Hey there, friends! I’m coming to you this week with some advice on keeping your guests at your reception longer – maybe for the entire thing! How, you ask? By keeping them sated with food (and drink, but they’ll help you with that) and entertainment. As you know, all alcohol with nothing else in your stomach is never a good idea. And if you have nothing to keep your attention, you get bored, right? Your guests are no different. Read on for more information on keeping the party going until you’re ready for your guests to leave.

Keeping Your Guests’ Attention

As a wise, experienced wedding planner once told me, something needs to change at your reception every 45 minutes to an hour to keep your guests interested and engaged. It could be food, it could be activities, or it could be the venue – but something needs to change every so often. Once your ceremony and cocktail hour are over, so are the venue changes, so that leaves food and activities. 

Food

Your guests are at your reception, and you may already have given them both appetizers and dinner, followed by dessert. You’ve covered their food needs thoroughly, right? Not necessarily. Certainly, they should be full for a few hours. But they’ll keep consuming alcohol until last call. You can help them enjoy the latter part of the reception by providing something else for them to eat. This is why late-night snacks became so popular at weddings. There’s no need for this to match the type of food you offered during your cocktail hour and reception, though. Anything goes for late-evening food. It doesn’t matter what you give them, as long as you give them something to eat. Not only will they appreciate your thoughtfulness, they may even sober up a bit, which is a good thing. Wondering what you should choose? Here are a few options.

Cookies & milk

Cookies and milk are a late-night cliche for a good reason – everybody loves them! You could choose a classic, like chocolate chip cookies, or something else like a personal favorite of one or both of you. Is there a family recipe you love? See if catering can prepare it on a large scale!

Sliders & fries

Here’s another popular option. Why not satisfy people’s munchies with a ballpark fave? Bonus points if the two of you had a first date at the ballpark or a county fair.

Sundae bar

Who doesn’t love ice cream? A sundae bar is sure to be popular. Catering could provide basic bowls of ice cream, with your friends adding their own toppings to their heart’s content. Be sure to mix it up with several fruit, nut, candy, and syrup options.

Taco truck

Can you imagine how ecstatic your friends would be to hear the announcement, “the taco truck has arrived!” They’ll gladly temporarily exit the dance floor for that. And they’ll return with renewed energy.

Entertainment

Again, you may be thinking, “we’ve provided a band or DJ for entertainment, isn’t that enough?” To be honest – not really. Your guests will love getting out on the dance floor for a while, but after 45 minutes to an hour, they may be looking for something else to entertain them for a while. Who’s going to do that? The two of you are! You’ve had the preliminary toasts with dinner, as well as the requisite first dance and parent dances, but it’s time for something else. Like with food, you have many options here.

Bouquet & garter toss

It’s the old classic. Gathering all the single ladies to catch the toss bouquet and gentlemen to catch the garter does more than entertain everyone. It punctuates your reception, provided that much needed break from dancing (or drinking) for a few minutes. After some hilarity, your guests will return to dancing or talking with fresh energy.

Shoe game

You’ve probably heard of this. The two of you sit back to back with one of your own shoes and one of your honey’s in each hand. Your DJ or emcee goes through a list of questions, asking everything from “who’s the better kisser?” to “which one of you is the better driver?”, and you vote by raising the appropriate shoe.

Last one standing

During this game, the DJ or emcee asks random questions of the entire gathering, and those who can answer “yes” to the question sit down. You can also liven the game by replacing “sit down” with “stand up”, to return people to the game. The goal, of course, is to eventually have only one person left standing. It’s fun to award this person with a small prize, like a gift card for dinner.

Wedding couple trivia

Leave a printed sheet of couple trivia questions at each place setting for dinner, and then collect the answers. At some point in your reception, your DJ can read the questions and answers for everybody’s entertainment. Whoever gets the most questions correct will have bragging rights to knowing the two of you the best!

Photo booth

This may be the first time in a long time that you and your cousins or college friends have seen each other. They’re sure to want to commemorate the occasion with some pictures, so why not have a photo booth set up and ready for them? They’re a lot of fun for all ages!

Outdoor games

If your reception is outside (fully or partially), your options just tripled. A giant Jenga game, bag toss, bocce ball, or croquet will occupy people for hours!

The point of all of these options? To keep your guests engaged in your reception, so they stay as long as possible. After all, you want the chance to see everyone, and they all want time to see you too. That’s much easier if your guests stay for a while. Looking for more ideas to keep your guests entertained? Buttercup Celebrations would love to help! Contact us online to get started.