Outdoor Wedding
October 27, 2008
If you are having your wedding reception out of doors, that opens the door for many activities that would be hard to pull off indoors. You can plan games and activities based on the outdoor theme and carry that theme indoors if part of the reception is inside as well.
Depending on where the reception will be held, you can plan many activities based on the setting.
Let’s start with some basics based on popular wedding locations. One fun game for a winery wedding is a blindfolded wine tasting game. If the bride and groom are wine drinkers, this might not a game the bride and groom should be a part of, but instead guests and wedding party members.
Say you are having a reception at a country club on a golf course. It’s possible your theme will include golf elements, so why not include golf in some reception activities or games? You certainly could head to the golf course for a “hole in one” contest, or have a driving contest to see which guest has the best stroke. As a simple, “who gets the centerpiece game”, you could have people guess how many golf balls there are in the floral centerpiece (which could decorate a plain large glass vase filled with flowers). Similarly, there could be a large vase or other clear container filled with golf balls at the reception somewhere and guests could guess how many golf balls are in the vase.
Now, if your reception and ceremony are both to be held outdoors and guests will be milling outdoors, think about games or activities that can take place outdoors and still keep to your level of formality or informality. For example, if the reception is being held at a park, perhaps guests might enjoy a “walk down memory lane”. Prior to the reception, someone can use potted plants or arbors to create a little private lane, which guests can walk through.
If your wedding and reception are fairly casual, you can always tell guests ahead of time to prepare for a ball game or some other fun outdoor activity. Women can bring a pair of sneakers. Just imagine the fun photos you’ll get out of a rousing game of football or baseball played by women in dresses and sneakers and men in suits and sneakers!
You can provide a challenge activity involving barefoot dancing in the grass or a Frisbee toss in the backyard.
Wedding Toast Activities
October 20, 2008
Giving a toast is a responsibility that puts fear in the speaking hearts of most members of a wedding party. While it’s not usually something that is particularly long or involved, it’s public speaking (which doesn’t sit well with many people) and really puts people on the spot.
If you are planning a wedding and know that most members of this wedding party are hams who won’t mind the whole “public speaking” thing, then by all means keep the toasts traditional with dad, the best man and others taking their expected turns at the microphone.
But if you’re looking for something different, either because you want to save putting people on the spot, or you simply want to do something different and fun, read on.
First, you can certainly take the whole toast thing off the agenda if you wish. There are no rules requiring a toast at any wedding. Weddings should be unique events and reflect the personalities of the bride and groom.
You can go the video route, which asks people to essentially make a toast on camera and then the video is given to the bride and groom later.
If your guest list includes many outgoing people then consider “pass the microphone”. Most people like silly. Say dad takes the microphone first. His last name ends with T (so, let’s say dad’s last name is Smith). Tony? Tina? Theresa?) and pass the microphone to that person, who then gives a toast.
Getting people when they least expect it and then asking them to remember something funny or meaningful about the bride and groom can result in interesting, funny and truthful results.
Number the tables and at various intervals, have the MC or DJ call a number, which will require guests at that table to decide amongst themselves who will give the toast at that table.
Say you have plenty of public speakers in the group, and finding willing toast participants won’t be a problem. There’s an easy solution to this problem. You can provide open-ended topics for the toast speakers. Say you are providing an “open mike” toast arrangement, where anyone can request the microphone and offer a toast. There might be slips of paper to choose, or just one sheet of paper with several ideas.
The speaker might choose to finish this sentence, “I remember when (groom’s name here) was a little boy, he always …” or answer this question, “When was (insert bride’s name here) at her silliest?
Wedding Weekend
October 13, 2008
Weekend weddings are becoming more popular, particularly as families are spread further apart. They usually begin on Friday night, continue with the wedding Saturday and conclude with a post-wedding breakfast on Sunday before everyone returns home.
Planning activities for these weekend-long celebrations doesn’t have to be difficult; in fact, it can be quite a bit of fun if you keep everyone’s needs in mind. First, consider the wedding. Will this be a formal wedding with a sit-down dinner at its center? If so, you might want to ban a formal rehearsal dinner and replace it instead with an informal barbecue dinner or picnic.
Will the wedding be near a lake? How about planning a day at the lake on Saturday, filled with pre-wedding activities like swimming races and beach volleyball.
One popular pre-wedding activity is a scavenger hunt. Prior to the wedding weekend, a list of meaningful items should be drawn up, and guests placed in two teams. The list should include things like “get a brochure from the jewelry store where (groom) bought (bride)’s ring” or “take a picture of the group at the location where the couple got engaged”.
You can even offer lavish prizes for the team that wins the scavenger hunt, such as gift certificates or gourmet food and wine baskets. You can create teams of friends versus family, or men versus women (always a popular choice).
Another activity that’s popular during wedding weekends is a competitive sport activity, such as baseball or flag football. Offer prizes for performance (first home run gets a kiss from the bride) or make silly rules, like members of the bridal party have to wear tiaras while running bases or members of the groom’s family should always have their shirts on backwards.
If the wedding weekend guests will mostly be family, you can schedule a home movie-viewing event, including home movies from both the bride and groom’s families. For even more fun, consider an activity where the movies are mixed up and the guests have to guess which family’s videos they are watching. This might sound easy, but depending on the contents, it could be hard, particularly if the bride and groom are babies in the photos.
