There are only three things you really need to get right at a wedding if you want your guests to have an amazing time: music, food and drink. As a wedding planner with over 10 years of experience in the wedding industry, I can tell you that the things couples often spend the most time worrying about such as décor, flowers, chairs, venue and outfits aren’t necessarily what your guests will remember most. Your guests will appreciate all of these things, but if you want to create an unforgettable wedding and an amazing guest experience, I’d focus on the fundamentals first.
Music: The Key to a Great Wedding Atmosphere
The first thing you need is music and we want as much music as we can throughout the day. Live music is best but if you’ve got a DJ during the evening reception of your wedding that’s great and if you’ve got budget for more music throughout the day then add as much as you can. Live music really elevates the experience for your guests because music invokes certain emotions in us and those feelings are what your guests will remember. If you want to talk more about creating an unforgettable wedding, click the link to book a consultation.
Photograph by Tom Stenlake Photography
Music Tips for your Wedding
The evening reception is the most important part of your wedding in which to have live music and obviously music is the main feature for that part of the day. If you have the budget, it’s also great to have music during the cocktail hour and the drinks reception. The reason being that cocktail hour can sometimes dip in energy because it is getting later in the day and your guests have just eaten and so they often feel quite lethargic. Think of it as how you feel at 16:00 on Christmas day. Music really helps bring up the energy and can prevent a lull. A saxophonist with a playlist and a speaker can be a budget friendly way to do this and will likely cost around £300 – £450. Live music can be great for a drinks reception as well with a singer/guitarist or saxophonist being great options. People are naturally on a high after the ceremony and so live music can help boost this.
Typically you can get a good DJ for around £750 – £1000 or £1500 – £2500 for a good 3 piece band. And you can generally get good entertainment for your drinks reception or cocktail hour for around £400 each. And if you’re reusing musicians again in the evening, this can keep costs down.
Food: Keep Your Wedding Guests Well Fed
The next thing to get right is food. I think music and food are the two most important things to think about for your wedding because those two things transcend culture. I think you would really struggle to find a culture that doesn’t have both of those things at their weddings. If you’re making sure your guests have good food and that they’re well fed throughout the day and then honestly you’re onto a winner.
Photograph by Marianne Chua
Wedding Food Tips
The drinks reception is a key point where guests are most likely to be hungry. If you’ve got a 14:00 ceremony, guests will likely have not had lunch before leaving home/their hotel and can get very hungry if they are not sitting down for food until 16:00. I will always recommend having canapes during a drinks reception, but if this isn’t an option for you, I would suggest cutting your cake after the ceremony and having it served during your drinks reception. Your guests will definitely appreciate prosecco and cake and this is actually the way the Dutch do their drinks receptions. Overall, you need to provide a full meal during the wedding breakfast, substantial snacks during the evening reception and then snacks during the drinks reception. You can’t do too much food for everyone but don’t do any less than this.
Drinks: Keep Guests Moving and the Bar Queues Down
The final part is drink and I think this is more applicable to British culture because we are big drinkers. I’m not saying that you need to provide free drinks throughout the day that nobody has to pay for, but every time you have a drink station such as welcome drinks or a cocktail station it frees up the bar so that the people that don’t want those drinks have more chance to go to the bar and it is less likely that there will be a queue.
Photograph by Tom Stenlake Photography
Wedding Drinks Tips
You absolutely will need to have a drinks station at your drinks reception and we call these arrival drinks (even when the ceremony is in the same place as the drinks reception). If you don’t provide arrival drinks, your guests will immediately flock to the bar and there will be a massive queue. Arrival drinks can be as simple as beer and prosecco. You also need to put drinks on the tables during the wedding breakfast. This can be as simple as a couple of bottles of wine. This way, the wine drinkers will have wine and the rest of the guests can get drinks from the bar.
The rest of the “free” drinks are optional but the other main part of the day where there can be massive queues at the bar is when the evening guests arrive. If you’ve got a drinks/cocktail station during cocktail hour then that is a great for your guests.
If you get music, food and drink right at your wedding, your guests will have a great time. Forget what you’re wearing, décor, venue and how big your content team is. If you nail the fundamentals, you’ll be fine.
