Simon Alexander Blog: Professional Magician

I really enjoy being involved in wedding celebrations and it’s particularly lovely when couples write to say that I made a real difference to their day.  I received two lovely cards through the post this week, which I’ve shared below.

I worked at Martin and Lorraine Lovell’s wedding at Whittlebury Park Golf and Country Club in Towcester, Northants in October.  The couple sent me this lovely card:

I’ve pasted a couple of photos from the wedding too.

Last weekend I worked at Barbara and Don Capel’s son Andy’s’ wedding to his lovely bride Elisa.  The couple held their reception at Bourne End Community Centre and Barbara and Don sent me this note shortly afterwards:

Thank you all for your kind words; they’re very much appreciated.

I had a busy weekend of weddings this weekend including the wedding reception of Gareth and Claire Rees at Camberley Heath Golf Club in Surrey.   This was a great fun day with guests of all ages involved in the magic.  The couple have already sent me a lovely thank you email, which was much appreciated.  I’ve pasted some snippets below.

“We wanted to say a a massive thank you to you Simon!! You really were a big hit.  It was fantastic and the guest all commented on what a great aspect of the wedding you were.”

I also had the pleasure or working alongside professional photographer Phil Chambers, who sent me some lovely shots of  the day which I’ve posted below:  You can contact Phil by following the link above or calling 01483 765618. 

Thank for sending these, Phil.

I was channel-hopping yesterday and stumbled across a TV commercial that I did for Sky to promote their gaming channel, Sky Vegas.  (It was a “hands only” shoot - they used someone handsome for the face shots!)  It was quite exciting to see the advert being aired, as I’d never actually seen it before. 

It took me back to the summer, when I spent six hours being filmed performing the same dozen or so card-sleights (fancy cuts, one-handed shuffles, card fans etc) from every conceivable angle.  The studio was absolutely steaming under the hot lights and we had to keep the cards in the fridge to stop them misbehaving.  I really enjoyed the day but, by the end, my hands were literally shaking with tiredness.

What struck me about the finished product was that my six hours had been edited down to about twelve seconds.   Although, I have to say … they were a pretty slick twelve seconds! 

Anyway, just for fun, here are few shots of me the Camden Studio in London, quite obviously struggling a bit towards the end.

I’ve been performing fairly regularly for the executives of a global electronics company for the last eighteen months.  I won’t mention the name but you are very likely have their products in your home, if not in your pocket right now.  The venue, Stoke Park Club, is fabulous and the people charming and delightful.  However, more often than not the guests speak little or no English. 

I really enjoy performing to international audiences and, can work competently in French.  However, when there is no common language, I employ some very visual magic to overcome any barriers.  This is fine when performing a five-minute set to a small group before moving on.  However, when performing throughout an evening to just eighteen guests, it can be a bit of a struggle.

So, over the last eighteen months, I’ve developed a repertoire of silent magic especially for this organisation.  Although I’ve always had great feedback from these gigs, and have been booked eight times now,  last week was the first time that I personally felt that I’d cracked it.

I’ve posted below some photos of me performing to some Korean board members and Chinese journalists which really capture the mood of the evening.  The shots were taken by Harold of Cameo Photography.  Thanks Harold.

I’m sorry that my blog has been out of action for a little while.   I recently swapped web hosts and in the process managed to delete the whole thing.   However, it’s now back up and running and I’ll be adding photos and news shortly.

I’d like to extend my thanks to James Smythe of Dolphin Promotions.  James not only did a beautiful job of designing the blog for me originally but also repaired it this week for next to nothing.  Many thanks James.