For some, booking wedding entertainment simply means hiring a DJ to help you and your guests dance into the night. For others, that’s just the beginning. Special dance performances, costumed entertainers serving food, and even celebrity music performances can amp up the celebration to create a party like no other. There are no rules when it comes to punctuating your wedding festivities—and luckily, there’s an amazing industry full of professionals who can help you pull out all the stops.
“Outside of the basics of hiring a band or DJ, the possibilities for wedding entertainment are endless. If a couple can dream it, we can create it,” shares Gretchen Rowe, executive director of event entertainment agency Élan Artists. “We are dedicated to enhancing the guest experience through music, dance, and storytelling. The combined talents of our musical and immersive departments allow us to create anything a couple can imagine! We have designed everything from icebreaker questions and activities for guests to custom entrances with bespoke music to stunning dance performances and even concert-style receptions that guests will remember for years to come.”
If you want to transform your wedding into a fully immersive entertainment experience or just want to zhuzh up the atmosphere with uniquely curated talent, read ahead to learn how to take your celebration to the next level.
How to Bring Entertainment to Your Wedding
As you consider any type of entertainment you would want to bring into your wedding day, it’s best to think of the party as a play in multiple acts: the ceremony, cocktail hour, the reception, and the after-party. While every part of the show should feel connected with one another, each can have a different tone.
“The ceremony’s entertainment should be subtle, most often setting the mood with options like a string quartet, gospel choir, guitar and vocalist, klezmer band, or greeters,” says Evyn. “The transition from ceremony to cocktail hour is a chance for something celebratory, such as a second line, flash mob, ballerinas, or a small band.” The next stage of cocktail hour can bring about more musicians, but also some more unique elements as guests mix and mingle. “Immersive entertainment can complement the music, with beautifully dressed entertainers offering hors d’oeuvres or drinks, station-based activities like typewriter poetry or tarot cards, or light dance or cirque performances.”
Then comes the reception. Guests can be welcomed into a tent with a special live performance of musicians before transitioning into toasts and dinner. “Dance or cirque performances can accentuate toasts, and once traditions are complete, the band can create a non-stop dance party, potentially evolving into a concert-like experience with dancers and performances of the couple s favorite artists,” says Evyn. Hosting an after-party? This late-night experience can get even more exciting with a hybrid DJ set, special dancers with disco-ball heads, and unique presentations of after-hours snacks.
Working with an entertainment group can offer you resources and creative teams to bring your dreams to life. “Our goal is to create lasting memories through entertainment, and we have designed everything from large-scale dresses for violinists to living lamps, couture greeters with giant flower heads, themed wardrobe such as living disco balls or surreal rhinestone lobsters, and even an orchestra composed of performers painted to reflect surreal art,” says Jill Evyn, immersive director at Élan Artists. If you’re hosting a destination wedding, you may also consider working with local entertainment to thoughtfully highlight the culture where your celebration is taking place.
Choosing the Right Entertainment for Your Wedding
While you really can bring in any entertainment element to your wedding that you can dream of, don’t forget to consider if it actually feels authentic to you as a couple and your celebration’s aesthetic. A living statue can be a fun accent to cocktail hour at a museum or a chateau garden, but it might not make as much sense in an industrial warehouse. And there’s no point shelling out for a special opera performance if you never listen to classical music in your daily life.
“The most meaningful way for us to customize entertainment for a couple is to really understand things that are the most personal to them,” notes Rowe. “We’re often asked for ideas that are ‘outside the box,’ but when this is taken out of context and without a baseline understanding of what resonates with the couple and their own preferences and vision for the wedding, it often misses the mark.” She continues, “When a couple is able to share something that is special to them and has meaning to them. Even if it s just one song, understanding what resonates with the couple allows us to create an exceptionally custom experience that makes things unforgettable in a highly personalized way as opposed to custom for the sake of being custom.”
How to Book a Headliner
Booking a celebrity performance, known as a headliner in the industry, can be a spectacular addition to your wedding plans. Imagine having your first dance song sung by your favorite artist or a DJ who can fill a stadium playing at your after-party. However, when working with headliners, it’s important to understand the costs that come with it and the significant riders that they may require.
While some couples might be able to pull strings from a personal friend of the artist, entertainment groups can help liaise connections even further. “Élan Artists handles every aspect of headliner services from procurement to tailored event curation and technical production, allowing you and your event planner to remain focused on the overall vision for the wedding,” says Rowe. “We first schedule a consult to talk about what the couple’s overall vision for their wedding is, and determine what type of headliner performance they have in mind. We consider the type of impact the couple is looking to have together with their budget to make suggestions that resonate best. Once a couple is ready to commit to an offer, Élan navigates everything from the contractual negotiations to travel and lodging arrangements, sound, and technical riders, as well as full on-site management of the artist team’s needs to integrate the headliner seamlessly into the desired event flow.”
