold Sparkler FAQ

What are cold sparklers at a wedding?

Cold sparklers are machines that throw a fountain of sparks several feet into the air on cue. They are not fireworks and not traditional pyrotechnics - there is no flame and no smoke haze left hanging in the room. COS Celebrations runs them for grand entrances, first dances and send-offs at weddings across Northeast Florida, and they are usually triggered by the DJ so they land exactly on the beat.

Are cold sparklers safe indoors?

They are designed for indoor use, which is the whole reason the category exists - the sparks are cool enough to fall on a dance floor without the fire risk of open flame. That said, safe and permitted are two different things. Your venue has the final say, so we ask you to raise it with your coordinator early rather than the week of the wedding.

Will our venue allow cold sparklers?

Many will, including venues that ban handheld sparklers or open flame, because there is no flame involved. But it varies by building and by insurer, and some venues require written notice or a specific setback from drapery and low ceilings. Ask your venue directly and tell us what they say - we plan the placement around their answer, not the other way around.

When in the reception do cold sparks work best?

Three moments do the heavy lifting: the grand entrance, the first dance, and the exit. The entrance is the most reliable, because everyone is seated and looking the same direction. The first dance is the most photographed. The exit is the one your photographer will thank you for, since it gives them a lit shot after dark without a flash.

How much do cold sparklers cost with a wedding DJ?

COS Celebrations prices cold sparks as an add-on to a DJ package that starts at $1,500, rather than as a separate rental with its own delivery fee. Most couples add them alongside something else - live saxophone, lighting design, a photo booth - and we quote the night as one number. There is no separate effects company to coordinate with.

Are cold sparklers better than a sparkler send-off?

They solve a different problem. A handheld sparkler exit needs every guest outside, lit, and holding fire, which takes about fifteen minutes of herding and is banned at a lot of venues. Cold sparks fire on cue from two machines and are done in twenty seconds. If your venue allows handheld sparklers and you want the guest-lined tunnel shot, do that instead. We have shot both.

Do you provide cold sparklers outside Jacksonville?

Yes. COS Celebrations covers Jacksonville, St. Augustine, Ponte Vedra Beach and Amelia Island, and travels to Orlando, Tampa and Daytona Beach. The photos on this page are from weddings at Fountain of Youth in St. Augustine, Timuquana Country Club in Jacksonville, Flagler College, and The Clay Theatre in Green Cove Springs. Travel outside Northeast Florida is quoted with the rest of your package.

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While You're Here

Wedding DJThe package sparks attach to Live SaxophoneWhat is playing in three of these photos 360 Photo BoothThe other add-on guests film St. AugustineWhere most of these were shot

Want Sparks at Your Entrance?

Tell me your date and your venue. I will check availability and come back with a package that has the sparks built in - and I will tell you honestly if your venue is likely to say no.

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