Meredith and Andrew Shackleford didn’t want their wedding to have an ordinary cocktail hour. Instead of having their guests sip drinks and eat canapés, the couple divided everyone into six teams to compete in a series of games that included croquet, ladder ball, and blindfolded wine tastings. The winning team took home bottles of champagne and a trophy.

“The games were a way to prevent people from staying glued to their phones,” said Ms. Shackleford, 34. “We wanted to create something where people could really get involved and interact with each other.”

The Shacklefords, who are from Vancouver, British Columbia, and married in 2014, and own the wedding planning blog Love & Lavender, aren’t the only ones breaking away from traditional cocktail hour fare. In recent years , a number of rental companies have cropped up to meet this growing demand for wedding games that can be played both indoors and outdoors.

Ian Samson, an owner of Rustic Charm Event Company in Charlotte, N.C., started his side business three years ago, after seeing how much fun guests had playing cornhole, giant Jenga, and giant Connect 4 at his outdoor wedding in Mason, Mich. “We try to bring back classic games like Yahtzee and tic-tac-toe and KerPlunk,” Mr. Samson said. “You can tell people are going back to a different time in their lives when they played these games.”