Guest icebreaker/speech alternatives

oldschool72

Myself and my fiancé are thinking of not having the usual round of speeches at our wedding (apart from a general, short 'thank you' speech before dinner).

Instead, we were thinking of leaving an envelope on each table (there will be 8 guests per table, and 9 tables in all) with a piece of paper inside saying something like this:

'We know how much everyone loves audience participation, so we would like to invite you and your table companions to come up with a poem, song, limerick or rap about [bride] and [groom], to be performed at the end of the meal by one or more people from your table. Serious/funny/naughty/just plain wierd - (almost) anything goes!'

We'd include paper and a pen, and hopefully this would break the ice amongst the people at each table (a lot of them won't already know each other) and get them chatting. Of course, if anyone was too shy to perform their piece, we wouldn't force them to or embarass them. We'd collect and keep their bits of paper afterwards to keep as souvenirs of the day.

Opinions/comments?

smelltheglove

I'm intrigued, sounds like a lovely fun idea, would love to hear how it goes if you go with it.

Whispered

Oh god, I don't know. When I read it earlier I thought I'd hate that at a wedding I'd be too shy, but as the day went on and I thought about it, it could be a lot of fun!!

You know your guests so you'd have a good idea of how it would be recived. I would suggest arranging your seating to ensure you have at least one really confidant person at each table to make sure each table participates.

BC

As a guest I would hate this. What if no-one at the table wants to do it?
As a bride I would also be wary of what people might say, it could go horribly wrong!

moving_home

TBH I would hate if this happened at a wedding I was attending and I think its an awful idea

mariebeth

To be totally honest I'd hate this if I was at a wedding. It would feel too much like an exercise you would do at a work conference kind of thing.

Miaireland

I would hate this. I would probably leave the room while it was going on.

oldschool72

Our guests are mostly our friends rather than extended family, and quite a few of them have had no problem making an eejit of themselves in public in the past . I'm a witness.

The wedding is DIY-style due to a tiny budget, and everyone already knows this; we're arriving to the restaurant by dublinbikes, making our own cake, I'm wearing a regular party dress, a friend is dj-ing, so it's a muck-in, get pissed and leave your ego at the door kind of a do.

Also, I thought the leaving it till after dinner would mean that any nerves are allayed by the booze consumed!

The Davestator

OP - all the above are total nerds:D

I think its a good idea and you do too so go it.

Make sure you dont invite any of the nerds from above ^^^^ to your wedding!:D

oldschool72

Ta very much - I was thinking they'd die if they had to go to a German wedding. There, the guests do all the work and entertaining, and the bride and groom sit back and enjoy!

http://german-way.com/blog/2009/08/17/german-wedding-fun/

Whispered

oldschool72 wrote: »

Our guests are mostly our friends rather than extended family, and quite a few of them have had no problem making an eejit of themselves in public in the past . I'm a witness.

The wedding is DIY-style due to a tiny budget, and everyone already knows this; we're arriving to the restaurant by dublinbikes, making our own cake, I'm wearing a regular party dress, a friend is dj-ing, so it's a muck-in, get pissed and leave your ego at the door kind of a do.

Also, I thought the leaving it till after dinner would mean that any nerves are allayed by the booze consumed!

This sounds like a brilliant wedding!!!!

Getting there

I would LOVE this at a wedding!

I havent been to very many weddings but I always find theres a couple at the table who doesnt know anyone else and this would be a great ice breaker. Especially if it is all of your and your fiances friends and close family.

Id like it at mine!

smelltheglove

Wow sound slike an amazing wedding, I love extra special thoughtfullness at weddings rather than just going with the trend. The bike idea sounds very very cool, would love to see it.

I love having a bit of a laugh, you sound the same so here is one thing I did at my wedding, now bear in mind I gotblasted by a few keyboard warriors saying it was terrible but everyone there loved it, we put scratchcards in envelopes with our guests names on them as place cards, but the twist was we had a fake scratch card per table, as the envelopes were place cards we were able to choose who got the fake one and we had such a laugh looking at those people scratching the cards, some keeping it hidden and showing their other half under the table, others cheering and the whole table getting excited, absolutely hilarious!

NOIMAGINATION

I have to say, as the person at the wedding who never knows anyone, this is honestly my worst nightmare at a wedding - I'm not a great conversationalist, and for those shy people out there, this will not help break the ice - chances are they'll either make their excuses, go to the bar/toilet, or just sit there at the table in silence.

But you know who you're inviting and if your friends will enjoy it. I just wouldn't do it myself....

rainbowtrout

Group work at a wedding, sounds like torture. I'd be heading to the bar. Depends on your friends of course, but it's the type of thing that one or two people will take over and the rest will just get back to their drinks and conversation.

sallysaucer101

smelltheglove wrote: »

Wow sound slike an amazing wedding, I love extra special thoughtfullness at weddings rather than just going with the trend. The bike idea sounds very very cool, would love to see it.

I love having a bit of a laugh, you sound the same so here is one thing I did at my wedding, now bear in mind I gotblasted by a few keyboard warriors saying it was terrible but everyone there loved it, we put scratchcards in envelopes with our guests names on them as place cards, but the twist was we had a fake scratch card per table, as the envelopes were place cards we were able to choose who got the fake one and we had such a laugh looking at those people scratching the cards, some keeping it hidden and showing their other half under the table, others cheering and the whole table getting excited, absolutely hilarious!

I have had this trick played on myself and a group of friends before.... it was hillarious!! Some people didn't even realise they had won and threw the cards away and then later we dropped them on the ground and watched as random people picked them up and thining they had found a winning ticket!!

amdublin

To me this sounds horrendous.

But you know your friends/guests best and should be able to work out if they will like it or not.

oldschool72

Long gap, I know, but I thought I'd come back and say if it worked or not. Ok, I was the bride, so if anyone didn't like it, I'd be the last to hear, but there was a great take-up rate - I was pleasantly surprised!

Everyone got their teeth into it and really went for it, and some tables produced more than one 'piece'. There was a varied selection of songs, poems and limericks, and even one sculpture (made out of napkins [apologies to the venue] and candle wax).

The great thing is we get to keep all the original workings-out on paper to have a laugh over in the future.

Our wedding was small so I was pretty confident it would work, but if it was a bigger do with lots of people who didn't know each other, perhaps it wouldn't go so well. It's easy to get up in front of a small room of people, but if you're looking out at 200 expectant faces, I suppose it would be quite daunting!