The speeches are a time to share memories and embarrassing stories and celebrate the union of your love and what brought you and your partner together. However, keeping your guests entertained and engaged is essential to making your speeches memorable. There are many approaches to keeping your guests engaged through all the formalities. Wedding reception games are one such way that has been gaining popularity over the last few years, and there's no wonder why. They keep your guests having fun while adding natural breaks between speeches. What are some of these games? Well, here are a few of you should consider adding to your wedding day formalities.
Mr & Mrs “The Shoe Game”
This one is a wedding staple, with many couples adding it to their formalities, either between speeches or just before dinner service. The game starts with the bride and groom sitting back-to-back in the middle of the dance floor. They take off their shoes and have one of each, which is when the fun begins. Questions are directed to the couple, such as “Who wears the pants in the relationship?” Or “Who said I love you first?” The couple raises the shoe of the person who best fits the prompt. Often, it creates funny moments, especially when there is a disagreement about who the prompt relates to most, and adds a fun element to the formalities that your guests will love. A twist for the brave is to open the questions to the floor, allowing all your guests to ask anything, which could add more chaos and unpredictability to the game, but your guests will love having the opportunity to join in.
Wedding Day Heads & Tails
Heads and tails is a classic and quick wedding game that gets guests to stand up and choose heads or tails, with the losers sitting down and the winners moving to the next round. This continues until only one is left, and the game ends, making them the winner. There are a few variations to spice the game up. You can simply flip a coin each round to decide heads to tails. Alternatively, to really personalise the game and relate it directly to the wedding couple, you can ask a question, with the guests doing heads or tails to show their answer. Either way, guests can stretch their legs, get on their feet, and be immersed in the wedding festivities.
Bottoms up - Group Cheers / Shot
From Vodka to Rakija (A Croatian liquor), a group shot is always an exciting activity that many of your guests will happily partake in. It’s a great photo moment as all your guests raise their shot glasses to celebrate your marriage. While it's often viewed simply as smashing back harsh spirits for the sake of it, there’s a fantastic opportunity to make the moment memorable and connect with a special part of your life as the wedding couple.
A great example of this was at a 21st Birthday at the estate. Their grandfather had passed away before they were born. However, he was a winemaker, and there was a small amount of his original port. The entire group had a drink of port in his memory, with the family getting a chance to try some of the original port. It made for a very special moment, shared with everyone present. Other groups have used specific liquors made in the country of their heritage, allowing them to connect with their culture as a part of their wedding and share that with their guests.
Wedding Bingo
Bingo shouldn't be limited by its stereotyped connection to the elderly; it’s a great game to have running in the background of your speeches. One great approach to running a bingo during speeches is to prepare a range of ‘moments’ that may occur in the speeches and performances. For example, ‘the best man tells an embarrassing drunk story in their speech’, or ‘the bride's father had one too many drinks before their speech’. The massive benefit of wedding bingo is that it’s a game that can be quickly established at the start of the formalities and can be optional. There is also the bonus of encouraging guests to be more attentive during speeches to catch each bingo moment.
Integrating activities and games throughout your wedding, especially during speeches, is a great way to build up the energy and buzz in the room and break up long runs of speeches. Your guests will appreciate the effort to keep the formalities engaging and involve everyone involved in your special day.
If you have any questions about planning your speeches or need more details on executing these games on your wedding day, come down to Markovina Estate, the premium Kumeu wedding venue, and chat with our friendly team about how we can make your wedding dreams a reality.
