While there is typically an open bar or light appetizer, there is little in the way of entertainment. While, I understand that you don’t want to “get your party started” until you enter, you do want to consider that your guests are waiting.  Having a professional entertainer work the crowd during photos helps to take the pressure off of the bride and groom to return to the ceremony.  You’ll be confident knowing your guests are being entertained and best of all they’ll be warmed up and excited upon your arrival!

One unique idea is to hire a professional strolling magician to move throughout your reception.  Entertainment during the cocktail hour helps to keep your guests laughing and socializing, as they anxiously await your arrival.  Most importantly, a professional magician will help to keep the focus on the bride and groom.  Unlike a traditional show, which could distract or steal the spotlight, a strolling magician performs for small groups of 5-10 at a time.  In this way, each guest receives a short, unique and unforgettable performance.

Strolling magic is tasteful low-key entertainment that helps to break the ice. Most importantly it maintains the excitement created at the ceremony so that your final entrance will be even more magical.

*Planner tip: Consider having the magician stick around beyond the cocktail hour to entertain the guests at their tables or while they wait in line at the buffet.

Weddzilla.com is the first online social wedding platform to fully integrate the wedding planning process into popular social networks. Two larges monitors displayed screenshots of various pages of the site. The entire Weddzilla Guru Panel was in attendance: celebrity cake artist Ron Ben-Israel, celebrity fitness expert from Buff Fitness Sue Fleming, editor-in-chief of Bridal Guide Magazine Diane Forden, author and columnist Sharon Naylor, and invitations expert Lisa “Ceci” Johnson. Each member of the panel offered tips to attendees on ways to enhance the wedding planning process.

In the center of the grand room, an oblong table was covered with silent auction items, suitable for any engaged couple. Free photo sessions with wedding photographers, a Jamaican honeymoon, a “stress-free” planning package, and a wedding day survival kit were among the goods up for grabs. Emcee Steve Kemble, a bona fide member of US Weekly’s Fashion Police, encouraged the crowd to peruse and bid, with all proceeds benefiting the Children’s National Medical Center.

Brides-to-be and their fiancés, friends, and/or family members sipped special rum punches and cranberry sparklers, and snacked on mini square plates of chili with a tiny cornbread medallion, and corn dog skewers, and soufflé dishes containing bacon macaroni and cheese. Upstairs, vendor tables lined the outside walls. Every service a bride could want or need for her special day was available, including limo rentals, honeymoon experts, deejays, invitations, and lighting décor.

Attendees were provided with reusable tote bags filled with coupons for wedding consulting services, photo sessions, free cake tastings, lighting design, jewelry rental, and more. Ronnie Mervis of Mervis Diamonds gave away a diamond to a lucky guest, as the waiters brought out pound cake, chocolate-covered strawberries, and caramel popcorn for a sweet finish to the evening. With more than 1,500 guests and an after-party at Current Lounge in Dupont Circle, the Weddzilla.com franchise is off to a blooming start.