Most brides pick their sisters, friends from college, current friends from work or cousins to be their bridesmaids. Many of these ladies are not connected to each other in any other way, and sometimes, the first pre-wedding event is their first time meeting one another. Same goes for the groom and his groomsmen. You have such a large variety of people in your wedding party that have to do so much together, yet this can get uncomfortable if they are unfamiliar with each another. What better way to solve this than having a pre-wedding bonding day to get your wedding party to get to know one another? These 8 suggestions below are not your typical spa day or brunch, but a way to get your groomsmen and bridesmaids ready to take on your big day together and in unison!
Photo Credit: Rustic Folk Weddings
Song Battle
Create a little competition between the bridesmaids and groomsmen once again. Pick random words, such as marry or love. The point of the game is to have a keyword for each round. When you state the word, the groups have to come up with a song that has that word in the lyrics, and it goes back and forth between the groups until no one can come up with a song that has the keyword anymore. Then move on to a new keyword. For example, if the keyword is “marry”, the first group could start singing “Marry You” by Bruno Mars, and the second group responds back with “Marry Me” by Train. This goes back and forth until no one can think of a song with the keyword in the lyrics.
Who Am I?
When your party arrives, have them write down a celebrity or fictional character on an index card. Go around and randomly assign an index card to each person, taping the card on their back. The guests must go around and ask only “Yes” or “No” questions about the person on their back. They may ask questions such as “Is my character a female?” and not “What movie am I in?” Your party will interact with everyone and this is sure to bring out some laughs!
Pre-Wedding Field Day
Divide your wedding party into two or three separate groups, depending on the amount of people you have. You can divide them to be bridesmaids vs. groomsmen, or mix it up. What is a better way to get your wedding party to bond than over a little friendly competition? Create an obstacle course, from three-legged races to passing water from one bucket to another, that will bring out the competitive yet still friendly side of your party. This way, your bridesmaids and groomsmen will be able to get to know each other on a more fun level in a relaxed environment. Afterwards, continue your field day with some beer pong, a BBQ and chatting to keep the bonding strong and alive.
Source: J Wiley Photography
On the Rebound
Have your party get into groups of two, preferably a bridesmaid with a groomsmen. Take a piece of cardboard or clipboard and tie it around ones waist with a string. Have the person with the cardboard stand right behind a small, empty trashcan. The other person must make a basket with a small ball into the trashcan using the cardboard or clipboard as a backboard. Both participants end up looking silly and its surprisingly challenging! Have this be a competition between multiple different groups, and to add competition feel free to create a bracket and announce a winner at the end of the night!
Heads Up!
Whether this app is played between two people or 20, it is absolutely hilarious. Download the app “Heads Up” onto someone’s smartphone and being playing. Split up into two teams and follow the instructions. Basically, each team takes a turn and one person puts the smartphone screen on their forehead. You can choose a category and a word will appear on the screen. The teammates must come up with a way to describe the word without using any of the words which appear on the screen. For example, if the word is “cup” you can say something along the lines of “you drink out of it,” “you pour water into it” or even “a measuring….” Try to get the most amount of words in the time given to you. The team with the most words guessed at the end of the night wins!
The Shoe Game
This game will challenge how well you know your fiancé and best friends. Set up two chairs back to back, facing away from each other. Take off your shoes, hand one to whoever is sitting on the other chair, and keep the other shoe to yourself. Have an MC read out obscure questions such as “who has a weird mushroom fetish?” or “who is a better driver?” Raise whichever shoe you think the answer relates to, if you find yourself to be a better driver, raise up your shoe and vice versa. You and the person on the other chair cannot see what the other chose, but it will create laughter in the audience.
Source: Katelyn James Photography
Two Truths And A Lie
This game is a classic. Have everyone come up with two things that are true about them and one lie. Ask them to tell it in no specific order and to say them all as confidently as possible to not give away which fact is the lie. Have the party guess which fact they think is the person is lying about. This can bring up some interesting conversation starters and facts about each person. The more vague or extremely obsure all facts are, the harder. If you say “I speak two languages, I have a dog named Betty, and I have 6 cousins,” all facts sound reasonable and difficult to guess the lie. Or you could go with the obscure facts and say something along the lines of “I got arrested in Thailand at the age of 19, I am the champion of the hot hog eating contest at the local county fair for 5 years in a row and I once swam next to a great white shark” people will have a hard time differentiating which ones seem realistic.
Fish Bowl
This game resembles Heads Up but is a little more interactive. Have each person in your wedding party write down a few words on little sheets of paper, the more the better. It can range from crab, to Queen Elizabeth, to farmers market to table. Fold up all the little cut up pieces and put them in a big bowl. Separate into two teams, and sit in a circle alternating people on each team. There are three rounds to this game. The first is that you can explain the word similarly to Heads Up verbally without saying the word that appears on the paper. Do as many as you can before your time (timing is up to you, the recommended time is 45 seconds) runs out. Keep track of how many words each team got each round. After everyone has gone, put all the pieces of paper back into the bowl and move onto round 2. In round 2, you can only act out the word, no noises can be made! If you have the word “Cow” you cannot say “Moo” but must find a way to either act out cow or point to something that resembles a cow. Once everyone has gone and you have tallied up the words, put the pieces of paper back in the bowl. The final round is a one word round. You can only say one thing for them to guess your word. At this point, the words have already shown up once or twice, so they can recognize the words more easily. If you have a the word “Motorcycle” you can say something along the lines of “VroomVroom”, or “HoHoHo” for Santa Claus. This game is sure to get a lot of excitement, competition and funny answers for your wedding party to bond over!
We can assure you that after you play all, or even only a few, of these games, your wedding party will be tighter than ever and ready to take on your big day in full force! These bonding activities not only allow them to get to know each other and you to get to know more about your fiancés party, but allows everyone to relax and have fun before the wedding shenanigans begin!
Photo Credit: Imgur
