The best time to have a Magician at your wedding is during the drinks reception / wedding photos. I can tell you this after performing at over 50 weddings a year for the last 20 years. Other times during the day are also great, but by far the most popular time I am booked to perform wedding magic is during the drinks reception.
Hi, I’m Roger Lapin a professional Wedding Magician based in Hampshire and available to hire across the UK
One of the most common questions I get asked when couples hire me for their wedding entertainment is “When is the best time to have a Magician?”
However a lot of couples want to hire me during the room turnaround as they think that is a bit of time that needs filling, I will say from experience that is not the best time and I will explain why below.
I will run through all the options and then tell you from experience what the best time is at the bottom.
1. During the photos
This is probably one of the most popular times to hire a Magician at your wedding, straight after the service all your guests are either arriving from the church in different cars or walking from the hotel or whatever your wedding venue was and outside for the photographer to do their thing. There is a lot moving around with different groups of people being called up for their photos.
The couple at this point are not going to be around very much so the concern is that your guests are going to be left to their own devices.
Having a Magician perform at this point in your day is a great way to ensure everyone is entertained and you can relax having your photos taken.
I will walk around the venue performing magic to small groups of guests, each performance only lasts 5-10 minutes and it’s a great introduction to the fact there is a Magician at your wedding!
2. During the wedding breakfast
At this point in the day everyone is sat down at a table, usually between 8-10 guests per table and you have a captive audience for magic. This is a really good time to perform magic, but it does have a few catches.
Firstly the waiting staff are moving around a lot trying to serve food and wine to all the tables so you have to be aware of what is going on and also at times the table can get very full (during the main course) so you have to take all that into consideration.
Aside from that it’s a great time to perform magic as you haver a captive audience and you can deliver a mini magic show and get some great reactions which the couple will hear from the top table!
If I am performing during the wedding breakfast I have a special trick that I will only do for the couple which will leave them with an impossible keepsake that they can remember the wedding magic with.
A lot of couples don’t think this is a great time to perform magic as they think it will be too busy, this is true, so I tend to not perform magic during the main course when the table is very full and people are focussed on eating a big meal.
3. After the wedding breakfast
After the wedding breakfast is always a tricky time to perform magic as usually as soon as the meal is over your guests will start getting up and looking to get some fresh air, the speeches are usually done at this point (but not always! more on that later) so the captive audience might start to disappear!
It is also a really good time to do magic as for those that are staying around they are looking for some entertainment.
4. During the room turnaround
This is always seen as the best time to do magic at a wedding, however from experience I do not think it is.
Whenever a couple contact me to perform magic at their wedding, the conversation usually starts with,
“there is going to be an hour during the room turnaround where we think we need some entertainment, thinking of hiring a magician, what do you think?”
On the face of it this sounds like a great idea, however most times with guests staying in the hotel and others who have been sat down at a meal for a few hours, most people want to get up and stretch their legs, and you tend to lose a lot of guests, making my job as a Magician a bti more difficult as depending on the size of the wedding venue I have to go looking for your wedding guests.
Don’t get me wrong, for the small groups that you do find it’s a great time to perform magic as they have found a spot outside and are very receptive to some entertainment.
Another issue with this time slot is that evening guests will start to arrive and a lot of people will be seeing friends or family they have not seen for a long time and there are usually a lot of conversations happening.
As a follow on from the wedding breakfast it’s a great time to perform magic, but if it was your only option I would think about the other options as well!
5. The evening celebrations
Another great time for wedding magic is during the evening celebrations, but you have to consider what other entertainment you have planned as well.
If you have booked a wedding band there is going to be a very loud band starting to play at say 9pm and most of your guests are going to want to start dancing. Or the wedding DJ will start the music, this can be good and bad for magic.
If there is only one room and everyone is in there with the band / DJ then performing magic does get a bit harder.
However if there are other spaces for your wedding guests to go to, this can also be a great time as not everyone wants to see the band and might want some quieter entertainment.
When is a good time for close up magic at a wedding?
So after reading all of the above you are probably no wiser!
From experience of performing at nearly 1000 weddings I can tell you there is no right answer!
What you have to consider firstly, how many guests are you expecting?
If you are only having 20 guests for a small intimate wedding reception, hiring a magician for an hour during or after the meal is going to be a great time and everyone will be focussed and enjoying the magic.
If you are expecting 200 guests getting to everyone in an hour is going to be impossible so you will need to consider hiring a magician for longer or even a second magician.
When should you have a magician at your wedding?
In my opinion the best time is during the drinks reception.
Check out my wedding packages here
I offer many wedding packages ranging from 1 hour to 5 hours.
If you are looking for a local magician i.e a Magician in Hampshire I am based near Southampton. I am also more than happy to travel across the UK to perform my magic at your wedding.
My recommendation
If I was going to make a recommendation for the best time to hire a magician at your wedding it would be a short performance during the photos, another performance after the main course of the wedding breakfast and then a short show to everyone during coffee.
Saying that every wedding is different so the best way to decide is to send me an enquiry or give me a call and we can discuss the best time to have a magician at your wedding.
If you are looking for Wedding Entertainment in Hampshire I think a Magician is a great choice!
Roger
Frequently asked questions
This all depends on how many guests, what time of the day, what day of the week, prices can range between £250 – £750 so please get in touch for a quote specific to your wedding day.
This really depends on the day of the week, a Saturday is more expensive than a weekday as most weddings and parties take place on a Saturday, expect to pay from £150 per hour to hire a Magician in the South East UK and a bit more if it’s on a Saturday
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