Singing waiters...and reception entertainement alternatives

I love singing waiters. I think the trick is to keep it a total secret otherwise it doesn't really work.

ive also been to weddings and bar mitzvah with magicians, hip hop dance lessons for kids (and some brave adults), singers, bands.

I haven't been to a wedding which had them, but I have seen them on YouTube if that helps. If you search for Singing waiters, I'm sure you'll find a few to watch and you could then make a decision.

I know you said you are not having children, but you might still want to consider a magician maybe, something unobtrusive that doesn't intrude too much on people's socialising?

I think I probably would book it in secret - not even telling OH, that way the surprise cant be spoilt as I know what he is like for keeping secrets ha

I've been to a wedding with a magician and it was really good. He came around the tables between courses and we were amazed at some of his tricks. That is definitley my 2nd option I think.

I never even thought of checking youtube, thanks will do that today!

We've booked a magician as a surprise in the evening! However, he has emphasised he won't entertain children, so it's for the adults only. We only have around 5 kids anyway, so not an issue. We experienced his magic at the tasting event at our venue which was good to see him in person.

Other entertainment ideas - casino tables, photo booths, garden games, fireworks, sparklers, perhaps even a chocolate fountain even?

Hope this helps!

Thats great thank you. We have sparklers and marshmallow toasting after the meal and are looking into a photo booth, might be an idea to have the photo booth during the reception rather than on the night I suppose that could work.

Photo booths are loads of fun! We used to have them at our work parties and they always had a queue of people. I'd certainly recommend one. Check how long they run for, ours is for 4 hours which is quite good but sometimes it can be hard to figure out how to fit it into the day.

Sparklers and marshmallow toasting sounds lovely too!

The one ive looked into is 2 hours daytime or 4 hours evening. for a full day/night there is a £20 per hour additional charge for the times when its not in use. probably would have to look into it a bit more but definitley interested in one of them.

My OH is Chinese, so we're thinking of having a lion dance to surprise guests. If I have the money, I'm also thinking of booking fireworks and not even telling OH. He really loves fireworks but doesn't think we can afford them.

I love all these entertainment ideas. Makes me sorry I have no guests lol. Well fleetingly.

madamred I can't wait to see your wedding pictures, the lion dance sounds amazing.

We are having singing waiters Our friend had them and H2B loved them.. no-one knows except I think the friend who sent me the contact and 2 of my bridesmaids. Pretty sure no-one else has a clue! They can be quite expensive though... if you are in Scotland contact The Magic Agency as they are a 1/4 of the cost of the other people I got quotes from.

We also have our videographer doing a 'marryoke' video throughout the day which should be quite fun!

I never thought magicians would work but my cousin had one at his wedding and it was actually pretty good... sadly we dont have the budget for one

Photo booths.... a friend (I've been to a LOT of weddings in the last 2 years!) had a tripod with props and a timer on the camera. It worked really well. Ok so it's not quite the same as a proper photobooth, but I already had loads of fancy dress bits to use, so it just cost £30 for the tripod.

Its funny seeing this as I was only speaking to a photographer about one of his weddings where they had a singing waiter, not your normal singing waiter but one that was at the venue all day acting the clown, the venue got really annoyed because he was acting the fool and no one knew what he was hired for so they thought he was a waiter that the venue hired, he would insult the guests, fall over constantly, it didn't go down too well, in the end he was asked to leave?

I shot a wedding earlier this year where the sister of the bride had arranged singing waiters as a surprise. They had kept it really quiet so when it all began I could see some of the guests looking around at each other in genuine bemusement. Then, when they kicked off properly every loved it. They had a load of audience participation, dancing and joing in and then ednded up with a conga. I thought it was a great warm up for the party to come and got everyone involved.

I wouldn't say it was cheesey as I don't think its that common at the moment to become too much of a cliche (like dinosaur photos!). And the genuine initial surprise of the guests when it started really added to it.

Thanks for your help, its definitley something I am going to look into.

We seen a cheaper photo booth alternative idea online which I think we are going to opt for so we can spend more on our actual photographer, which was to get a tripod which holds an ipad. There was an app that you can download which allows guests to take photobooth style photos on a timer with the ipad, and then write a message to go with it, then they are saved in a folder to view afterwards. Then just going to raid the charity shops for props and fancy dress items to use with it.

Get down to a Asda, they are selling off all their masks etc which is ideal for a diy photo booth. Ipad, just make sure its fixed on a stand or table.