Before we begin - let me congratulate you on your engagement, and your upcoming Wedding - What an exciting part of your life to experience! I haven't found a lady crazy enough to marry me just yet, but I can only imagine that the process of booking all of your 'bits' is quite stressful. While I don't know anything about wedding dresses, flower selections, church venues, or 'Readings from the book of Genesis'...I do know a thing or two about entertainment, and with several hundred weddings under my belt, hopefully I'm worth listening to. Today's topic is all about How Magicians work at weddings.
I'll begin by saying that almost everybody LOVES Magic. The only people who don't are a bit grumpy and dead inside, and we magicians normally just work around them, and try not to bother them with our amazing-ness, focusing on the fun-loving people instead. With the likes of Dynamo, David Blaine, and Derren Brown soaring to incredible heights on TV, Magic is something that's regularly watched through a screen, but very rarely seen in person. For this reason alone, it spikes everybody's curiosity and creates a sense of intrigue at the Wedding when guests hear that there's a Magician / Mentalist strolling around and entertaining everybody.
I know I'm biased, but Magic and Mentalism (Mentalism is essentially a form of Mind Reading, by the way!) are two of the most engaging, impressive and entertaining ways to break the ice amongst your guests. There's tons of audience interaction as guests are asked to make selections, think of private pieces of information, volunteer jewellery and so on. There's always loads of room for comedy, which leads to beautiful bursts of laughter amongst the guests, followed by stunned rounds of applause as their jaws hit the floor by the magic they then witness.
How does a Magician work at a wedding?
After the ceremony, guests will inevitably head directly to the Wedding Reception for some tea, coffee, a beer or a few glasses of Champagne. It's during this time, traditionally, that couples will head off to have their photographs taken, leaving their guests to their own devices inside the venue - usually close to two hours in length. This is the perfect environment to unleash a Magician such as myself amongst your guests.
I perform Close Up Magic, which you can re-imagine as 'Mix and Mingle Magic', whereby I stroll through the venue and perform some close up miracles for any guests who'll watch, whether they're granny and grandad, another loved up couple, or the large group of lads who'll hover as close to the Guinness tap at the bar as possible. The beauty of Magic is that it works for groups of any size, and everybody gets to be a part of the magic show.
Another added benefit is that it breaks the ice between strangers that may not have met yet. One of my favourite things to do mid-performance is to get other guests involved, by bringing them into the fold and having them introduce themselves. Then, after my performance is over and I move along to the next group, those guests have the perfect conversation starter with these strangers, and before you know it they're best friends for the whole wedding.
How does a magician work at weddings?
Having a professional performer entertaining your guests will take the weight of 'hosting duties' off of your shoulders, allowing you to relax while you have your photographs taken, safe in the knowledge that the party is getting started at the reception, and that all of the guests are having an awesome time.
My performance usually ends as soon as the bell is rung for guests to make their way into the dining room. However, some couples like to engage my services for the duration of the meal as well. Using me during the meal accomplishes a few more things. For instance, Wedding parties are very rarely on time, especially when the weather's nice. This means that the bulk of the guests end up arriving at the reception much later than you had initially planned, and a lot of guests miss out on what I do. For example, if you book me from 3.30pm - 5.30pm, and the guests arrive in at 4.30, it doesn't leave me with a lot of time to get to everybody. By having me there from the reception 'til the end of the meal (Teas and Coffees), I'm not going anywhere, and I'm on site the entire time to entertain everybody, and to cover any unexpected delays that might happen. It also assures me enough time to get to every guest there!
The rest of my work during the meal would typically look like this:
As guests are called for the meal, I leave the reception area straight away (hotel staff need to get everybody seated, and their orders taken as efficiently as possible), so as guests begin taking their seats, I can entertain them as the room fills up.
As soon as starters are served, I stop to let everybody enjoy their meal, and wait for the first table that were served to finish. At this point, I go back in and work as many tables as I can until the next course is put down, and continue on in this format until the teas and coffees are served.
It's important to note that the meal / food itself, which I'm sure you've hand-chosen, is as much a part of the wedding experience as everything else, and so I never perform for guests while they're eating for purposes of etiquette alone. Once everybody at the table has finished eating (excluding any very slow eaters), I begin performing for the table again.
So, in closing, hopefully this Blog post gives you a bit more of an insight as to how a magician works at weddings, and why it's the perfect choice for entertainment on your special day.
If I've left anything out, please, let me know and get in touch via the contact sheet on my Website, or email directly to info@iamrua.com.
Thanks for reading!
Rua
