How To Help Wedding Guests Mingle
Top tips and entertainment ideas from professional introducer, Rachel Fay, rachelfay.co.uk will aid you to help wedding guests mingle in no time!
“Although they aren’t strangers to you, many of your guests won’t know each other, so it helps to plan ahead to help them mingle and meet the people you’ve always wanted them to. You might have guests who won’t know anyone at all, or only one or two people, so it’s important they are given special attention and made to feel included.”
Identify an introducer
In the run up to your wedding, ask one of your friends or close family members to act as an introducer on your big day. They don’t have to be on duty for the whole event, but dedicating an hour or two to introducing as many people as they can is ideal. Sit down with your introducer and guest list and explain who everyone is and how they t in. This is the time to highlight the guests you want introduced to each other and anyone coming on their own or from overseas. Your guests will welcome the opportunity to meet other people who are important in your life.
Say it with a badge
Some brides and grooms find that a fun way to spark conversation is to ask guests to wear a tasteful badge with their relationship to the bride and groom on it. They can say things like Uni Friend, Co-Worker, Aunt, Sister, Best Friend – the possibilities are endless. Elect a couple of friends to be badge monitors, passing around badges as your guests arrive at the welcome drinks. Your guests don’t have to wear the badges all night but they act as
a great icebreaker while drinks are being served and everyone is warming up for the wedding celebrations.
Keep on moving
Conversation will flow easily if guests keep moving and they don’t stay in the same group for the duration of the wedding. Move your guests from one part of the venue to another. Arrival drinks could be held outside, with the bride and groom being introduced indoors, a designated room for dinner and a comfy area for speeches. This presents more opportunities for your guests to find themselves sitting or standing next to a new face with the chance to say hello.
Wedding trivia
Wedding guests have one thing in common – they know the bride or groom or both! If you’re having a sit down meal and your guests are up for a challenge, place a wedding trivia game in the middle of each table – this works best if you mix the tables so people don’t know everyone they’re sitting with. As well as asking questions about the bride and groom, include questions like: what’s your relationship to the bride and groom, what’s your favourite story about them, why do they make you smile, what do you think they’ll be like as a married couple… Go round the table so guests take it in turns to answer. This is a great way to get the whole table involved and sharing stories.
Are you sitting comfortably? Most weddings involve food and, whether it’s a buffet or formal sit down meal, a seating plan is a great idea. Rather than creating table plans according to family, friends or age, group people together by similar interests. They might work in related fields, be keen runners or sportsmen or new parents with young families. Make sure your groupings are obvious otherwise guests won’t realise they have so much in common with the people sitting around them. Spell it out and make a place card for each table that reveals their themes.
Hit the dance floor
Everyone loves a boogie and you want your guests to feel comfortable enough to get up and dance in front of or with each other. Plan an activity that gets everyone moving together to the beat. You could even consider bringing in a dance expert to treat everyone to a dance lesson. Try anything from line dancing, ceilidhs, swing, salsa, Bollywood or ballroom! This has the added bene t of getting everyone up to dance at the same time and if the lesson requires guests to partner up with someone they don’t already know, even better!
