This is a question I get asked a lot in the limo on the way to the reception. Inevitably, a bridesmaid will say to her partner “Hey, we have to think of something to do when we come in to the reception!” Silence. Sometimes, they’ll turn to me and say “You do a lot of weddings! Do you have any ideas for us?”
Over the past fifteen years (5 as an assistant and 10 as a primary), I’ve seen dozens and dozens of different bridal party introductions into the reception. When I hear those familiar notes of Beyonce’s “Crazy in Love,” you know some stuff is about to go down. Literally – plenty of people trip and fall on the way in to the hall!
But seriously, here are my ideas and thoughts!
First, tips for my couple:
1. You don’t HAVE to do introductions with the whole bridal party if you don’t want to.
2. You don’t HAVE to do wild and crazy intros for each couple – people can just walk in with a smile! That’s okay!
3. Leave a nice WIDE aisle from the door to the dance floor. There should be no confusion on which way to go.
4. Hit your mark and do your move on the dance floor or where you can clearly see the photographer near you and all the guests can see the moves. Too many people do their choreographed move by the door where most guests cannot see them.
5. Ask some employees from the venue to work the doors invisibly from the outside and open for each couple.
Now, here’s some “fun” “silly” or even cliche bridal party entrance ideas you can swipe so you don’t have to resort to the Charlie’s Angels pose. Bring your mom and dad sense of humor for these.
1. Piggyback ride (guy gives to the girl) – be careful
2. Piggyback ride (girl gives to the guy) – be careful
3. Make like Magic Mike and come in pretending to ride a pony (also done in the Gangam Style type intros)
4. When a group of three are walking together, the two people on the ends lean in to kiss the person in the middle on the cheek. At the last second, the middle person ducks out, so the other two kiss each other. Obviously, consent is super important for this one and you need to make sure it’s done with a pure heart as a prank, not as a form of say homophobic humor or anything – so make sure to arrange the two people who agree to kiss on the outside ends, regardless of gender.
5. Old standby – come in and cross arms, doing a shot or crushing a beer
6. Make it rain with a stack of ones
7. THE dance of the summer – the floss, etc.
8. A simple spin
9. Form a tunnel over the next couple to come in
10. Spin Terrible Towels, wear sunglasses – bring those props
11. Pretending to throw a football/baseball and the other person catches it – photographers generally hate this one because you aren’t on the same plane and it’s hard to capture both people (A variation on this is pretending to catch a fish and reel it in – you know the one) 🙂
12. One person is the celeb, one person pretends to be paparazzi (I can feel your eyes rolling from here, but hey – there are big bridal parties and I’m pulling out everything I’ve seen here)
13. A luggage cart is wheeled in with one person pushing, one riding (and if you want to be super extra, you gotta play Titanic’s My Heart Will Go On)
14. Mascot or marching band comes in – I’ve seen the Nittany Lion run in during intros
15. Wheelbarrow rides – bet you haven’t done that since the 6th grade!
16. Confetti cannon – you can get them on Amazon
17. My favorite – and it’s rare, I’ve only seen it once…a guy and a gal paired together switch clothes, so she wears the tux and he wears the traditional bridesmaid dress (you have to be somewhat the same size). It’s risky, it’s ballsy, it’s silly, it’s go big or go home – but hey, you asked for my favorite one and that’s it!
Party on, wedding parties!
