Entertainment at wedding reception

February 14, 2011 3:57 PM

Any exclusive ideas for entertainment at wedding reception

Any exclusive ideas for entertainment at wedding reception, specially the ones that contain audience participation segment,

posted by page123 to sports, hobbies, & recreation (15 answers total)

HMM . If you have a dj I do not see how yoou can have any more then that. At my wedding this past may we barely had enough time to dance and this was dancing inbetween everything.
posted by majortom1981 at 3:58 PM on February 14, 2011

A magician!
posted by ukdanae at 4:00 PM on February 14, 2011

Pogo stick "catch the bouquet."
posted by Made of Star Stuff at 4:15 PM on February 14, 2011

Contra dancing.
posted by The corpse in the library at 4:46 PM on February 14, 2011

My niece had karaoke; it was fun. Participatory dancing, like contradancing can be fun; you need someone who can do a bit of teaching, and good music.
posted by theora55 at 5:15 PM on February 14, 2011

I saw a sticker photobooth at a wedding industry show once - it was really fun! Lots of music and different backgrounds.
posted by cestmoi15 at 5:37 PM on February 14, 2011

We had magicians, and it was fun. We also did paddle balls and Slinkies as favors (along with bubbles); my then-72-year-old aunt stunned us all with her mad paddle-ball skillz.
posted by Sidhedevil at 5:45 PM on February 14, 2011

Someone I know had a photo booth at their wedding - it was basically a digital camera set up on a tripod, I'm guessing with a remote somehow set up so that it couldn't wander off or get lost, in front of a seamless. They then posted the results on facebook (and possibly emailed them out to the subjects?). I wasn't there, but seeing all the photos was really cool.

Contra dancing is really fun, but it seems to me like A) you need a guest cohort that would be up for it, and B) the resources to do it would not be insignificant. Unless you happened to know a caller and a bunch of Appalachian-style musicians who wanted to volunteer their time.

Some Jewish friends of mine had a klezmer band and traditional dancing at their wedding - it was amazing. I'm not sure the politics of going that route if it's not part of your heritage, though.

Honestly, I think that if you provide good music and plenty of liquor, your reception is going to be fun no matter what. A lot of the time weddings are a chance to reconnect with people I haven't seen in a long time, get to know mutual friends I may never have been introduced to before, etc. You probably don't need organized entertainment. (Though I do kinda love those cheesy wedding DJ's who make people get up and do the chicken dance.)
posted by Sara C. at 5:50 PM on February 14, 2011

We brought our Wii and set it up to give the kids something to keep busy with. What actually happened was my brand-spankin'-new husband and all his friends monopolized it. So, don't do that.
posted by pajamazon at 5:57 PM on February 14, 2011 [1 favorite]

The Human Cheetah. I have a feeling it would be unforgettable.
posted by Kloryne at 7:03 PM on February 14, 2011

We had a pinata (for the kids) and face painting (for anyone) at our wedding.
posted by vespabelle at 10:59 PM on February 14, 2011

Get an accordion player and have the wedding everyone will talk about for the rest of their lives! The accordion has been the favored wedding instrument in the Great Lakes area since at least the 1950's, and anyone who's been to a wedding in that region has almost certainly been highly entertained by the accordion player...as would anyone!
posted by motown missile at 11:03 PM on February 14, 2011

We went to a wedding once that had magnetic poetry at all of the tables and in order to "force the couple to kiss" you had to get up and read a poem. It got fairly competitive between several of the tables. But that's what happens when librarians marry archivists.
posted by librarianamy at 5:30 AM on February 15, 2011 [4 favorites]

Last summer a friend married an Aussie (in America), and a few guests from both sides got up and sang. It was very entertaining -- luckily, they were good -- and set a very merry tone.
posted by wenestvedt at 6:53 AM on February 15, 2011

We had fortune-telling cats at our wedding, and folks are still talking about how neat it was. So go out to your local equivalent of Santa Monica's Third Street Promenade, find the most novel street performers and ask if they'll play a private booking.
posted by Scram at 7:10 PM on February 20, 2011