YAY!! You’re planning the wedding of your dreams and with all of your favorite people! You want to enjoy your day and you want your guests to enjoy their day too! If you’re looking for some ways to entertain all of your guests while you dance the night away, keep reading for some unique wedding reception ideas that everyone will love!
Unique Wedding Favors
Your wedding favors can serve multiple purposes – provide entertainment on your wedding day and be a tangible, maybe even practical, keepsake! Here are a few ideas of unique wedding favors that you and your guests will love, and make for fun photos!
- A Photo Booth – everyone loves a good photo booth! This is such a fun way to get photos of your guests – make sure to include some props and prints for your guests to take home!
- Cigar Bar – for an extra special treat for your guests, you can bring in a professional cigar roller! Your guests can hang out outside smoking their cigars, or take them home for later! Make sure to check with your venue if they allow smoking.
- Disposable cameras or Polaroids – for your guests to capture their time at your wedding from their own perspective! You won’t miss a single moment and can guarantee you’ll have some priceless selfies of all your guests that you may not get otherwise!
- Heart-shaped sunglasses – “put these glasses on and pose!” – You and your guests can be extra cool and wear your fun sunglasses inside! Are sunglasses inside necessary? No… but they’re a lot of fun in flash photos on the dance floor and could be worn again long after your wedding day!
- Hats with your last name on them – your guests can wear their new hats while they dance the night away and again on the weekend or their next vacation!
- T-shirts with your last name or something iconic about you two – make your grand entrance extra grand with a t-shirt toss! Your guests will love it and can wear this long after your wedding day!
- Pet treat bags – If you have pets, or have lots of guests that have pets, you could send them home with goodie bags for their furry friends! Make sure the treats are all safe for pets to consume or contact a local pet bakery for special, safe to eat treats!
Entertainment + Unique Wedding Reception Ideas
Music + Entertainment
Music is a powerful thing and you’ll definitely want some at your wedding reception to set the vibes and get everyone on the dance floor! Whether you choose to hire a DJ or a live band, it’s important to make sure whoever is providing the music matches the mood and level of interaction you’re hoping for! If you have a really interactive crowd, you could even have kareoke or an open mic at your wedding! Here are a few other ways you may entertain and interact with your guests:
- Table Dash – take a photo with every table at your wedding in less than 10 minutes! While the DJ plays a song, you two run to each table where everyone squeezes in for a big group photo – posed or silly… or both!
- Choreographed dance – maybe you and your wedding party want to put on a production for all your guests to your favorite song(s)! This takes some planning prior to your wedding day but is totally epic to pull off!
- Hire a comedian – if you’re into standup comedy, you could hire a comedian to do a bit just for your wedding day!
- Coffee bar – if you’re coffee lovers, who doesn’t love a night time cappuccino? You could create custom, signature lattes and send your guests home with your favorite espresso in a goodie bag!
Entertaining kids at your wedding reception
If kiddos are invited to your reception, it’s a good idea to have activities just for them so they and their parents can enjoy your party, too! Here are a few ideas to entertain kids at your wedding reception:
- Coloring pages at their seat – you could turn some of your engagement photos or photos of your pets into coloring pages!
- Glow sticks – okay this is entertaining for adults too, but so much fun on the dance floor for all!
- Bubbles – if your venue allows and you don’t mind, bubbles keep kiddos busy all night! If you’re going to use bubbles in your grand exit, you could pass them out early to be played with throughout the night!
Dance floor props you could use at your wedding reception
In addition to heart-shaped sunglasses and bubbles, there are SO many ways to spice up the dance floor and provide an extra-memorable experience for your guests! Here are a few more ideas:
- Pom poms – if you are looking for something for guests to dance with that don’t make a mess, pom poms may be your answer and could be used for your send off, too!
- LED fiber wands – if you want something that doesn’t make a mess or cause a fire, but lights up then LED fiber wands may be your answer!
- Giant glow stick wands – we talked about glow sticks for kiddos, but giant glow stick wands deserve a mention too!
Unique Wedding Guestbook Ideas
And lastly, having an interactive guestbook is a great way to entertain your guests and leave you with a unique keepsake from your wedding day created by all your friends and family! Here are a few unique wedding guestbook ideas:
- Polaroid guestbook – set out a few polaroid cameras for your guests next to a book where they can tape in their photo next to their personal love note to you!
- Recipe book – have your guests write down their favorite recipe and build you two your very first, personalized cookbook!
Your wedding day is going to be the best day ever.
Of course, there are millions of ideas to make your reception unique and authentically you. If you have big dreams and are ready to chat about bringing those dreams to life, I’m your gal. Let’s start dreaming together and create a wedding day and images that are authentically you, and nothing less.
