Christmas Wedding Entertainment IdeasFestive entertainment for every part of your special day!

Planning your Christmas wedding

Christmas weddings are often top of a bride-to-be's fantasy list, and rightly so. Why not enhance your Christmas wedding with seasonal entertainment, for a really memorable wedding day for you, your families, and all your guests.

Fulfil you're winter wedding fantasy by hiring fantastic Christmas themed wedding entertainment. Carol singers, string quartets, rock and pop bands and many more of Alive Network's amazing artists will perform your favourite Christmas songs from their Christmas repertoires to make your festive wedding day extra special!

Weddings are full of opportunities to delight, surprise and amaze your guests, from the moment they arrive for the ceremony until their final departure under a crisp winter sky full of stars. So, here are our hot tips for cool winter wedding entertainment that will do just that!

Arrival of the Guests

Your guests will be arriving long before you do, so start that spirit of Christmas wonder with a musical welcome by a group of professional carol singers. Forget the mumbling, shuffling tone-deaf crowd that turn up on your doorstep every year, our Christmas Carolers sound terrific, singing a capella (unaccompanied) in perfect four part harmony. Position them by the entrance, in your venue's hallway, in the church choir stalls or at the side of your ceremony room, for a traditional sound with a sense of festive fun. Feel free to tell them the carols you love too; they claim to know "Every carol and Christmas song written, EVER!"

If you prefer a more romantic soundtrack for the start of your wedding ceremony, choose a string quartet. One of the most popular choices for wedding entertainment, string quartets bring an air of sophistication and elegance to any wedding. That doesn't mean they just play classical music, btw! Christmas Strings' repertoire is filled with favourite carols, songs and Christmas pop classics, to really get your guests into the Christmas theme without going too tinsel too early (so to speak!).

For the same level of sophistication but with a twist, harpist Jessica Louise plays beautiful arrangements of Christmas songs and carols – plus favourite film and video games themes on request!

Your Christmas Wedding Ceremony

Your wedding ceremony is the heart of your wedding day, the moment when both your lives change for ever. So, celebrate that moment with glorious musical entertainment that'll put a smile on everyone's faces and a tear in granny's eye!

For church weddings, a classical singer like Sara Llywellyn is a great choice, as this talented lady can both sing solo and lead your friends and family in singing the hymns (two jobs in one!). At civil weddings and civil partnership ceremonies, she can sing you in like Royalty, then delight your guests while you sign the Register with seasonal and classical songs popularised by classical crossover artists including 'Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas', 'O Holy Night', 'White Christmas' and even 'Santa Baby'!

For sheer vocal exuberance, it's hard to beat a small format gospel choir like the Big Soul Gospel Choir. Like all good things they come in a small package, with four singers and a keyboard player, but their energy, passion and harmonies can fill a church or registry office alike with wonderful music. For church wedding ceremonies, they can perform Christmas hymns, and for civil ceremonies, an up-tempo set of Christmas classics including ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You', very appropriate!

For a more intimate ceremony, or for registry offices with limited space, classical guitarist Andy Cherry provides a warm and relaxing atmosphere with Christmas classics. He can play the Wedding March (Here comes the bride) if you wish, or you can ask for something a little more unusual.

Christmas Wedding Drinks Reception

Wedding drinks receptions are the perfect opportunity for your guests to relax with a drink and be entertained, while you pose and smile for the umpteenth formal wedding photo with your relatives… Reception areas are often on the smaller side, so the last thing you need is for the entertainment to be taking up half the room or playing too loud. That's why solo artists are perfect entertainment for wedding drinks receptions.

A solo jazz singer or duo can bring a chilled out, elegant feel to your drinks reception, with smoky vocals and Christmas jazz hits everyone will recognise.

Or, choose a talented performer who both plays and sings, for a wide range of music everyone can enjoy. Highly experienced wedding singer Mark Stevens has played at over 800 weddings and receptions, and his Christmas repertoire includes pop favourites such as 'Do They Know It's Christmas', 'Merry Christmas Everyone' and 'Wonderful Christmas Time'.

Your Christmas Wedding Meal

By the time your guests arrive for the wedding meal, they'll probably be glad to sit down for a while and meet the other guests on their table. So, you’d better give them something great to talk about with wedding breakfast entertainment that's enjoyable, entertaining but not too intrusive.

Singer/pianist Hannah King specialises in weddings and social events in more intimate venues, with the mission to be "Directly communicative but still unobtrusive." A lovely singer, she performs a broad range of Christmas hits and other songs from all genres to suit all tastes.

If your wedding meal is in a larger space such as a winterproof marquee or hotel banqueting space, you may prefer mealtime entertainment with a bit more oomph! The Quartones are a jazz quartet who can bring a superb professional sound to your wedding with traditional Christmas carols with a jazz/sax twist!

For something a little more interactive, Roaming Free are an experienced acoustic band who perform Christmas hits whilst roaming around your guests, and are ideal for wedding venues with over-zealous sound limiters installed!

Christmas Wedding Evening Party

You've made it this far, now it's time to really party! Deck the halls with holly, stick on a Santa hat, tart up tables with more tinsel than Tesco's, and let the Christmas fun begin.

For an all-out, let your hair down, everyone on the dance floor, singalong in your own key Christmas wedding party, book Happy Hour, Alive Network's #1 wedding party band. These guys are awesome; they sound great, they look fab and they get everyone up and dancing from the first note to the last. Richie and the boys will play Christmas hits from the contemporary to the downright cheesy, along with all your favourite pop tracks from The Beatles onwards. If you give yourself just one early Christmas present at your wedding, make it Happy Hour!

For wedding entertainment that everyone will enjoy, from youngest nephew to oldest gran, choose a swing and soul band like The Swing Smiths. Smart, sassy and soulful, The Swing Smiths deliver a Christmas punch performing carefully selected Christmas hits by Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Andy Williams and The Jackson 5 alongside their usual swing and soul repertoire.

And if you've had your fill of cheery Christmas hits and endless sleigh bells by now, ring the changes with a ceilidh band. An Irish and ceilidh band will get everyone up and dancing with an energetic set of traditional classics (often with a few modern pop songs thrown in for good measure). You might even get The Pogues' "Fairytale of New York" if you ask nicely!

When you choose your Christmas wedding entertainment from Alive Network, you can simply book and relax, knowing that our team will take care of all the finer details, including a legally binding contract between you and all your entertainers. Then go out and buy the tinsel, because at Alive Network, "It's Beginning to Look at Lot Like Christmas"!!

For more Christmas content visit our Christmas party entertainment ideas page.

Photos by: Andrew Billington Photography, Carrie Lavers Photography