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Emma's Wedding Diary: Wedding Entertainment

One thing we must get right is the wedding entertainment. I can remember some pretty dismal family weddings when I was a kid and I don't want that to happen at ours! We're getting married in the morning (now that tune is going to be in my head all day!), so we need to have entertainment throughout the afternoon before the evening dancing.

Kids entertainment = happy parents as well as happy kids

There are a number of options, but the most important thing is keeping the children occupied, not only to make sure they don't get up to any mischief, but also to give the parents a chance to relax too. At the moment my favourite ideas are: a bouncy castle (but only if it's big enough for me to go on too!), a magician or a general entertainer that can make balloon animals. There was one at a wedding I went to a couple of years ago and the children loved it, and the adults liked seeing strange balloon creatures appear everywhere! There are even nannies and specialist creches that come to venues to look after the kiddies. When we have final numbers and ages I'll see if we need that. Then we might be able to invite the kids after all.

Wedding DJs and live bands

As for the adult wedding entertainment, music is crucial. I need to check with the venue, as some places insist on a particular DJ for discos. They've come a long way, and a lot of discos now use digital formats so that they can have a greater range of music. It also means that we can check in advance what they have more easily. We'll need to get a wedding DJ who is happy to look at our playlist as we're quite picky about what we dance to. Of course, we need to make sure that they can play songs that everyone else will enjoy too - and not everyone there will be thirty somethings!

There's also the option of having a live band, there are some really fabulous ones out there and it does add an incredible atmosphere. I'm going to get in touch with the ones advertised in the Wedding Organizer book to see if I can watch them perform first - very important! Not only to find out how they sound but also how they look; a very retro band might look a bit odd, whilst being perfect for someone else's themed wedding.

Wedding entertainment for the non-dancers

Not everyone likes to dance though, and something that Joe is excited about is having a casino, not for real money of course. He's had a nice idea to give each guest a few chips to get them started as part of their wedding favour and then everyone will know it's there too. There are companies that specialise in these kind of events and provide trained staff to run the games. Very James Bond!

A magician for grown-ups might be fun wedding entertainment too, there are ones that can perform at the table, I'm sure I saw a feature on it in my Organizer.

Wedding entertainment to break the ice

We could always have a barn-dance with caller, those are lots of fun, and we're also compiling a quiz where all of the questions are about the guests. That should help to break the ice! Hmmm, maybe we should offer a prize for the most correct answers?. I'd better add that to my miscellaneous list.