Innovative Wedding Entertainment Ideas

I thought this month I might try to inspire you with some extra innovative ideas for your wedding entertainment. Something that will stick in your guests minds forever, keep them talking for weeks, and perhaps steer you away from the more traditional formula of Ceremony - Wedding Breakfast - Disco...

As we all know, every wedding is different. Having performed at many weddings each year, I’ve come to believe that even though most weddings stick to similar structures, patterns and traditions, each one has that special touch - a touch of the bride, a touch of the groom, and a touch of their groomsmen / bridesmaids / parents etc who were all keen to get involved with the planning stages.

So, now for some wedding entertainment ideas...

Singing Waiters

Singing waiters is an idea that is growing ever-popular for wedding receptions (and I’ve got a few ideas as to how you can incorporate them into your ceremony too). The idea started with professional opera singers being hidden undercover at events as waiters, who work covertly all night and then all of a sudden will burst into song and shock everyone! This idea has taken the entertainment world by storm and has developed down all sorts of avenues.  Perhaps you like the idea of having an undercover ‘fireman’ come to ‘shut down’ your event, or maybe a rather chatty ‘chef’ who wants to sing a song to congratulate you. My absolute favourite option is an undercover ‘guest’. Perhaps you can get your favourite cousin in on the surprise and the undercover vocalist can be his ‘new girlfriend Anne’. The look on your guests faces when halfway through the evening she starts singing is an absolute treat and will never be forgotten.

Generally, singing waiters will perform a short set, maybe 20 minutes or so, but you don’t need any more than that – it’s such a high impact show and such a shock to your guests that I think any longer than 20 minutes might cut down the dynamic of the show.

This works really well during your wedding breakfast, however it can work at any point. If you chat to any of the singing waiter companies, they can come up with some pretty innovative ideas as to how this can be placed at your event.

Top Tip: I love the idea of hiding three or four singers at the ceremony in the congregation. At the given moment, they can burst into your favourite song – a bit like the wedding scene in the film ‘Love Actually’. One by one they can all join in, coming from different areas of the room – what a fab idea! This is especially nice as a surprise to your other half (if you can keep it a secret!)

Ceilidh Bands

I’ve seen Ceilidh bands at many different events, and they go down a treat absolutely anywhere. Ceilidh bands play traditional Gaelic music, which perhaps doesn’t sound like your cup of tea, but when you spend the whole night with your mum and best friend dancing the night away perhaps you’ll reconsider! Ceilidh bands traditionally have what’s called a ‘Caller’, who will organise your guests to do basic (and not so basic) dance routines and have your wedding swinging ‘barn-dance-style’ in no time!

Jugglers, Contortionists and Other Circus Acts

This is something different for your event that your guests will most definitely not be expecting!

Photo Booths

Ok, so I am not sure if this automatically falls into the category of ‘entertainment’, but if you’ve ever been to a wedding that has one, it most certainly is entertaining! A photo booth will be set up at your event, and your guests can pile in throughout the evening (obviously you can imagine, the drunker they get, the more silly the photos get!). The booth will print two copies of the picture, one for the guests to keep and one to stick in an album for you and your other half. This is great fun, and means not only do you get to take home pictures to remember the day but so do your guests! (Some of which perhaps they may slightly regret the next morning!)