Cocktail hour
Sixty minutes through the gap after the ceremony, guest to guest. The most-booked wedding format, and the one that solves a problem the day already has.
From $2,500
Wedding entertainment in Orlando usually means the reception. The part that goes unplanned is cocktail hour — the stretch after the ceremony when guests are standing with a drink and the couple is being photographed. Matteo Cammisa performs close-up magic through exactly that window. From $2,500.
Where it fits in the day
Cocktail hour is the longest unscripted stretch of a wedding day and the one guests remember least. The couple is away with the photographer, the room is being turned, and between sixty and a hundred and fifty people are standing in family-shaped clusters making conversation with people they may not know.
Close-up magic occupies that hour without taking a minute from the schedule. Matteo moves between groups, performs for six or eight guests at a time, and moves on — which incidentally does more to mix two families than any seating plan.
The second window is dinner service. Table-to-table magic between courses reaches guests who are seated and static, and it fills the intervals where the room would otherwise flatten.
Orlando adds one specific consideration: a large proportion of weddings here are destination weddings, which means guests who have travelled and a welcome event the night before. That evening is frequently the better booking, because it is when the two families meet for the first time.
How couples book it
Cocktail hour and dinner
Ninety minutes split across the evening — through drinks, then table to table between courses, so the energy does not dip between the ceremony and the dancing.
From $2,500
Welcome evening
For destination weddings: the night before, when the two families meet. Frequently the stronger booking, because it is the moment a group of strangers becomes a wedding.
From $2,500
Practical notes for planners
Nothing needed from the venue: no stage, no microphone, no soundcheck, no changeover, no power, no space. Nothing appears on the production schedule and nothing can delay the turn of the room.
It works with the photographer rather than in front of them. Reaction shots from close-up magic are often the only genuinely candid images from the cocktail hour, and that is a deliberate part of how the performance is placed.
No guest is embarrassed and no guest is made the joke — a specific commitment rather than a general reassurance, because a wedding is the room where that matters most.
Matteo Cammisa is a member of The Magic Circle in London, of FISM — the international federation of magic societies — and of the Society of American Magicians. Twenty years of performing, more than 500 events, over 30 countries.
Watch — Close-up magic at an Italian lakeside wedding — Lake Garda
In the room
Frequently asked
When during a wedding should a magician perform?
Cocktail hour first, dinner second. Cocktail hour is the longest unscripted stretch of the day and the one guests remember least, so filling it changes the shape of the whole evening. Table-to-table magic during dinner service is the natural second window. What rarely works is performing after the dancing has started.
How much is a wedding magician in Orlando?
From $2,500, quoted per event rather than per hour. The figure moves with how much of the day is covered — cocktail hour alone, cocktail hour plus dinner, or a welcome evening as well — more than with guest count.
Will it work for a destination wedding with guests from abroad?
It is one of the formats that works best, because close-up magic is largely language-independent at the moment of surprise. Matteo performs in English, Italian and Hungarian. For destination weddings the welcome evening is often the stronger booking, since that is when guests who have never met each other arrive.
How much does it cost to book Matteo Cammisa?
Bookings start from $2,500. The figure moves with the format, the length of the evening, the number of guests and where in the world the event is. Fees are quoted per event rather than per hour, because what you are booking is presence across a window of the evening, not a block of stage time. Tell Matteo the date, the city and roughly how many guests, and you will have a firm figure within 24 hours.
How far in advance should I book?
For a specific date in high season, three to six months is comfortable. Shorter notice is often possible and worth asking about: dates open up, and Matteo holds a small amount of the calendar for late corporate bookings. The honest answer is that the date either exists or it does not, and one message settles it.
Check your date
Send the date, the city and roughly how many guests. You will have availability and a firm figure within 24 hours.
Prefer to message directly? WhatsApp · management@matteocammisa.com
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