How to entertain your wedding guests like Bollywood celebrities

After choosing Instagram-worthy decor and finalising your menu, the next big decision you need to make while planning your wedding is the entertainment. One of the main elements of a wedding, a well-devised entertainment plan not only gets your guests on the dance floor, but also gives them a chance to mingle with each other. While hiring a local band or a DJ to supplement the background score used to be the norm back in the day, new-age brides and grooms prefer things to be more personalised. Customised wedding entertainment options come to the fore to dot modern-day weddings now—Priyanka Chopra hosted a cricket day in the middle of her Jodhpur celebrations, Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh held a fireworks display after their Lake Como nuptials, and Isha Ambani had Beyoncé fly down to Udaipur for a private concert. Scroll ahead to borrow inspiration from recent Bollywood weddings and ensure that the entertainment on your big day leaves a celebrity-level impact on your guests.

1) Organise a sports day like Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas

Hosting a friendly game of cricket or football for your guests is a great entertainment option, particularly for destination weddings. Ahead of Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas’ Jodhpur nuptials on December 2, 2018, the bride and groom’s crews took part in a cricket match as part of her mehandi celebrations that Chopra shared peeks at via her Instagram Stories. In a group picture that Chopra playfully captioned “Team Bride vs Team Groom”, we saw Jonas holding Chopra in his arms as he was flanked by fellow celebrants dressed in cricket gear. And in an accompanying video, Jonas was spotted batting in a shirt that read “Team Groom.”

2) Host a private concert like Isha Ambani

As part of their wedding celebrations, Isha Ambani and Anand Piramal hosted a private concert for their guests at their Udaipur pre-wedding celebrations with none other than Beyoncé as the main act. While getting Queen B to perform in a discreet setting is a long shot for most (read: all) of us, the idea of a private concert by local musicians does make for an appealing alternative. Consider hiring a local band to entertain your guests. How about a troupe of Manganiars from Rajasthan to sing vibrant folk music? Or a high-energy Punjabi dhol to get everyone dancing? And if these are too traditional for you, you can also include a little international flair by hiring a saxophonist, harpist, or even a mariachi band for your wedding.

3) Build a theme park like Akash Ambani

The second and more recent Ambani wedding followed suite: the family brought down Coldplay’s Chris Martin and Maroon 5 to perform at Akash Ambani’s wedding celebrations. But the highlight of the festivities has to the be the pre-wedding bash, which featured a custom-built theme park in St Moritz, Switzerland. Named Aku Stole The Shlo (also the duo’s wedding hashtag), this theme park had everything from candy stalls to bumper cars and even a Ferris wheel. The idea was applauded by the Alpine region’s mayor Christian Jott Jenny too, who went on to say it was great to have the event in their town.

Now while it may seem too ambitious at the start, don’t throw away the idea of hosting a carnival-themed event as part of your nuptials yet. Think vibrant decor with pin wheels and signages, and crowd-pleasing food carts like popcorn, candy floor or chaat. Add tarot card readers, caricature artists etc to the mix for finishing touches.

4) Put up a fireworks display like Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh

After almost six years of hushed courtship, Deepika Padukone got married to Ranveer Singh with a bang, literally. The two wed in a discreet Lake Como wedding ceremony in November 2018, and put on a majestic fireworks show for their attending guests right after. If bursting firecrackers at Indian weddings seems too done-and-dusted to you, take things up a notch by organising a show that’ll put the Disneyland parade to shame.

5) Hire mixologists and flair bartenders like Anushka Sharma

Although Anushka Sharma’s Tuscany wedding with cricketer Virat Kohli was swathed in privacy, the power couple didn’t shy away from hosting a fun-filled reception party for their industry friends in Mumbai. According to reports, the duo got a local bar services agency to curate bespoke cocktails, themed bar counters and flair bartenders for the evening. For your own nuptials, look beyond just a well-stocked bar and bring in unconventional, unique concoctions and bartenders to create a buzz at your wedding.

 

Also read:

These wedding planners will make your nuptials feel like a celebrity’s

How to recreate the wedding decor from your favourite movies

What Akash Ambani and Shloka Mehta’s wedding decor looked like

The wedding planning guide for the experimental bride