Wedding games

Traditionally, good friends and family members of the bride and groom prepare games and activities for the wedding reception. They make sure that everyone gets involved and has a good time, but also ensure that the guests get to know each other a bit better.

Mr & Mrs quiz

This classic wedding game is an absolute must when it comes to choosing a game for a wedding. It provides a lot of fun for all participants without much preparation.

Classic variations on the game

The traditional way to play the game is for the bride and groom to go on the stage or dance floor with their backs to each other so that they are visible to all the guests. Both are given two objects, one for the bride and one for the groom. These can, for example, be a handmade sign, but often it is easier to take one shoe off and swap them so that the groom has the bridal shoe and the bride has the groom’s shoe.

Now it’s time to ask the bride and groom different questions. They answer the questions individually by putting the held object in the air. For each question they both get right, they can win a prize.

Typical questions are about married life. Below we have listed some examples of questions that you could ask:

• Who can cook the best?

• Who is the tidiest?

• Who takes care of the pets the most?

• Who gets worked up the most?

However, you could also make the questions more specific for the bride and groom.

Wedding bingo

This game is great fun and gets everyone involved. For this, each wedding guest receives a bingo card with 16 rows (4x4 boxes). The numbers 1 to 16 are put in a random order in the boxes. Now the bride and groom are asked exactly 16 questions. If they both give the same answer the guests can mark the number in the box. For example, if they both answer question number five correctly, you can put a mark in the box with a 5 in it.

The first person to have a full row will win the prize.

Below are some examples of tasks that you can put on your list:

• Take a photo of something that is special to you

• Get a selfie of you and your neighbours

• Take a photo of the first dance

• Get a photo of the cutest couple among the guests

• Take a photo of all the bridesmaids

If you use a Polaroid camera you can put the photos onto a prepared pinboard. It's cheaper to send your guests on a hunt with their own smartphones. You can set up a cloud storage file in advance where guests can upload their photos. Alternatively, all the photos could be sent to an email address.

Some couples get their guests to upload the pictures onto Instagram with their own wedding hashtag. In addition, a lot of people also set up a projector to display the pictures on a social wall. A social wall will digitally display all the posts on different social media platforms that contain a specific hashtag.

Wedding raffle

For this game you will need some raffle tickets. It is a good idea to number the tickets because you will need 2 sets. The first set of tickets is sold to the wedding guests for a small fee. When all the tickets have been sold you can then start giving away the prizes. Someone will need to present the prizes and then the bride and groom take turns drawing the tickets and finding a lucky winner from the second set of tickets.

The prizes may sound fantastic at first, but quite often they turn out to be something that you didn’t expect. You can also look for inspiration online or get creative with this wedding game.

Here are a couple of ideas for a fun wedding style raffle:

• Romantic candlelight dinner: tinned ravioli with a candle

• A trip to Loch Lomond: a bicycle lock

• Travel typewriter: pen and a piece of paper

• Keys to a new car: trolley coin

• Hunting gear: a mousetrap

• Acupuncture machine: a cactus

• Silverware: a chocolate bar in a silver coloured wrapper

• Family holiday to Turkey: a turkey

• Floor lamp: some candles

All the ladies put one of their shoes on the dance floor and the men then each choose a shoe. The dance partners are randomly chosen and this is a great way to meet new people. This wedding game is a great icebreaker and it is very popular because it can be spontaneously organised without much preparation.

How well do you know your guests?

This wedding game provides a lot of fun with little preparation. Get some sheets of paper and write down some of the guests’ different attributes. The sheets of paper should be at least A4 size as they need to be legible even from a distance. The easiest way is to write them on the computer and print them out.

In this game the bride and groom sit opposite their guests. Someone needs to stand behind the bride and groom and hold up one of the pieces of paper with an attribute. All the guests who have that attribute need to stand up. The bride and groom now need to work out what they all have in common as well as what is written on the sheet of paper.

Not only attributes can be used, but you could also use past experiences which the bride and groom would be familiar with.

Here are a couple of ideas for this fun guessing game:

• Everyone who attended the stag party

• The bride’s old school friends

• Anyone who has blond hair

• All the women who are married

• Anyone who wears glasses

• Everyone who lives in the same city or town as the bride and groom

Now everyone needs to find the person who filled out the questionnaire. Appearances, such as hair colour, are easily clarified. However, some questions are a bit more tricky and the guests will have to interact with one another to find out more. By doing so, you create a fun atmosphere and people will enjoy getting to know each other. You can give a small gift to everyone who finds the right person.

This Guess Who style game should include the following questions:

• Hair colour

• Profession

• Hometown

• Hobby

• Age

• How long have you known the bride?

• How long have you known the groom?

Conclusion: fun & creative wedding games to make unforgettable memories

Overall, wedding games are an absolute must for a good atmosphere at a wedding. You can individually adapt games to the bride and groom or the guests who will be attending the wedding. This will make them more unique and lots of fun.

However, you should always make sure that the games will be something the bride and groom will like. It also makes sense to discuss the planned games with the groomsmen or the organisers at the wedding venue. This will help to avoid any misunderstandings and make sure that everything is organised and there isn’t too much planned.

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The image sources in this text are in chronological order:

Cover photo: iStock.com/jacoblund

1. Image in text: iStock.com/gilaxia

2. Image in text: iStock.com/Paul Bradbury

3. Image in text: iStock.com/Ooriya Ron

4. Image in text: iStock.com/pixdeluxe

5. Image in text: C&A

6. Image in text: C&A