By Pete James, Member of The Magic Circle since 2016 and Associate of the Inner Magic Circle since 2021. Last updated 1 November 2026.
The best time for a magician at a wedding is the drinks reception, while you are away having photographs taken and your guests are standing around with a drink. If you can book a second slot, make it the wedding breakfast, table to table between courses, or the lull before the evening guests arrive.
That is the short answer, and it comes from more than fifteen years of performing at weddings. The one place I will never perform is over the speeches. Everything else depends on the shape of your day, so below is how each part of a wedding works for close-up magic, what most couples actually book, and how to fit it around your running order. If you want the bigger picture of why the in-between moments matter so much, I wrote about how a wedding magician fills the quiet gaps in your day.
Every Part of the Day, Slot by Slot
| Part of the day | How it works for magic |
|---|---|
| The ceremony | Leave it out. Your guests are seated and focused on the two of you, which is exactly as it should be. |
| Drinks reception and photographs | The best slot of the day. You are away with the photographer, guests are standing, mixing and often meeting for the first time. Magic gives them something to share straight away. |
| Wedding breakfast | Very good. I work table to table between courses, so every table gets its own moment while the plates are being cleared. |
| Speeches | Never. I stop before they start and pick back up once they have finished, so nothing competes with them. |
| The turnaround before the evening | A strong second slot. The room is being turned around, the day guests are waiting, and the evening guests start arriving into a room that already has something happening. |
| Evening reception | Good for the first hour, around the bar and the tables. It gives something to the guests who would rather stay off the dance floor. |
If You Can Only Book One Slot
Make it the drinks reception. It is usually the longest stretch of the day with nothing planned in it, and it is when your guests most need a reason to start talking to each other. The bride’s university friends, the groom’s colleagues and the relatives who have never met are all in one place, drink in hand, waiting for you to come back from your photographs.
Close-up magic suits that moment because it does not need everyone gathered first. I can work a group of four as easily as a group of forty, so it starts doing its job from the minute the first guests arrive. My Photography Hour package covers up to an hour of exactly this, at £500.
Two Slots: What Most Couples Book
The most popular single booking is two hours at £650, covering either the wedding breakfast or the daytime or evening reception. The next most popular is the Wedding Breakfast and Reception package: four hours of magic plus an hour waiting, at £800. It covers the meal and then picks up again as the evening gets going.
One thing worth knowing if you are deciding between the two. Two hours of magic split across the drinks reception and the evening can mean six hours at your venue, because of the gap in between. That is why a split booking sits at the top of its price band and a continuous one sits at the bottom. The full price breakdown explains this in more detail.
How Long Do You Need?
- Up to about 150 guests: one close-up magician comfortably covers everyone in two hours.
- Fewer than about 40 guests: I can usually reach everyone in less time, so a shorter slot often works.
- More than about 150 guests: it is worth talking about a longer booking or a second performer, so nobody is missed.
- A marquee or a spread-out lawn: allow a little longer than for one room where everyone is together.
Fitting Magic Around Your Running Order
This is the easy part. There is nothing to set up, plug in or load in. I need no stage, no power and no sound system, which makes me one of the simplest suppliers on your list for a venue coordinator. Before the day we have a planning conversation, so I know when the photographs, the meal, the speeches and the evening are due to happen, and I work with your photographer, coordinator or toastmaster on the day so I never get in anyone’s way.
Weddings rarely run exactly to time. If the day overruns by fifteen minutes, I stay on, and it does not appear on an invoice.
When to Book a Wedding Magician: Quick Answers
Should a magician perform during the ceremony?
No. The ceremony is the one part of the day where your guests should be watching the two of you and nothing else.
Do you perform during the speeches?
No. I work around the speeches rather than over them, performing table to table before they start and picking back up once they have finished.
Can you perform while we are having our photographs taken?
Yes, and it is the slot I recommend most. It can be part of any package or booked on its own as the Photography Hour.
How much does a wedding magician cost?
My wedding bookings run from £450 to £1,200. The Photography Hour is £500, two hours is £650, and the Wedding Breakfast and Reception package is £800. There is no travel charge anywhere in London, Kent, Surrey or Berkshire, and full public liability insurance is included.
How far ahead should we book?
As soon as your date and venue are confirmed. Saturdays from May to September go first, so for those it is worth booking six to twelve months ahead, and plenty of couples book a year or more ahead.
Check Your Date
Everything a wedding booking includes is on the wedding magic page. If you are marrying in a particular area, there is more on London, Kent, Surrey, West Sussex and Berkshire weddings, and a page for barn and rustic venues. Send me your date, venue and rough guest numbers and I will come back with a firm price rather than an estimate.