insideKENT Magazine Issue 89 - August 2019 | Page 78

WEDDINGS
ADD A TOUCH
OF MAGIC
TO YOUR WEDDING
HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT ABOUT HIRING A CLOSE-UP
MAGICIAN FOR YOUR WEDDING RECEPTION? IF NOT, WHY NOT?
KENT BASED MAGICIAN, ETIENNE PRADIER HAS CAST HIS
SPELL OVER MANY A BIG DAY OFFERING A SPECIAL KIND OF
ENTERTAINMENT THAT WILL MAKE YOUR WEDDING DAY ONE
TO REMEMBER. insideKENT SPOKE TO ETIENNE ABOUT HIS
CAREER AND WHY HE FEELS A WEDDING MAGICIAN IS SUCH
A GREAT ADDITION TO THE DAY.
What made you want to become
a magician?
A long time ago I saw a guy in
France – a friend of my dad’s, actually
– and he was doing some tricks, which
really impressed me. I was just a
child, of course, and children don’t
really decide on their careers at such
a young age, so it didn’t strike me that
I could actually become a magician,
I just thought it was cool. It stuck with
me, though.
I didn’t do any magic professionally
until I went on a cruise around
Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and
Hong Kong. Someone asked me if I
wanted to do some magic on the cruise
and I jumped at the chance.
Why close up magic?
I do a stage show as well, but close-
up magic is great because it is so
personal; you really get to see people’s
reactions. It gives the watcher a unique
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experience. It’s not like on stage
where there is a distance between
the magician and the audience, so
people assume you’re trying to trick
them and might not be have as much
fun with it. You fooled Penn and Teller with that fantastic card trick. Was that
a career highlight? Does anything else you’ve done come close?
With close-up magic you can talk to
people, show your true personality
and do a lot more too. It’s more like
a little friendship that develops. Is the idea of having a magician at a wedding becoming more popular?
Do you have a favourite trick?
I love so many of them...I’m not
sure I could pick a favourite. The
pickpocket is a good one, so is the
bottle through the table. And
there’s the signed card in the sealed
bottle, of course – that’s my trademark
trick, it’s the one I did (amongst
others) for Penn and Teller when I
managed to fool them. But really,
every trick is good!
It was good, don’t get me wrong, but I wasn’t as pleased with my performance
as I could’ve been. The trick was good and it did fool them so that was great,
but I’ve done it better. Much better! Also, I don’t like to look at the past, just the
future and I’m excited about everything that’s yet to come.
I remember being one of the first to come up with the idea. Maybe the first of
all. I went to a wedding fair and suggested to couples that I could provide some
entertainment. You know how weddings are, after the initial excitement there
is a lot of waiting around, especially between the main meal and the evening
time. So why not have someone like me going around making people laugh,
amazing them and keeping them entertained?
Why does close-up magic work so well at weddings?
It’s a great ice breaker. People who might not know one another very well can
come together and enjoy the magic and maybe talk to one another. And it’s fun.
Magicians are a great time filler!
It’s also nice for the bride and groom; they don’t have to worry about their guests
being bored, so they can relax and do what they need to do, plus they’ll have a
wedding that everyone will remember for a long time to come.