What ‘fun’ wedding activities were actually fun?

Agree with @IMissSparkling this is exactly all I require and expect.

I would hate all of your suggestions sorry OP. What happened to a disco and or a band, milling around chatting, dancing or not dancing, eating and drinking.

Supposed to be going to a wedding in the summer with some outdoor games mentioned, no music, no quiz mentioned thankfully, expensive drinks, dreading it. Not sure what they will do if it rains or in awkward silences or when people slope off early. Great for any kids going. But personally, if I am going to the trouble of getting dressed up for a wedding I don’t want to be running around getting hot and sweaty playing rounders in my finery or messing about with giant outdoor jenga however in it may or may not be. Nor do I want to be forced to complete a quiz.

I hate dancing though and never do it so feel like a bit of a spare part at some weddings and stand in dread of someone dragging me on the dance floor. I am not the only person who feels like this so a room where I can play board games and chat with other like minded people sounds perfect. Only not monopoly! There are so many fun and easy to learn board games available now.

WTF? That sounds like a deleted scene from Eyes Wide Shut.

The OP says in her first and second posts:

What fun activities have you ACTUALLY enjoyed? … I personally enjoy them. And just want the option of doing them
**
The board games are more for people who don’t want to dance. There will be two rooms at the venue. The party room and the place where we ate. I want to put the board games out on the tables for people who want to take a break from dancing/who don’t want to dance at all.
**
Very much opt in. No, let’s all do this together except for the pub quiz.

Her actual question was “what activities have you actually enjoyed?” Not “what do you hate about my plans”. And she has said over and over that things are optional for if people want to enjoy them, except for a short pub quiz - which given they are quizzers and met at a pub quiz, seems a fair enough thing, and easy enough to lightly ignore if there are others on the table more into it.

She’s getting annoyed when people over and over misrepresent what she is aiming for, ignore that she is saying over and over that these are options, and don’t actually give ideas of things they’ve liked. Which was the main question.

This is a great example of something I would never have thought of myself but that I would definitely do. Maybe I will deign to get married just so I can have this. I want a pangolin mask

Photo booth
Blow up guitars and trumpets on the dance floor

Ahh you can always rely on AIBU for totally rational, level headed responses to questions! Why are people acting like the OP is going to be operating her wedding like some sort of board game convention where everyone MUST participate?! Guests can take part in whatever they want, or not!

I had quite a lot of what you’re planning at my own wedding OP, and it provided much enjoyed optional entertainment (and photo opportunities) for my guests. All I will say though is that offering UNO as a game is risky - you don’t want fist fights when someone gets Reversed 😂

I do like the idea of making the Pub Quiz bit themed around you two, or the wedding.

Yes I agree we all enjoy different things. That's my point really. I see that some ppl enjoy coming up with a nice message on the spot like that. I'm not foolish enough to think all would agree with me (as a pp suggested lots of posters thought).

I really don't want to be under pressure to write a guestbook message tho, sorry. I don't think I've ever written a message in a wedding guestbook tbh. The jigsaw piece kind of forces it on me - does that make more sense? I would really panic about not being witty, spelling something wrong, my awful writing...

@Blinko ignore the "forced fun" people.
This is your wedding and your guests presumably know the type of things you and your fiancee enjoy and find fun.
If they don't enjoy it they don't have to join in.
Personally I would dread an invite to a 'traditional" wedding reception because I hate formal meals, hate the drinking alcohol culture, hate dressing up and hate discos.
But if it was a very close family member or friend I'd grin and bare it and go (and be bored out my mind but definitely wouldn't dance).
I'm definitely Team Board Game 🎲

Well, assuming your wedding guests know you well, I expect they will feel obliged to participate in the activities regardless, just in order to please you? I'm only basing this assumption on the attitude you're displaying on this thread? But I might be completely wrong, so I will bow out of the thread and wish you a happy day.

To be fair - everyone took part in the jigsaw - it was literally writing your guestbook message on the back, and putting the piece on the table, not much to 'utterly hate' there surely! But take your point, not everyone enjoys the same things, that's the rich tapestry of life!

We had lawn games as you describe and also giant Jenga / giant Connect 4 (which we hired from a local firm) and Twister. All went down v well as far as I remember (was a good while ago now!)

Cringing at the idea that Ceilidh's could ever be considered 'passe'.

They are a core component of Scottish culture and heritage. Not something that goes out of fashion for weddings along with goldfish centrepieces.

I think your wedding sounds brilliant and I (and most of my friends) would love it. Especially the quiz!

Ceilidh/barn dance I'd also love and I do work events where there is always a queue for the Photo Booth, there are some good AI ones now too.

I love a quiz and think a short quiz could be fun.

I went to an event in a pub and they did a very clever quiz.

All the answers were numbers.
Unbelievably different questions, and some of the answers were 9 million and some 3.

There were only about 20 questions and you had to write down your answers.

It was in a pub and very noisy and most people quite pissed.

It was clever because at the end, they did not go over the quiz answers, they just said - add up your numbers and the table who are closest to the right number win. Everyone whipped out their phones, added up the numbers and one table won. The worst part of a pub quiz is going over the questions and giving out the answers. It is the boring bit, so this number quiz bypassed that quite neatly
(for any pedants you could stick the anwers up on a board for them to look at while everyone goes off to dance)

I have to agree with you here. And I would argue that we're not miserable and are, in fact, likely a lot more fun precisely because we can easily have fun and enjoy ourselves without needing to be told how to do it.

And I'm just not buying that all these laid out activities are going to be as chilled out and purely optional as the OP insists? Especially considering her attitude towards people who don't agree with her on this thread?

That sounds like fun, to me, @Blinko.

Just a thought, but could you have a table with a jigsaw on it? I think people might enjoy stopping and putting a few pieces in.

I think most posters are assuming that everybody in the world is exactly like them. Most of my social circle would much prefer lawn games/board games to small talk and dancing. (I enjoy both). So sounds like a great wedding to me! 'Spot it' is a good easy-to-understand social game.

I think you over thinking it. I have been to many weddings, including my own and people are able to entertain themselves for an hour while photos are taken. However it's your wedding and if you want something like that, go for it. If it is a garden based one, then you can hire oversized garden games, like connect four etc that people like. Those photo booths always go down well. Try this web site and there are loads and loads of others. 30 Fun Wedding Games Your Guests Will Love to Play - hitched.co.uk

Yes I agree with @Cressiet you have been a bit grumpy @Blinko with ppl who don’t like the sound of your plans, calling them miserable.

People like different things indeed. I might enjoy a quiz actually but only if it were accessible. And there is a danger of it going on too long. Timing ie when to do it could be an issue as pps have said.

I know you asked for ideas, not criticism if your own, but some ideas are “some ppl wouldn’t like this” which is valid.

I for one would utterly hate the jigsaw piece and writing wishes for the B&G for the next 20 years. So I guess what some are saying is, be prepared for ppl not to take part - as long as you are ok with that, fine.

One wedding I went to had a bird of prey display between the ceremony and dinner. That was quite fun, something entertaining without being too participatory.

Sounds more like a team-building day than a wedding 😆

We hired a disc golf basket/discs and popped it out on the lawn, Some people played, some didn't, but frisbee is a big part of our lives so we wanted to share it with our guests.