Many of you are probably curious as to why people clink their glasses at a wedding reception? Aside from trying to get the Bride and Groom Kiss there is some history to it. The “clinking” of glasses originates all the way back to the medieval days when wine was often spiked with poison. If a host wanted to prove to their guests that the wine wasn’t poisoned, he would pour part of the guest’s wine into his own glass and drink it first. If the guest trusted his host he would just clink glasses when the host offered his glass for a sample. Hence the clinking of glasses has become a sign of trust, honesty and toast to good health.
Over the years though some have abused the privileges of clinking the glasses making it very distracting and sometimes annoying. After hearing this from many of our clients we decided it was time to create a list of alternatives to try to keep the guests from destroying their glassware. Here’s a few ideas that may work at your reception.
Mirror Kiss
This is the most popular alternative and is also called the game of “monkey see monkey do”. The object of this activity is to invite a two people from the crowd up to the head table (in front of everyone) and have them kiss in a way that they want the bride and groom to kiss (ex: dip the bride and kiss her). The bride and groom will then mirror that kiss in front of all of their guests. This activity works great because it not only helps eliminate the clinking of glassware but it also makes other couples feel romantic and included in the fun.
Sing a Love Song
This activity works great if you know your guests have some musical talent. Rather than making them leave their seats to come up front you could have all the guests at the table stand up and sing a song about love. It’s fun and creates a little competition between tables.
Words of Advice
Another alternative would be for your DJ to setup a microphone in front of the head table and open it up for anyone that had any words of advice. You’ll find quite a few of your guests will have plenty of advice and a lot of it can be very funny. Not only will you get people laughing but it’ll create some fun memories. Another alternative would be for them to tell a funny story about either the bride, groom, or both of them together. Be sure that the DJ sets this up just right otherwise you could have a line of people talking all night long.
Hula Hoops
What you’ll need is 3 hula hoops. To make the bride and groom kiss your guests will have to come out to the dance floor and use them in creative ways. Something like they do on “Who’s Line Is It Anyway” with props. This can create tons of laughs and really gets your guests thinking.
Ring The Bells
This doesn’t really cut down on the noise, but some of our past clients placed bells on each table and had them ring the bells instead of dinging the glasses.
Put For A Kiss
This is for the golf enthusiasts. What you’ll need is a small putting green and if one of your guests puts a hole-in-one then the couple will kiss. If they don’t get it in the hole, the bridal couple draws a name from a bowl (which contains the name of many other couples at the reception) and that couple has to stand and kiss. You’ll need your DJ to help assist with the game and perhaps select certain people to participate in the game (grandparents, parents, wedding party, etc..)
Kissing Box
This game is similar to the mirror kiss game, but takes it to the next level. What you’ll need is a shoebox and you’ll want to decorate it and make it festive. You’ll then want your DJ/Emcee start things off by putting a dollar (or more) into the box. He then hands it to the bride and groom and they kiss. They then pass the box to whichever couple they want to make kiss next. So basically you get the box, you kiss, you put money in the box and then pass it to whoever you want.
Trivia Pursuit
If you think your guests are pretty intelligent you may want to test them and try this activity. What you’ll need to do is purchase the game “Trivial Pursuit” and for those who wish for you to kiss will have to come up to the head table and answer a question in the category of their choice. The harder the question the better the kiss (if they get it right of course!).
Guess the Decade
This is another great musical activity. You’ll need a professional DJ at your event to help accommodate with this. What you’ll need to get is six sheets of paper stapled together with big bold decades printed on each. The first with 1950, the next 1960 and so on until the year 2000. When a table wants the bride and groom to kiss, they would have to hold up the piece of paper with the decade in which they thought they knew the title and composer of the songs. The D.J. would then play a part of a song from that decade and the table would collaboratively decide the song. If they got it correct, then the couple would kiss
Q&A
This is a bit of an extension of the bell idea. Silver bells sound so much nicer than clinking of glasses. Ahead of time, make trivia questions about either the Bride, Groom or the couple on pieces of paper. Questions such as ‘What is the brides favourite colour?’, or ‘What is the groom’s dog’s name?’, ‘Where did they meet?’, etc. Place the questions in a nicely decorated box. When a table wants the couple to kiss, the guests at that table ring their bells and the M.C. randomly draws a question from the box. If the table gets it right, the couple kisses. It allows the guests to get to know little things about the couple that they may not have known before. Some questions can be pretty funny or bizarre and the answers can be even funnier.
