Tips for Hiring the Right Wedding DJ
While there are many important decisions to make when planning your wedding or special event, none may be as crucial to its success as the
Category: DJ Blog
Wedding Games
Wedding Games – Yes or No?
Wedding games can be a great way to keep guests entertained at your special event and have become popular parts of many memorable wedding days. They provide something for your guests to do while the wedding party is getting photographed and can be the perfect ice breaker for guests who haven’t met. The key is deciding how and which games to incorporate into your special day, without becoming tasteless with overly silly or questionable game choices.
Outdoor wedding receptions can take advantage of yard games that can enhance a beautiful venue and act as an extension of your theme or décor. Choose games that are special to your love story. Here are some fun examples:
Ring Toss – The exchange of wedding rings can be represented by this game. Create your own ring toss set, incorporating wine glasses or bottles painted in your wedding colors and decorated with jewels.
Cornhole – Customize this popular game by painting your wedding date, names, or Bride and Groom on the boards and make bean bags that coordinate with your wedding colors and theme.
Giant Jenga – Create a giant-sized Jenga game with large wooden blocks painted in your wedding colors and imprinted with fun facts about you and your new spouse.
Wedding table games can help entertain guests while waiting for the meal to be served or for tables to be called to the buffet. They can also provide an easy way for table-mates to get to know one another. Some popular wedding table games are:
I Spy – This popular game is not only fun for the guests but also provides candid photos for the bride and groom to enjoy after the wedding. On each table place a list of items for the guests to find or do and then photograph on their personal or disposable table cameras. Photo ideas you can incorporate are a group selfie, the youngest and/or oldest person at the wedding, dance moves, a special kiss, clinking champagne glasses, and the sunset, to name just a few. The possibilities are endless.
Bride and Groom Trivia – Create a list of trivia questions about the bride and groom for the guests to answer. The DJ or a member of the wedding party can read the answers and reward the person with the most correct answers with a prize, or at least with recognition that they know the bride and groom the best.
Board Game Centerpieces – Games, such as dominoes, Uno, Trivial Pursuit, and Yahtzee can be incorporated into your table décor, creating colorful centerpieces and providing endless entertainment for guests of all ages.
Games for the whole group, wedding party and guests, are a great way to get the crowd to interact. Popular large group games include:
Wedding Shoe Game – In this popular game the bride and groom sit back to back, each holding one of the bride’s shoes and one of the groom’s shoes. The DJ reads questions and the bride and groom hold up the shoe of the person who best represents the answer to that question. In addition to preset questions, ask guests to submit questions as well. Some sample questions might include:
- Who is the better dancer/singer?
- Who has more shoes?
- Who is the best driver?
- Who falls asleep first while watching TV?
- Who is the best cook?
Anniversary Dance – This is a great way to get your guests up and dancing. First, the DJ invites all married couples onto the dance floor. He/she then announces various years of marriage, asking those who have been married one year or less to leave the dance floor, then five years or less, until only the couple who has been married the longest remains on the dance floor.
Finally, if you have a number of children attending your wedding you may want to include some activities just for them. Some fun examples of children’s games are:
Mini I Spy – Provide disposal cameras for the kids and lists of pictures of items for them to find and photograph. Fun photo ideas can include a ponytail, a colorful shoe, a half-eaten piece of cake, someone dancing in a silly way, and a wrapped wedding gift.
Kids Dance Off – Challenge the kids to get on the dance floor and show off their best dance moves for a special “kids only” song. Gather around and cheer them on.
Wedding Color Book – Create a customized color book of your wedding. Include crayons or colored pencils and stickers to keep the little ones busy while seated.
This represents just a few of the ways and types of games that can be incorporated into your wedding, should you decide to do so. Games will undoubtedly keep your guests entertained, but they may not fit into the vision of your wedding. Do you like the idea of games at your wedding and have you played them at weddings you have attended? We would love to hear your thoughts as well as learn about any other fun and crowd-pleasing wedding games you have played.
Wedding Toasts & Speeches
Writing a Best Man or Maid/Matron of Honor Speech
Delivering a wedding toast or speech should be fun, personal and from the heart. Remember, that you will probably be on video, so start preparing yourself to be in the spot light. If you are reading this, we assume you have been chosen to deliver a toast or speech to a bride and groom. To help you get started, we have included some tips on writing and delivering a speech.
Begin by writing down thoughts about the bride and groom and your relationship to them.
• How do you know them?
• Why did they choose you as best man or maid of honor?
• How would you describe each of them? What are the first five adjectives that come to mind?
• What was the groom like before he met the bride? How has he changed knowing her?
• How did they meet? How did the bride tell you about him?
• If you are married, you may want to share marriage advice you’ve received or have learned.
• Are there any particularly amusing anecdotes that illustrate who the bride and/or groom are?
Get creative and if appropriate, use humor to capture the attention of your audience and emotion to cause them to shed a tear. You may want to organize your speech into a top 3 or top 10 list, citing the top reasons why the Bride and Groom belong together. Another fun idea is to write your speech around a bag of items that you bring, handing off each item in the bag to either the Bride or Groom as you offer advice, thoughts, or humor related to each item.
Tips to remember when preparing your speech:
• Introduce Yourself – The Bride and Groom know who you are but probably most of the audience will not.
• Express gratitude – Thank the Bride and Groom for including you and all the guests in their special day.
• Compliment the Bride – It’s the Bride’s day; make her feel extra-special.
• Appropriate content – Make sure the content of your speech is appropriate for the audience.
• Limit your time – Stay on topic and limit your time to 3-5 minutes.
• Closing line – End with a beautiful romantic quote or a heartfelt comment.
• Prepare – Practice and use notecards if needed.
Tips for the day of the wedding:
• Know how to operate the microphone and don’t be afraid to use it.
• Work with the videographer to determine the best spot to deliver your speech.
• Speak clearly.
• Deliver your speech at a good pace – not too fast, not too slow.
• Limit your alcohol consumption prior to your speech.
• Be sure to raise a glass to the couple at the end of your speech.
Especially for the Maid/Matron of Honor
Your friend or family member asked you to be her Maid/Matron of Honor because you are special to her. She is trusting you to represent this special relationship in a speech to all the other guests. Be sure to take this responsibility seriously by preparing a speech and practicing. Speak from your heart, be yourself, and don’t feel pressured to be funny or sentimental or lengthy.
Especially for the Best Man:
Similarly, the Groom chose you to be his Best Man because you are significant in his life. Whether you choose to roast the Groom with a series of funny stories and anecdotes, take a more serious approach, or combine the two, it’s important to pay tribute to the Groom and his Bride. Be yourself and make sure to deliver a speech that reflects your genuine relationship with the Groom. The Best Man speech is generally expected to be humorous. Here is just one example:
I am happy to be here tonight. When the groom wanted a Best Man, he went to the smartest man he knew. When he said no, he asked the most handsome man he knew. When he said no, he asked the most popular man he knew. And finally after being asked 3 times, I agreed.
Amos Productions Event Services:
The key to a successful event is all in the planning stages. At Amos Productions, our staff of certified professionals have years of experience and advice to offer you. For just about every event we do, we help guide you through the planning stages and assist you in pulling together all of the details for a seamless result. Building a custom timeline, planning important formalities, selecting the right staff and equipment, as well as choosing the appropriate music for your event, are just some of our specialties. Our goal is to exceed your expectations before the event even begins. Our Monthly Open House is a great opportunity to learn more about our services.
Here’s to creating a memorable speech for a very special occasion. Cheers!
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