Wedding Entertainment Ideas

Some of our couples have hired musicians to play in the background to help in the mood setting.  We have seen harpists, jazz quartets of saxophones, string quartets, trios of keyboard, drum and guitar and singers.  

Sometimes singers will simply bring a box of tricks with them with all their backing tracks whilst others will play a piano or keyboard and sing along to that.  There are some pianists who will even play gentle music in the background whilst you all eat your meal - rather like a cabaret artist.

Ice-cream is always popular and we often see a queue at any ice-cream bicycle or van.

A popular choice for wedding entertainment is to have a magician. These guys simply move around the room amongst your guests wowing them with their fabulous magic tricks and easy humour.  Some of these magicians are simply awesome - one guest at a wedding was amazed to discover her wedding ring made its way into a sealed envelope in the magician's wallet which had been in his pocket all the time! 

Children hate being cooped up and having nothing to do. Inside or out, children will run around with the other children and largely entertain themselves when they're not sat down eating. 

Some couples provide garden toys and games, primarily for the children but in our experience they're just as popular with the grown-ups.

Some couples could hire a separate room at the venue and then hire in a minder, or simply ask a friend to just keep an eye on them, with a selection of toys and games and maybe a TV and DVD player with a selection of films for them to watch.

Another option would be to hire a children's magician or clown.  He can set up in a small area of the venue and will keep children of most age groups quite happily entertained with his tricks and jokes. 

For the more adventurous couple, a buckeroo machine can certainly liven things up.

A great option for keeping all your guests of all ages entertained during your meal is to give little bags of LEGO and run a competition for the best model. We did this once and it was great fun...but WE WOZ ROBBED!

Characaturists are becoming very popular. They don't keep many guests occupied at once, unlike magicians, but they work quietly with one couple at a time and build a portfolio of hilarious cartoons of your wedding guests that you can keep forever.

 by Jacqui Dunster

5 December 2013

Lego Wars!!! Competitive? Us?

Ian and Carrie's lovely wedding at Carey's Manor in the New Forest turned a little competitive once all the guests sat down for their meal.

Prior to the meal, we had shot the ceremony and this full length portrait of Ian and Carrie on the red carpet as they emerge into the World as Man and Wife for the first time.

We then shot some indoor portraits amongst the lovely Carey's Manor architecture.

We were very lucky in that we had been invited as guests at the meal. Every guest had a little pack of Lego awaiting them on the table and a contest for the best model was declared.

Being just a little competitive (ahem!), we organised our table and started swapping pieces to get the right colours. We were going to make a Bride and Groom and it was gonna win! We used little pieces of ribbon and the decorative little stars sprinkled over the table cloth...with the help of some eyelash glue. Then it was PORTRAIT TIME!!!!

Putting the little Bride and Groom on the flat of our hand just out of shot, we emulated the full length portrait we'd done of Ian and Carrie earlier.

The result of the contest? We came second! 

WE WOZ ROBBED

Incidentally, the Lego portrait made it onto the back of the wedding album.