When my fiancée and I were planning our wedding we had a great time, but I’ll admit we had our worries.
We were worried people wouldn’t turn up… we were worried about the weather… we were worried things might go wrong… and we were worried our guests might find our reception boring.
I guess it was because we’d been to weddings before and we’d been bored. There was too much sitting around with nothing to do before the evening guests arrived… and it didn’t always get much better when they did!
We’d decided on our DJ for the evening so that was pretty much sorted, but we knew a lot of our older guests wouldn’t want to dance… and we wanted something for them to do too. We talked about booking a band instead. But the best bands were really expensive and way over our budget, and the cheaper wedding singers… well they really weren’t that good to be honest..
There were chocolate fountains and sweet trolleys and they were great… I mean, who doesn’t like sweets?
But we needed something else. Something special that would keep the guests entertained in the evening so they weren’t all looking at their watches at nine o’clock, and wondering if they could sneak out without us noticing…
And we found it!
It was at yet another wedding show. We’d been traipsing around for an hour or so, seeing the same faces we’d seen numerous times before, when we bumped into a guy with a fantastic looking roulette wheel and table. His name was Mark and along with his wife Michelle, he owned a Fun Casino company. He had full size professional casino equipment, and he told us he’d set it up at the reception so the guests could play… just like in a real casino!
It sounded great, but of course I didn’t like the idea of our friends and family losing their money! Thankfully it turned out they were only allowed to play with ‘Fun Money’, not their hard earned cash. Mark said he’d distribute the fun money to our guests, then teach them all how to play, and that he’d entertain them for three hours or so. He told us that he and Michelle would keep track of the winners and there’d be a prize for the ‘high roller’ of the night.
It sounded awesome! But I seriously doubted we’d be able to afford it. After all, setting up all that gear, entertaining everyone for 3 hours, then breaking it all down again must be expensive. Right?
I told Mark and he laughed…
‘How much do you think it’ll cost then?’ he asked me.
‘I’m not sure’ I replied, thinking back to all the other potential wedding entertainment we’d looked at in the past… £700…. £800?
Mark grinned and told me the price… and I was gobsmacked!
1 roulette table, 1 blackjack table, some huge great aces like in the photo, plus 2 professional casino croupiers in tuxedos, all the fun money we needed, a prize for the winner, and 3 hours of casino play was under £400 as long as our wedding was in Norwich or the surrrounding areas… such as Dereham, Thetford, Yarmouth, Lowestoft, etc.
That seemed some amazing value for money, so we took a complete leap of faith and booked there and then. We paid Mark a small deposit to secure the date, then there was nothing more to pay until the big day meaning we had lots more time to save up. That really helped us with our wedding budget !
When we first booked with Mark & Michelle we’d decided to run the casino from 8pm until 11pm. Our evening guests were coming at 7.30, so they’d all be there by then to enjoy the fun. However, we realised later on that because we were getting married quite early in the day there was going to be quite a gap between the wedding breakfast and the arrival of the evening guests. We called Mark for some advice, and he suggested he started the casino earlier, at 6.30pm. That way instead of everyone sitting around wondering what to do, he could have a nice intimate hour with our day guests and the evening guests would still have plenty of time to enjoy a good flutter. Then, after the casino closed, we could crank up the music and get on the dance floor!
It worked out perfectly. It turned out the casino was such an amazing icebreaker too. Our guests who hadn’t met before were soon laughing and having fun together, and the tables were packed from start to finish. Who knew our familes were so competitive? We are so glad we decided to book, and would recommend anyone looking for perfect wedding entertainment not to hesitate. Just do it. It works.
It’s six months now since the wedding, but every time we see our friends who were there they tell us what a great idea the casino was. So much so that we are thinking of booking Mark & Michelle again for a first anniversary party.
And if you want a reception to remember too, I’d go right ahead and book up before it’s too late!
Give Mark or Michelle a call on 07736 463981 or email info@yourweddingcasino.co.uk
