In the age of Instagram weddings, the pressure is on more than ever to create a unique and aesthetically pleasing experience for your guests. Most happy couples spend months if not years planning their wedding, all the while finding creative ways to stand out from the rest with your dress, wedding favours, colour schemes, food, and even the venue.
Traditional wedding elements aside, the best way to stand out and make a real impression with your guests is to have quirky or unusual wedding entertainment thorough the day. Choosing the right entertainment can make the day really memorable, but can be a fine line to balance. Here are our favourite wedding entertainment ideas to get you started on your planning journey.
How To Choose Wedding Entertainment
While it’s not the most important thing about a wedding, it is a nice touch to have some entertainment which isn’t often seen at other weddings, as it provides great photo opportunities, along with ensuring your guests will be talking about your wedding for years to come!
First things first when it comes to booking entertainment for your big day, you need to think about what entertainment will make the day memorable for you. For example, do you want lots of quirky photographs or caricatures to remember your wedding and your guests? Or do you want a certain type of music that you’ve loved since you can remember? Whatever you decide, it should be right for you.
Next, you need to decide on your wedding entertainment activities based on who your guests are. For example, it’s a sensible idea to choose activities that are appropriate for all age ranges or which would suit a specific group of friends you’d like to invite – there’s nothing worse than setting up vodka shot station if your guests don’t drink!
10 Wedding Entertainment Ideas
There are lots of fun wedding ideas that don’t have to cost the earth and there are many options which can be done both on a budget and a little more extravagantly.
1. Photo Booth
Photo booths have become increasingly popular over the past few years, and the trend for Instagram-worthy photo booth pictures doesn’t seem to be slowing down.
There are so many options to choose from to encourage your guests to use your photo booth, including using inflatable props like guitars and microphones, fake glasses and moustaches. You can even get specially designed “photo frames” with the date of your wedding on them!
Some photo booths allow you to upload the photographs directly to your social media accounts, so adding a relevant hashtag can be a great idea for the day. This way, all of your guests know which hashtag to search for to find special memories of the day.
2. Palm Reader
Hiring a palm reader for your evening wedding entertainment is a really fun idea that isn’t often seen at weddings.
You could set this up in a quiet corner of the event with some fairy lights and some gorgeous fabrics to match the colour scheme of your wedding, so that this ties in nicely with your day.
If hiring a palm reader is something that interests you, you could also add a tarot card reader to your wedding and have these set up in different areas of the venue. But just be mindful that palm readers and tarot readers take their profession very seriously, so you should make sure that your guests are respectful.
3. Circus Entertainer
Hiring a circus entertainer for your wedding can be an amazing and exciting choice for guests of all ages. However, this option might suit larger venues more, who could accommodate the types of activities that a circus entertainer can provide.
If you’re thinking of having aerial performers, fire breathers, acrobats, and stilt walkers, then a circus entertainer would probably be the best option for you. Just bear in mind that the prices for these types of entertainers can start to increase quickly depending on the skills and time you’d like them to perform for, but it’s well worth the investment if you have some of your budget to spare to make the event truly memorable.
4. Casino Table
Casino tables are a must have for a Vegas or Monte Carlo themed wedding. This is a great theme idea to encourage grown-up guests to dress their best and let loose, and will ensure that your wedding goes down in memory as a fantastic party.
There are often packages available for wedding parties where the betting tables and staff can be provided together. This is great for the planning process and can help ensure that the evening runs smoothly without the need to hire different elements from different companies.
If you’re struggling to think of décor for your evening reception, you can always go all out with the theme. Why not choose Vegas-themed accessories to go with the betting tables, such as large playing cards as props and walls of gold lighting, to add a glitzy look to the room.
5. Bouncy Castle
Who said bouncy castles are just for kids?
We know of so many adults who often look longingly at the bouncy castles that their kids are playing on at parties, so what better way to have a memorably rowdy wedding reception than to give the grown-ups a go! There are so many inflatable options for event hire, there is sure to be something for you.
Space is a key factor here. You need to ensure that your venue has the area required for the size of inflatable you are going for, so more often than not, this is more of an outdoor activity. However, if an indoor venue is particularly large, they may allow you to have the bouncy castle inside.
If a bouncy castle sounds like it’s up to your street, you could also think about adding in a bucking bronco or sumo wrestling inflatable suits. This kind of entertainment really suits a fun and informal kind of wedding.
6. Bagpiper
If either the bride, groom or any family members have a Scottish heritage, it can be a really lovely touch to include a professional bagpiper in the evening’s festivities.
Having your first dance to your favourite wedding song on a bagpipe is a unique element to add to a wedding. Adding other subtle touches such as a kilt for the groom or the family tartan as the chair bows or covers will tie the Scottish heritage together within the wedding.
7. Magician
A magician is an excellent and popular choice for any event, especially a wedding! There is something so nostalgic about a magician travelling between the tables pulling things out of hats and doing card tricks. Even if you ultimately choose to hire the magician purely for children’s entertainment, it will feel extremely memorable, and can even be fun to laugh about later.
Most magicians will have perhaps a top 5 list of their best tricks that they can demonstrate to you during the meeting process so you can see what they have to offer. Make sure you aren’t just amazed by their magical abilities, and choose a performer with a good charismatic presence.
A magician as entertainment could tie into a number of wedding themes quite seamlessly. This could be a great feature that would provide some great photo opportunities and leave your guests thoroughly impressed.
8. Fairground Rides
For the thrill-seeking couple! Fairground rides are definitely suited to outside venues, or venues that can offer both an indoor and outdoor space for having bigger activities but then a smaller, more intimate space to enable guests to eat their evening meal together.
Popular fairground ride options include Ferris wheels, swing boats, snow slides, and funhouses, so there are plenty of fun activities to choose from and most of these can be hired as a wedding package from specialist businesses.
Rides are a great option for a wedding with a large guest list as you can be sure that everyone can get a go. They also make a fantastic backdrop for wedding photos!
9. Giant Jenga
The great thing about giant Jenga is that it can be played in either indoor or outdoor venues and even better, it seems to be a favourite for all ages!
If giant Jenga ticks the boxes for you, you could also add in some other large lawn games, such as draughts, snakes and ladders, and giant kerplunk. This kind of entertainment is idea for a garden party wedding, particularly one with a mixed age group attending.
Not only do these games provide some great fun, they make for fantastic wedding photos, as they look so different to most other wedding photographs.
10. Silent Disco
Although silent discos may remind you of cheap beer at a student union, they’ve actually become really popular for wedding receptions.
Along with being an interesting and memorable idea, it’s also a great idea if your venue has strict noise limitations or has to stop playing music at a certain time. This will allow the party to go on for much longer, as there is no noise disturbance to surrounding neighbours.
