Did you know one of the chief complaints I hear from wedding guests is waiting on the couple to wrap up photos post ceremony and for the actual reception to begin? There are many reasons your guests are angsty during this time and honestly, it’s a pivotal space you can open the evening to a memorable occasion and keep guests from calculating their exit.
When I was hosting my personal events, I was aware of mixing social groups. My husband often wanted to invite people from every corner of our network and I would try to narrow which groups would mesh well and have common ground. There was absolutely no right or wrong to this, only a preference. It occurred to me hosting a wedding is just this—a social celebration of everyone who is connected to you.
From co-workers, family, college roommates, fraternity brothers or sisters to church friends to athletic teammates, you are most likely mixing a variety of personalities and people who aren’t all that familiar with one another. If you had invited all these people to a social gathering, you would most likely be going around making introductions. However, your wedding is different. You are the guest of honor and not the host. This is why immediately following your ceremony, some type of cocktail/mocktail hour is very important and if you want your guests to feel engaged, there are a number of ways you can elevate this pivotal hour so your guests feel connected.
Most likely you yourself have attended an event or wedding where you knew only the guest of honor. It was up to you to make small talk and connect with the other guests. This is why giving your guests something to eat and drink or to do while you are off taking photos, is paramount. Guests love it when there is something to keep them occupied before dinner service. Here are some ideas and why they work—also some best practices we’ve seen personally.
- Yard Games: Hokey as it may seem, a yard game is a way to give people something to do with their hands and draws in spectators. For this, giant Jenga takes the cake. While it may only engage a handful of people, everyone loves to watch as the tower begins to wobble and the outburst that comes with a harrowing piece placed on a shaky tower. Corn Hole and giant connect four also attracts a lot of interest and easy enough to play dressed up. Tip about yard games: Don’t do more than four as it can feel like a relay. You will also may want to follow an aesthetic or color scheme. Ask your venue if they provide attractive yard games or look for your own that are hand-made and can be custom painted for your color scheme. Best at Weymouth Hill: The best one we saw was a couple that had their initials monogrammed onto custom cornhole boards. They were beautiful and provided a bespoke touch. Out of the box idea: Consider renting a gaming table like black jack or roulette.
- Interactive food: By interactive, this means food that is not just grab and go like cheese or fruit tray. Think, nacho bar where the guest can build what they want. Even passed appetizers gives more of a mingle feel by watching the servers come around with new items. It’s a bit more engaging and creates an element of surprise. Even a long grazing board is more interactive as it is of visual interest (if done well) and gives guests options. Tip about interactive food: your food can offer a story and revel something about you as a couple. Maybe you serve a family recipe item or even offer a story behind the recipe or the recipe itself. Best at Weymouth Hill: This past spring season, we had one of the most whimsical grazing boards, expertly prepared by a recommended vendor. The couple had gone for a ethereal flair for their wedding and the bride supplied all kinds of added touches to include whimsical figurines in the grazing board, including a figurine of the couple with the flowers of her veil hand painted on it. Out of the box idea: Another was a couple who served beloved family recipes and supplied family recipe cards for people to replicate a taste of their wedding.
- Trivia and nostalgia: Often we see photos of the couple from the early days and most guests will browse those photos, but taking this a step further by providing a trivia or crossword sheet. Guests love when they get to learn something new or unknown about the couple they just saw get married. Tip about trivia: Place this somewhere near cocktail hour so guests will not miss it. Best at Weymouth Hill: One of these that stands out was a scroll of a newspaper featuring the couple and their story. We saw a lot of guests drawn out of curiosity of the scroll. They wanted to know what was inside. Out of the box idea: Consider asking your hired DJ to emcee a trivia challenge among the guests—much like trivia night at a restaurant. This would be a unique way to create some teaming and even offer spectator delight.
- Entertainment: While this is a bit of a broad suggestion, this would include a live painter, fun photo booth, musician, or interactive paint option for guests to paint. Tip about entertainment: Ask your live painter about painting wedding guests. We had one couple who had a live painter not only paint their wedding scene, but pause during cocktail hour to offer to paint wedding guests. She had an extra artist with her and they were really offering guests a personalized take home memorabilia from the event. Best at Weymouth Hill: A couple who met through a Latin dance class hired a salsa dance instructor to give lessons to guests so they could participate in some of the Latin dance at the reception. Out of the box idea : Hiring a professional entertainer such as a magician or a surprise quartet (for fun, disguised as servers, but they break out in song). Your guests aren’t expecting this and would be dazzled by an unexpected entertainer making an appearance, especially while you are off taking photos.
- Festive Drink: While drink preferences have certainly taken on some different trends, it is our collective observation that a variety serves every crowd best. Unless you have strong beliefs or religious reasons for not serving alcohol, we have noted most people feel festive and will partake in an adult beverage at a wedding. If you fear guests being “overserved” do talk to your venue or bartender about practices to prevent this. It is also kind to offer your non-drinking guests something festive, such as a mocktail. There are many option out there. Tip about festive drink: Don’t be surprised when pricing mocktails. Many times the products that go into them can be just as costly as regular. Best at Weymouth Hill: His and Her cocktails are always a winner and the most popular, but one couple stepped it up and added three cocktails and one mocktail. This provided more than ample options for everyone and the best crowd pleaser. Out of the box idea: At WH, we garnish all of our cocktails/mocktails. Check out Etsy for a personalized stir stick or garnish pick to add more flair to your cocktail.
