Everyone wants the bride and groom to kiss. It’s traditional to clink glasses at the reception to make them do this but that endless clinking can be annoying. Here are a few clever ways to make it happen and have fun at the same time:

• Announce to guests that in order to see them kiss, they must stand up and tell a story, or share a memory, about either the bride or groom, or about them as a couple. Guests will be kept entertained and this will add so many more special memories to look back upon. If you have a microphone, make sure it’s connected to a recorder, or take a small digital recorder (you can buy one of these for less than $50) to the speaker. Now you have it all saved (even the charming story about how you ran naked through the neighbourhood) for posterity
• Get a whole table to work together. In order to see a kiss, they have to sing a song, all together. You can make this even more fun by insisting they have to insert the name of the bride or groom into the lyrics in place of the word ‘you’. For example: I’ll be loving Sue, always; Sue made me love Jim, I didn’t wanna do  it; etc.
• Make a list of questions about the bride and groom for the emcee. If someone wants them to kiss, they must answer a question. For example: what year did the bride graduate? What was the name of the groom’s pet? How did they meet? Here’s the best part, if they get it wrong, they themselves must kiss someone in the room.
• At the recent wedding of two avid golfers, a mini putting green was set up. Guests had to sink the ball in order to make the couple kiss. Many missed but everyone had a great laugh trying.
• How about asking the table to come up with a piece of advice for the newlyweds? Better still, ask for it in the form of a poem. Here’s an example of a recent effort: If you do as your told by your lovely new wife, you will be happy the rest of your life.
• Have a container with things people must do in order to make the couple kiss. They might be things like: pretend you’re climbing a ladder; imitate a monkey; name all seven dwarves; mime a tennis game; name a famous racing car driver; etc. Each guest draws a slip of paper and does what it says.
• Remember hula hoops? Bet your guests can’t go for the count of ten. If they do, the couple kisses. You’ll have the entire reception counting aloud and laughing as they try.
• One couple made a “kissing well” and set it up in the front of the room. If they want the couple to kiss, the guest has to toss a loonie in the well and make a wish. Who knows how many wishes came true that night!