I would like to talk about the best way of doing magic at weddings.

I think the best way of approaching magic at a wedding is doing a 2 part show.

First , walk around magic at the reception while people is coming to the restaurant as a quicky and a way to introduce yourself.

Second, before de music starts some kind of parlour or stage magic for the boy and girl who just got married.

What I would like to know is what you think the best tricks to do on the parlour show.
I would vote for the bottle production, card or bill to lemon and the floating table as a final.

Thanks for reading and sharing your ideas

ALWAYS check with the wedding planner and potential MC or disc jockey. Sometimes customs get into the way of how we perform to perform. For instance you do not necessarily want to be on when the bride and groom are walking from table to table greeting all the guests as the focus is supposed to be on them. ANd with a large wedding that could be an hour.

When working for the Mung people or Vietnamese make sure there are NO BLADES in your act - it is an insult to bring a blade for any reason to a wedding in those cultures.

Even though there is a lot of activity -- one time to perform the cabaret - stage stuff is immediately after cake cutting. Make sure you have clued in the wait staff AND arranged to tip them for their courtesy.

A lot of magi do not like to perform the big stuff during the meal -- but sometimes that is the only time you might get -- particularly if there is a live band who is a wedding band specialist.

Another variation that can work is to perform as folks first sit down as sort of a call to dinner -- then be ready to leave as soon as you finish walk around during the meal and you will not have to sit through introducton of relatives, first dance, cutting the cake, etc.

I've done wedding show in different occasions and didn't find a lot of difference wether to start with table hopping or a parlour act.

Years ago in my beginnings a started with a short parlour act before the meal, when everybody was waiting for the service to start and some table-hopping before the cake was served.

Lately I've done just a short parlour act to help the service between two plates and I had a big success aswell.

Chmara's advices are very important to take in consideration for both, the client and the wait staff, aswell as the DJ. Try to be in place long before to find out who's on when and for how long. If you take care of this and them, and your magic was entretaining they might even be glad to give your name to other third parties later on.

And yes, just one thing : Don't wait to long for doing your magic, 'cause once you'll have a few guys with one, two or even more glasses too much, those could turn to terrible hecklers and ruine your act. Except if you're an excellent toung in cheek guy of course and know how to handle them correctly.

Concerning the effects : Take 3 or 5 (depends of length of your act and time you'll get). An excelelnt visual attention grabber, some kind of audience participation effect, and your best trick for a closer.
Keep it dynamic in presentation, because otherwise you might loose attention very quickly. There's so much going on for everybody on this special day of life, that they'll be very fast distracted if something else happens during your presentation.

Concerning your suggestions, the first two one's are ok for me, but personnally I wouldn't do the floating table at the end, since to me it's a slow paced effect. If you do so anyway, be careful not to make it too long.

Good luck,

Oliver.

Don't overlook the opportunity to sometimes perform while the guests are waiting to go into the reception and the couple is still shooting pictures elsewhere. There is often time to be killed here.

Bob Sanders
Magic By Sander

Thanks for your advices.

focusing on the parlour magic, what kind of routines would you do?

thanks

I was thinking of have a magician at my wedding. Especially since it was more of what is referred as a "un wedding" and laid back relaxed atmosphere. But instead we went with favors with magic tricks and put Svengali decks, linking rings, cups & balls at some tables for people to fool around with.

After all when you my father, Sandy Marshall, Marshall Brodien and Jim Sommers as guests why bother to hire someone. Otherwise, I was thinking more of a impromptu way of having entertainment without a DJ.

If I had a more traditional wedding/reception I would have had a magician during cocktail and after the main meal when people were dancing.

In life we learn from experience, and what a bad experience I have years ago performing in a wedding and doing a nest of boxes with the recently acquired weeding ring of the bride!
I do the classic gag of "harming" the ring and what a BAD TIME I have with her! I think it would be funny, AND FOR THE AUDIENCE IT WAS! But she react in a weird but comprehensive manner, She explode in tears and was very offended by the thing.
I apologize at the end of the event, but she still offended and now angry because my approach to the nest of boxes!
In one word AVOID THE EFFECTS WITH THE WEEDING RINGS IN WEEDING GIGS!
My best,
Hansel!

This is a tough one! I do not know how popular parlour or stage shows are at weddings but my experiences have been mixed...To me at least when performing at a wedding the bride and groom are and should be the center of attention...doing a show off to the side for children is another thing. its out of the way give the kids something to do and enjoy...the parents are happy and get to enjoy the wedding festivities.

I have been requested to do a few routines at weddings...sword basket, straight jacket and stand up magic...i get an OK reaction but really the show is the bride and groom. the best time to do magic is between the ceremony and the time the bride and groom arrive at the reception...strolling magic is perfect for this time. of course if the price is right go for it...but I agree with others..make shure you have payment in full when you arrive and if there is a coordinator, because you are the last thing the bride and groom want to deal with on their special day....just my thougts

I think this question is very much dependent on you location in the world and the format of the wedding proceedings. Over here in the UK having a magician perform at a wedding is fairly common and usually consists of walk around close-up magic during the drinks reception or changeover period. Also its common to perform table to table in between the wedding breakfast courses. At some weddings it may be possible to show something to the bride and groom where the attention of the room is on them, but other than that I don't think any kind of stage entertainment would work as well.

I have done shows at Banquet Halls for Anniversaries, Birthdays and Valentines. However, I usually have been requested to perform Strolling Table hopping Magic for Weddings. As far a what to do for a show goes, different countries, venues, audiences and customs require different performances. So not one size fits all. However, at one Wedding, I was requested to do a Show and stuck with the classics. Just use your experience and common sense. Cheers!