Glass Clinking - Alternatives To Clinking Glasses At Your Reception
Glass clinking during wedding reception dinners has been going on for years. Although I haven't been able to determine the origins of the custom (google it yourself and see) many on the internet think it has something to do with the bell sound or ringing scaring away evil spirits. Or instead it is an irish tradition where the sound is capable of restoring harmony to a couple and remind them of their wedding vows.
Some alternatives to clinking glasses are:
Play a Song with a Kiss - We'll play part of a song when the couple kisses. Examples might be "This kiss" by Faith Hill, or "A Kiss To Build A dream On" by Louis Armstrong. There are so many more and we can have them queued up to the right spot and ready to play. This can be combined with any of the other kiss activities as well.
The kiss rating system - Pass out number sheets to the wedding party. After the bride and groom kiss have the wedding party "rate" the kiss on a scale from 1 to 10. This usually goes over well and is good for many laughs.
Sing A Love Song - Let your guests clink the glasses one time for a kiss. After that have the DJ/MC announce that from then on, the bride and groom will only kiss if one or more of the guests sings a song with the word "love" in it. A microphone will be placed in front of the wedding party table in order to make sure everyone hears them sing.
Show Us How - When your guests clink the glasses have the DJ/MC or someone in the wedding party pull a couples name from a hat. Explain that the couple whose name was pulled from the hat should show them how to kiss. The bride and groom will then attempt to kiss the same way the couple did. This can get pretty elaborate and is pretty entertaining for your guests.
Tell Us About - Like the show us how option, when the glasses are clinked a name is pulled from a hat. The persons name who is pulled has to stand up and tell something about the bride and/or groom before they will kiss.
Trivia contest - Place a hat up front near the wedding table which contains questions like "where did the bride and groom meet?" or "what was the brides favorite pet?". If a guest wants the bride and groom to kiss they have to pull a question from the hat and answer it correctly.
Putt for a Kiss - We had a couple who made their guests sink a putt for a kiss. You really have to like golf for this one.
Random Words - Have a bowl at the head table with slips of paper and random words in it like love, marriage, hope, and dreams. When someone wants you to kiss they have to pick one of the slips from the bowl and then either sing a song with that word in it or make up a poem with that word.
Years Ago - Assign a year to each table like 1950, 1960 and so on. Then when anyone at that table wants you to kiss they have to sing part of a song from that year. Of course there would be an appropriate cheat or hint sheet on each table to help them pick out a song.
Gotta Dance - When a table wants you to kiss they have to get up and dance for a minute.
Tongue Twisters - Place a number of tongue twisters in a bowl at the head table. When someone wants you to kiss they have to pick a random twister from the bowl and repeat it three times fast. If the are successful then the couple has to kiss. This can make for some hilarious moments. It can also be combined with a number of other activities listed here like random words, tell us about, and trivia. Just have them all on slips of paper in the bowl.
Napkin Waving - At a reception attended by a number of deaf people, Carol and I witnessed probably the neatest way I have ever seen to get the bride and groom to kiss. If you can imagine over 200 people simultaneously waiving napkins in the air, it was seriously the coolest thing I have seen in a while. I'm regretting not taking a picture of it.. It was really neat.
Top Five - Each table must create a top five list about the bride and groom and read it on the microphone in order to get the bride and groom to kiss.