If scrolling through Instagram and Pinterest have left you wondering how to make your wedding unique, fun, interesting, or memorable, look no further. We turned to our good friend, Danielle O’Keefe of On the Move Events and Entertainment, for a round up on the latest and greatest wedding entertainment trends. Scroll on for fresh ideas on how to shake up traditions and ensure your guests have the time of their lives.
It’s 2017. In this neoteric age of Instagram and Pinterest, brides have vision boards, pins, and “MUST-haves” before even stepping foot into their first potential vendor’s door. Every bride-to-be wants her wedding to be perfect, magical, but most importantly, one of a kind. Couples are coming up with more and more ways to make their wedding stand out, reevaluating the expectation to include what is considered the “norm” and giving more creative input than ever before in every area, including music and entertainment. Here at On the Move Events and Entertainment, we believe every wedding is bespoke, we strive to make celebration dreams come true, and we are constantly acclimating to the times, so we’ve rounded up the eight most popular trends in wedding entertainment for 2017 to help inspire your big day.
If you’re having a traditional sit down dinner, consider saving the dancing until after all the dining is complete (European style!) rather than dancing in-between courses.
Swap the classic strings ensemble at your ceremony for something a bit more unique to you. One of our biggest requests this year was to implement a beat to the ceremony music, so we decided to curate a brand-new group called “Pop Classical,” which features three live string pieces and a beatboxer. It has quickly become one of our most popular groups for wedding ceremonies.
Consider nixing mid-reception traditional formalities, such as the bouquet and garter toss, cake cutting, or formal introductions if they’re not your style and replacing them with some not-so-traditional formalities. Or just more dancing.
More than ever, couples are asking their best man, MOH, parents, and whomever else is making a toast at the reception to keep their words to a minimum length as to not use up too much time in the reception or lose the energy of the party. Don’t be afraid to request your loved ones keep it “short and sweet.”
For years, the music at a typical wedding cocktail hour consisted of a small ensemble, usually jazz or a classical genre. Often it was the reception band broken down into an acoustic duo or jazz trio. However, we’ve received so many requests this year to curate something unique for the couple’s cocktail hours, we created a small ensemble, “Hip Hop Jazz,” consisting of typical jazz instruments covering current hip-hop tunes for a modern, edgy vibe. It’s the perfect change up before heading into the reception. Don’t be afraid to pick an ensemble whose music represents you as a couple.
Try out a new take on the always fun photo booth! Super popular this year have been the animated GIF booth, flip-book booth, Snapchat booth, 360 degree booth, anything involving Boomerang, and last but not least, the coveted multi-cam. Couples are even curating their own Instagram worthy setups by placing decor and backdrops in a specific area, knowing most guests have their own professional camera right in their pockets – an iPhone! Custom geo-filters for Snapchat and custom geo-tags for Instagram are also a must in 2017. How else will all the people who couldn’t make it see all of your amazing wedding details!?
In the past, a first dance was usually a meaningful ballad that the bride and groom would dance to slowly while gazing lovingly into each other’s eyes. In 2017, first dances are more innovative than ever – choreographed dances by the bride and groom, all-out performances involving the bridal party, and fully immersive, guest-involved pieces are frequent and often. Don’t believe us? One word: Youtube.
There’s a place for specialty talent at weddings now more than ever before. In the past few years, same-sex weddings have influenced this by not being so stuck on the traditional wedding components and embracing the idea of infusing more fun and entertainment into the day. Cirque performers, champagne serving aerialists, celebrity impersonators, and beautifully costumed performers to complete a specific theme are all finding their way out of the corporate industry and into the wedding industry. We recently had a stunning wedding at The Foundry in Long Island City where the entertainment was truly customized to the groom and groom’s vision. It started off with an intimate and sultry, live ensemble with a chanteuse vocalist performing interpretations of the couple’s favorite songs for the ceremony, then featured dancers dressed as peacocks during the cocktail hour, and finally, a flashmob-style performance choreographed for the couple’s first dance. To top it off, they coordinated a surprise, drag queen performance during the late night dance party!
Let us know what trends you’re thinking of implementing into your big day!
xx, Dani
Written by Danielle O’Keefe, Singer and Director of Client Relations at On the Move Events and Entertainment.