Wedding Activities

Bagpipes

The groom was a member of a couple of piping bands, so a number of his
buddies came and played bagpipes at the wedding and provided some of the
entertainment at the reception. Very popular. There were also Scottish
sword dancers as part of the entertainment.

Bagpipes 2

A tradition in Canada is the clinking of glasses at the reception to have
the bride and groom stand up and kiss. At one wedding, the groom being a
piper, it was arranged instead that any non piper among the guests could
come up and attempt to play the bagpipes, and a trumpet for any piper. Any
true note earned a kiss.

Candles

The bride made beeswax candles that were used at the wedding ceremony.
All were plain white and made from the sheets, but I thought it was a
nice touch.

She also took votives and placed them in tiny terra cotta pots and lit
them on all of the tables at the reception.

Sword cutting the cake

The bride and groom together used a two-handed sword -- measuring about
five feet long -- to make the first cut in the cake.

Kilts

Since the groom was a piper, he, the men in the wedding party, and most of
the pipers in attendance, wore kilts.

Disposable cameras

Each table at a number of the receptions I've been to have had a
disposable camera for the guests to use. Provides hundreds of shots from
the guests' point of view.

Polaroids

At a number of weddings I've been to, I've taken polaroid pictures for
the bride and groom at various points in the wedding and reception --
the gift being instant pictures of the process to show at the head table.

Kissing 2

Other receptions I've been to have had very good DJs. As such the game to
be played to get the bride and groom to kiss would be to have the guests
sing part of a song with the word "love" in it. Then the DJ would quickly
find that song and play a short part of it.

Medieval Music

One groom has an interest in things medieval. He arranged for a CD of
medieval music to be played immediately prior to the ceremony.

Pictures from the parents' weddings

This is probably very common but I only remember seeing these pictures
displayed at only two weddings I've been to -- at one it was only one
picture for each of the two couples, and the other also had child photos
of the bride and groom, a family photo from when the bride and groom were
young, and the parents' wedding pictures. Such pictures were placed on the
same table as the guest book.

Kiddie entertainment

At one wedding, there were easily a dozen children present. The bride
and groom arranged for a LOT of toys and a separate room for the children
during the reception.

At another wedding at which there were only two children, bags filled with
colouring books, glow sticks and other small "quiet games" were labeled
with the children's names and placed at their table.

Gifts for the guests

The bride's father, being a winemaker, bottled red and white wine in half
bottles with commemorative labels and placed a bottle in front of each
placesetting.

The bride had arranged for a small box for each guest containing a small
bar of handmade Scottish oatmeal soap.

At another wedding, each guest received a small glass jug with chocolates
in it and labeled with their names and wedding date.

Yet another wedding gave sapplings.

Yet another gave a pair of rolled beeswax candles to each guest.

Many gave the table centrepiece away to someone at the table, either by
closest birthday to the wedding day or a chair being tagged with a sticker
underneath.

Bubbles

What's a wedding without rice, confetti or bubbles? Each table had
sufficient small bottles, complete with bubblemaker, for each guest so
that they could blow bubbles.

Slides

A slide show was arranged with a script; the various slides were slides of
the pictures a few family friends (and the family itself) had taken of the
bride over her lifetime. The script jokingly described the contents of the
slides.

From: cpeddle&epbc.edu (&=@) (Christa Peddle)

One wedding I went to had helium balloons in the front of the hall, at
various times in the evening a person would go up and pop a balloon,
inside the balloon were various messages to get the bride and groom to
kiss. Some were everyone at the table has to donate a dime, sing a song
with love, answer a question about the bride and groom. If the table that
popped the balloon did the message correctly the bride and groom would
kiss.

Champagne from the photographer

I've heard about the photographer, at the site of the wedding party photo
shoot, opening their trunk to reveal complimentary champagne on ice and
glasses.

Wine from the DJ

The DJ did the popular "sing a song with the word love in it" to earn a
kiss from the bride and groom, and kept track of how many times each table
succeeded. The table with the most kisses got two bottles of wine from the
DJ -- homemade with his label identifying his business!

As a side note, we decided to give our bottles to the parents of the bride
and groom.

Tables identified by movies

The tables at one reception were identified by the names of favourite
"love story" type movies of the bride and groom since they were movie
buffs. I was disappointed that this only replaced numbering the tables and
wasn't used as a basis for the kissing games.

Table cards at the door

Some receptions had all of the guests'  names and table numbers on nice
cards sitting on a table or easel near the door.  Proved to be appreciated
by the guests who didn't have to weave through the tables looking for
their names, and who could also do a mental list of all the family and
friends arriving.

Here's a page on weddings.

If you have any more novel things you've seen at weddings and
receptions, write me at malak&pobox.com (&=@)

Back to my homepage.