Many couples plan their weddings with their guests’ experience in mind. Even though your wedding is to celebrate you and your future spouse, you’re inviting all of your favorite people to be there to celebrate with you. That being said, couples want their guests to be able to enjoy their wedding together and there are many ways to keep you guests entertained. Here are some options that many couples are taking advantage of for their weddings so that there are no dull moments at your wedding:

1. Live bands or musicians with GOOD Music

Many guests are looking to get down and funky on the dance floor at your wedding. Make sure you have music planned that will keep your guests up and moving all night! You can have a live band or ceremony musicians to add more interaction for your guests, but even a great DJ will ensure that your guests will party all night!

2. Hire a Live Painter

If you can find yourself a live painter that will attend your wedding and paint a beautiful scene from your wedding, your guests won’t be able to help themselves to take a few glances during the reception. Even though the process takes a while, seeing someone’s artistry is a surefire way to keep your guests wanting to see the final product.

3. Interactive or Personalized Favors

This is an added bonus for your guests if you’re interested, but having fun favors that reflect you as a couple really intrigues your guests. Any personalization of your wedding gets your guests even more excited to be celebrating with you when you add that unique flair. A couple I worked with recently were food bloggers and they had little spice jars with family recipes attached!

4. Fun Guest Book

If you’re planning on having a guest book, your guests will be more inclined to sign it if it is more than just a book with a pen. There are plenty of options for this, such as voicemail phone guest books, video messages, or Polaroid photos. If they are also able to double as favors to take home like a photo, then your guests will be lining up to do this!

5. Cultural Traditions

Having some physical forms of entertainment can be easily found within your own culture and traditions. If you have special dances or activities, this is an easy way for your guests to be entertained. Some examples are the Hora, Chinese dragons and/or lion dancers, belly dancers, or the Ceilidh. This can add a personal touch while also enthralling your guests!

6. Photo Booths

Your guests will definitely want to be taking pictures through the night, and there’s no better way to do than than providing them with the tools! You can have traditional photo booths with props, someone stationed to take Polaroid photos, or even find unique photo booths to really wow your guests! 360 camera photo booths are coming into fashion such as VW buses or neon signs with a fun background.

7. Interactive Food Stations

Some extra fun for your guests are things like a chocolate fountain or a late night snack. Your guests will thank you for having some extra food while partying through the night! You can also have other options like a smores bar, cheese fountain, gourmet popcorn, a candy bar, or sundae stations. The options for fun foods are really endless, and you can also incorporate your favorite snacks for even more personalization!

8. Award Ceremony

If you’re a bit more extraverted, you can plan for an award ceremony for your guests during or after dinner. You can buy simple or customized awards to hand out to your guests with different titles attached, like “Matchmaker” for the guest that set you and your future spouse up, “Most Organized” for the person that RSVPed to your wedding first, or others like “Best Influence” for a couple that you both look up to. There are plenty of ways to personalize this and it is fun for your guests to be included in this way!

9. Signature Cocktails

For a little entertainment for your guests, you can have some signature cocktails that are either your favorite drinks as a couple, or drinks that have a description that matches your personalities. Many couples also will do this with their pets’ personalities or traits to include their pets in their wedding as well.

10. Individual Thank You Cards

If you have the time to do this, this is an incredibly sweet way to make sure your guests feel extra appreciated. Some couples will have these thank you notes sitting at their seat for when they arrive to the reception, and this personalized touch will have your guests talking the whole night about what they read from the newlyweds.

Many guests are finding that weddings that are more personalized to you and your future spouse are the weddings that really stick in their heads. I recommend sitting down with your soon-to-be spouse and discuss some elements of your relationship that could be fun to incorporate into your wedding to make it more focused on the two of you.

For me personally, my husband and I take a lot of photos on those big Adirondack chairs… so we had photos of us in the chairs mixed in with our seating chart, two little chairs with a corgi for our wedding cake, and then my dad had a MASSIVE Adirondack chair made for our Polaroid photo booth. That was one of my favorite elements for our wedding because our guests all knew that it fit our relationship really well.

Your guests don’t really need that much to enjoy your wedding, so don’t fret if you haven’t planned for any of these items. The easiest way for your guests to be entertained is to provide good music, good food, a cozy place, and not a lot of down time for them. This means that if you have a plan for a location, music, and a solid timeline, then your guests will thank you for that.

If you would like more help to plan your wedding, you can reach out to me at hello@firmlyrootedevents.com. I will get you started on my email list for monthly tips and my checklist so that you can stay on track while planning your wedding.