Karaoke at a Wedding? And Why it Works

Introduction

I know Karaoke at a wedding, sounds like an absolute cringe-fest, but hear me out it can work, and I’m going to tell you exactly how.

Now you might think I’m biased running a karaoke business myself, but we have done countless karaoke bookings for weddings (Marryoke) in our time, including my own and there are many things that need to be considered to pull this off, in this blog I’m going to talk you through everything you should consider before pulling the trigger on booking karaoke for your wedding.

Don’t make it the center piece for your evening

Personally, I love karaoke, that’s why I got into this business, but for a wedding, a whole evening of karaoke is just way too much, not everyone might love karaoke as much as you and I do, we recommend breaking up the karaoke into sets, maybe have 1 hour of karaoke then an hour break, then come back for another hour of karaoke later in the evening.

Now in that hour break were not suggesting dead silence, most karaoke companies will provide a DJ service to keep the party going when no one is singing, some karaoke companies may charge a little extra for the DJ service so do keep that in mind, but most karaoke companies like us provide DJ services as standard with any manned booking.

In the past we have worked with bands as well at weddings to provide karaoke between their sets to give the crowd a chance to get up on stage and sing their hearts out, this by far is my favourite configuration karaoke at a wedding, and when the band is finished either crack on with a bit more karaoke or end the night with the DJ service.

Don’t start the karaoke too early

Starting your karaoke too early will be greeted with an empty dancefloor and no one singing, the reason? No one is drunk enough!

Dutch courage plays a massive part in enticing your guests up to sing, put yourself in their shoes, you’re being asked to sing in front of all your friends and family, now they could imagine the guests naked to calm their nerves, but I don’t think anyone wants to see granny in her negligee.

We suggest starting the karaoke at around 9 pm, by that time people will be slightly tipsy and raring to get up and belt out a banger or two, in our experience once the first person has sung everyone else follows suit.

Have your guest submit a song they want to sing on their RSVP

This is a great way to let people know there is karaoke at the wedding as well as being able to actually orchestrate a set list for the evening, if you know someone is a fairly decent singer mix them in between the not-so-good singers or save all the well-known sing-a-long songs (Mr Brightside, Sex on Fire) till later in the evening when they will get a better reception.

We always suggest making a note on the RSVP that no one can suggest any sad songs as after all a wedding is a celebration.

In the past we have also provided a QR code for clients RSVP’s so their guests can look through the karaoke catalogue to see what we have available for them.

Start a karaoke competition between guest tables

I wish I could take credit for this one, we recently did a wedding in Brighton where all guests tables were named after famous songs by ABBA, this ended up turning into a karaoke serenading competition for each of the brides. After each table had sung as a group each bride then judged and gave out prizes to the winners (yes, we did play the winner takes it all for the announcement). Innovations like this can really add to a wedding and make it a rememberable experience for all guests.

Don’t cheap out, get the best

Over the years I think karaoke has had a bit of a bad rap (pardon the pun), most people still associate karaoke with an old guy sitting in the corner with his binders of CDs and the lyrics being displayed on a 22” tv screen. I mean who would want that at their wedding, No one.

I’m a firm believer in if you’re going to do it, do it properly. At the karaoke company, we offer the following.

50,000 Tracks available
Guests can request songs from their mobile phones
DMX Controlled lighting
TV screens available up to 65 inches
Nightclub quality lighting
Video camera set up
PA System suitable for up to 800 guests

Whoever you decide to hire to provide the karaoke for your wedding, just make sure you’re getting the best quality your budget allows.

Have karaoke as a side addition to your wedding

Like photo booths and sweet carts it is possible to have karaoke as a side addition to your wedding, we suggest not hosting the karaoke in the same room as the DJ or Band as no one wants to be competing for sound.

Your best bet is to set it up in the bar area or outside the main function room to ensure there’s no overlapping sound. Again, probably not something you will want to run all night we suggest finishing the karaoke at least 1-2 hours before the evening ends to ensure everyone is together in the same room for the end of the night as the DJ or band plays the wedding staples we all know and love.

Conclusion

As you can see karaoke can indeed work for your wedding you just need to know how to do it, if you’re still unsure how to implement karaoke for your wedding or have any questions regarding marryoke feel free to reach out to us at info@thekaraokecompany.co.uk our team will be more than happy to talk you through our different packages and help advise you on what will work best on your big day.