For some people, a wedding is a very serious affair. There might be time for fun at the reception, but they want to make sure they get in all of the traditions too. They might choose to have a long and drawn-out ceremony, a bevvy of speeches that last for hours, and lots of rules about how their guests are expected to behave. That’s fine if that’s what you want for your wedding, but many couples don’t take their wedding day quite so seriously. They see it as more of a big party and an excuse to celebrate their marriage with their loved ones.

If you want to make sure your wedding is full of fun, there are so many different ideas you can use. If you’re up for a bit of silliness and maybe even some childish behaviour from you and your guests, try these ideas for your wedding.

Jazz Up Your Speeches

Traditional wedding speeches are something that many people want to include in their wedding, except that not everyone does it in a completely traditional way anymore. For one thing, a lot of couples want to make sure that a few women get a say. Traditionally, speeches would be given by the groom, father of the bride, and best man. But why shouldn’t the bride, maid of honour, or mother of the groom get a say? One simple way to shake up your speeches is to simply ask who wants to give one and see what happens.

You can also encourage everyone to think beyond a simple speech. Maybe someone wants to give a presentation, perform a song, or drop some slam poetry beats. The more creative, the better.

Pub Quiz

Sitting and watching the proceedings all day isn’t necessarily that fun for your guests. They’re all just waiting for when they can eat and then start dancing, especially when the speeches aren’t particularly entertaining. But a bit of audience participation can make your reception a lot more fun for all of your guests. A pub quiz could be a good choice for couples who know their friends and family will enjoy a bit of trivia. You can tailor the quiz to your guests so it includes topics they’re knowledgeable about or even personal questions.

Tasty Treats

For a lot of people, the wedding is all about the food. It’s one of the things your guests are looking forward to but, more importantly, they’re going to remember terrible food more than average or good food. You don’t necessarily have to go all out on food, but it’s definitely something you can have some fun with. As well as planning your main meal, you can do lots of things with snacks and desserts, plus drinks. Try looking at a company like Aylin Sweets which provides fun things like candy floss and popcorn makers, hotdog and waffle stands, and chocolate fountains. Or if you’re specifically looking for sweet cart hire for events in Surrey and Hampshire, we recommend Celebration Carts to give your guests something interactive that they can have fun with.

Photo Fun

Everyone wants to come away from their wedding with some good photos to remember the day. Hiring a professional photographer will get you some good posed shots, and some photographers will also take a more casual approach and get some natural shots throughout the day too. But some of the best photos from your wedding can come from your guests. They might not be the most technically beautiful, but they can be the photos that really capture how much fun everyone is having. You could give everyone a disposable camera if you want to be a little old-fashioned, or get really glam and set up a wedding photo booth hire Essex style, or create a hashtag on social media for everyone to tag their photos.

Treasure/Scavenger Hunt

Setting up a bit of organised fun for your guests can give them something to do that’s not just eating or dancing. A scavenger hunt or treasure hunt could be fun to do in between the ceremony and reception or maybe after eating. It could be an optional thing to do for people who don’t want to spend all night dancing. You could use some wedding favours or some little treats as prizes or things for your guests to hunt down. Make it more or less adult, depending on whether you’re planning on inviting kids to the wedding.

Games

There are games of various types you could plan on having at your wedding. If you want your wedding to be more relaxed, you probably want games that are more optional, rather than anything that your guests have to play at a specific time. Hiring some fairground games or lawn games could be a lot of fun, especially for an outdoor wedding reception where there’s a lot of space. For something a little more lowkey, you could put out some board games for people to play.

Alternative Guest Books

Putting out a big book for your guests to write in is one way to get some nice (or sometimes cheeky) messages. But if you want to do something like this, it doesn’t have to be a book. You can have people record voice messages or videos, draw pictures, write on Jenga blocks, or any other creative idea you can think of. You can turn everyone’s messages into a work of art or something else that you can keep and maybe display in your home. Set up a little station where people can drop by to add their own messages.

Make Furry Friends Part of the Day

For some people, a wedding is the last place they would want a dog or any other pet. But others want to make sure their furry friends get to be part of their special day. You could bring your dog along (or other pets if they can handle it) and perhaps even let guests bring their own. You can make them part of the day and you’ll find that many of your guests love having a four-legged friend to relax with.

If you’re a couple that doesn’t want your wedding to be too formal or traditional, you can mix things up and have a lot of fun during your special day.