Wedding Style: Couples Booking Big-Top Talent For The Big Day
By Jessica Green
Cirque du Soul Mates
Bridal: Entertainment
Brides and grooms are booking big-top talent and beyond for the big day.
The bride and groom may be the main attraction, but when it comes to modern-day weddings, couples are pulling out all the stops with a spectacle of entertainment for their receptions. Making your wedding stand out is easier than you think—if you step (far) outside the box.
A band or DJ is a staple entertainment choice, but have you thought about... fire dancers? "Weddings are a time for brides and grooms to share their unique style and personal- ity with family and friends," says Shana Kennedy, director of the Philadelphia School of Circus Acts.
In addition to classes, PSCA has performed all over the city for special events. "With so many weddings happening in non-traditional settings these days, [this] takes their event to new heights and gives guests something to talk about." Under the PSCA umbrella is Airplay, a circus and variety entertainment company that has talent ranging from jugglers to aerial artists. Think hula-hoop dancers greeting your guests or cocktails served by stilt walkers at the reception.
At nightlife and event performance company Jewelz Entertainment, fielding requests for choreographed dancers, body-painted servers, and fire performers is all in a day's work. "We once had a bride ask us to paint the entire waitstaff at her wedding venue in silver body paint; another requested to have a mermaid serve sushi during her cocktail hour," says Julie Abramson, owner of Jewelz Entertainment. "A recently popular request is to have an aerial bartender, suspended from the ceiling, serving guests Champagne." For these brides and grooms, as Abramson says, it's all about the "wow" factor. "They want their guests to have a great time and be fully entertained."
For wedding keepsakes that are truly worth keeping, many couples are calling on artists like Courtney Sell, a Temple graduate that honed her sketching skills during stints at the Philadelphia Zoo and Citizens Bank Park. Her Caricatures by Courtney will live draw your guests— or any aspect of your wedding—for a frame- worthy favor that people will remember long after the big day. "I've heard on almost every occasion people say, 'I would have never thought of this, it's so different,'" says Sell. "It's definitely something they are going to remember."
