When Is the Best Time to Have a Magician at Your Wedding?

If you're thinking about having a magician at your wedding, one of the first questions is usually: when?

During the drinks reception? At the tables? After dinner? When the evening guests arrive?

There isn't one answer that works for every wedding.

The best time depends on your timings, your guests and, most importantly, what you want the entertainment to do.

Here are the main options.

During the drinks reception

This is probably the most natural time for close-up magic.

You've just got married. You're being congratulated, photographs are happening, drinks are being poured and your guests may have an hour or more before they're called in for the wedding breakfast.

Some will know each other. Others won't.

A magician can move between small groups without interrupting anything else that's happening.

That can be particularly useful while you're away having photographs taken. Rather than wondering whether your guests are getting bored while you're posing beside a tree somewhere, you know something is happening back at the reception.

It also gives people who have never met something immediate to laugh and talk about together.

During the wedding breakfast

Table magic works differently.

Rather than moving around standing groups, I visit tables between courses.

The advantage is that virtually everybody gets a chance to see some magic.

It can also help keep the room lively during the natural gaps in food service.

There is one important proviso: the magician needs to work with the venue and caterers, not against them.

If starters are arriving at a table, that's not the moment for me to launch into a ten-minute routine. The food wins.

Done properly, table magic fits into the gaps rather than slowing down the meal.

Drinks reception and wedding breakfast

You can, of course, combine the two.

This works particularly well at weddings where there is a sizeable drinks reception followed by a wedding breakfast with plenty of time between courses.

It gives me longer to get around the guests without trying to cram everybody into a short period.

It also means people who miss me during the reception because they're having photographs taken, catching up with relatives or disappearing to find the bar can still see some magic later.

When the evening guests arrive

This can solve a different problem.

There is sometimes an odd little transition between the daytime wedding and the evening celebration.

Your daytime guests have eaten. The room may be getting turned around. New guests start arriving. Some people are ready to party and others are wondering what happens next.

Close-up magic can give the evening guests something to walk into rather than simply arriving and waiting for the next part of the night to begin.

It can also help mix the two groups together before the music takes over.

When wouldn't I recommend it?

Not every available gap needs filling.

If you've already planned plenty for your guests, adding another entertainer simply because there's a space on the running order can make the day feel too busy.

Likewise, I wouldn't want to compete with speeches, live music, important photographs or anything else you particularly want your guests to concentrate on.

Sometimes the right answer really is: you don't need a magician then.

I'd much rather help a couple find one part of the day where the magic genuinely adds something than spend hours getting in the way.

So, what is the best time?

Think about the moments when your guests might otherwise be waiting.

Are you disappearing for photographs after the ceremony?

Is there a long drinks reception?

Are there likely to be gaps between courses?

Will lots of evening guests arrive who don't know the daytime guests?

Those answers usually tell us far more than simply asking, “What time should the magician start?”

For many weddings, the drinks reception is a great fit. For others, table magic during the wedding breakfast makes more sense. Sometimes a combination works best.

The magic should fit around your wedding.

Your wedding shouldn't have to fit around the magician.

If you're planning a wedding in Cambridgeshire, London or further afield and you're not sure where close-up magic would fit into your day, tell me your rough timings and guest numbers. I'm happy to give you an honest steer, even if that means telling you there's a part of the day when you don't need me.