Straight answer
Most magicians make you send an enquiry before they'll tell you anything. That seems a strange way to start. Here is what hiring me actually costs, at the same rates whether it's a wedding, a fortieth birthday, an anniversary lunch or a company dinner, so you can work out whether it fits your budget before you spend an evening emailing people.
Enough to work a drinks reception properly, or to get round a birthday party of forty or so guests.
Room to reach everyone at a mid-sized party or reception without rushing the good bits.
Covers two stages of an event: drinks and dinner at a company evening, or a reception and the wedding breakfast.
A larger guest list, or an occasion where you'd like magic running from arrival through to the evening.
Prices exclude travel. There's no travel charge for journeys under 45 minutes or 30 miles, which covers most of Surrey and north-east Hampshire from my base in Farnham. Beyond that, a travel supplement applies and I'll quote it up front. It appears in the same email as the price, not on the invoice afterwards.
What you're paying for
The price covers the performance itself and everything around it: the conversation beforehand about timings, arriving early enough to be set up and out of the way, and the material, which is genuinely different depending on whether I'm working a garden full of guests with drinks in hand or a seated dinner where people can't move.
The style matters as much as the material. I don't shout, I don't interrupt conversations, and nobody gets dragged out in front of the room or made to look foolish. There's no innuendo in any of it, which means it plays as well to a grandmother at a family celebration as it does to a table of directors at a company dinner. It's interactive rather than presentational. The magic happens in your guests' hands, and the point of it is their reaction rather than my applause.
No stage, no PA, no lighting rig, no floor space, nothing to plug in. Close-up magic works in a marquee, a barn, a boardroom or a garden, and it doesn't need the room rearranged. I carry public liability insurance and hold a current DBS certificate, and I'll send either straight to your venue or organiser if they ask, and many do.
I'm a full member of The Magic Circle, which is a slightly old-fashioned way of saying the magic has been examined by people who know how it's done.
Common questions
For a wedding, party or corporate event in Surrey or Hampshire, my prices start at £295 for an hour and run to £695 for three hours, depending on how much of the occasion you'd like covered. Across the industry you'll see figures from around £250 to well over £1,000. The range usually reflects experience, how far the magician is travelling, and how long they're actually performing rather than how long they're on site.
It depends less on your guest count than on how spread out the occasion is. As a rough guide, an hour covers up to about 60 guests in one place, two hours lets me get round 100 or so across two parts of the day, and three hours suits a larger event where you'd like magic from arrival through to the evening. Tell me your numbers and running order and I'll tell you honestly what I think you need, and sometimes that's less than you were expecting.
Look for the gap where guests are waiting. At a wedding that's the drinks reception, while the couple are having photographs taken. At a party it's the first hour, when people are arriving and don't yet know who to talk to. At a corporate dinner it's either the drinks beforehand or the lull between courses. Magic does its best work in exactly those stretches, which is why a lot of bookings cover two of them.
Not for journeys under 45 minutes or 30 miles from Farnham, which covers most of Surrey and a good part of Hampshire. Further afield a supplement applies, quoted before you book so there are no surprises later.
No. The same hourly prices apply whether it's a wedding, a birthday, an anniversary, a product launch or a company dinner. What changes is the material and the way I work the room, not the invoice.
Saturdays between May and September go first, often 6–12 months ahead. Midweek dates and the winter months are usually far easier at short notice, so it's always worth asking even if your date is close.
Tell me the date, the venue and roughly how many guests, and you'll have a straight answer within a couple of hours.
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