The Wedding Master of Ceremonies
An ultimate guide for an event to be proud of
Published by VDS Brink at Smashwords
Copyright © 2011 VDS Brink
The Wedding Master of Ceremonies
An ultimate guide for an event to be proud of.
by VDS Brink & Marianne Theunissen
with Thea Roberts, Jeanine Gibson, Eben de Lange, Francois Smith, Hendrik Schoeman, Pieter Luus, Armand Naudé and Ryk Coetzee
Illustrated by Thilo Otterpohl
Acknowledgements
Thanks to every Master of Ceremonies (Eben, Armand, Ryk, Pieter and Francois) who trusted me to be part of their planning of this great event. The brides that trusted them and the guests that gave them every bit on understanding and encouragement.
Kasper of Three Cities Hotels for constructive advice.
Pieter and Jan who involved me as proof reader and gave me a taste of publishing with their book: “Governed Service Management TM”.
Marianne who did the brilliant writing with everything that kept on changing. Thilo for brilliant design work.
Jeanette, the editor of The Wedding Guide, for her support and willingness to publish our Article.
Vanessa of VSquared Publishing for sound advice, Lara and Silma of Electric Book Works who guided me into the mysteries of publishing.
Retha and my family who endured the long tedious process and supported me all along.
Contents
Introduction
Laying down the rules
Your role as facilitator
Your role in managing disasters
Your role in taking care of the guests
Your role in making memories
Epilogue
Introduction
If you are looking at this book you are probably facing one of two challenges:
You are a bride-to-be with a lifelong dream of having a fairytale wedding and you fear that something might go wrong or
You have been asked to be a wedding Master of Ceremonies and you’re wondering how to approach this task in a way that will honour the trust placed in you by the wedding party.
We all know that many a wedding function has been ruined by an incompetent Master of Ceremonies hiding their ineptitude with off colour jokes, leaving the guests feeling bored, disgusted, or offended.
Addressing and facilitating a group of people is always a challenging and even fearsome experience for most people, and many hide behind technology when called to do so. At a wedding, however, hiding is seldom possible, as it will be your words, your voice, and your face the guests will look to for a large part of the event.
This book is not about making cheap jokes, and it will not provide you with canned speeches. There are many resources out there doing this already. Instead, this book explains the behaviour and needs of people when they are grouped with a number of strangers, as at a typical wedding reception, and shows you how to use these dynamics to create a magical outcome. It introduces you to the wonders of real humour that is far beyond stereotypical one-liners and blonde jokes, and guides you in preventing disasters and making contingency plans to rely on if Murphy’s Law wreaks havoc on the day of the wedding.
Anyone can be an MC, but doing it in a memorable and exceptional manner will require a lot of effort. This book gives you the steps towards excellence. Follow it for this dream event; follow it to attain a life skill few others possess.
Being an MC is about making dreams come true. This may be a once in a lifetime opportunity for you – grab it with both hands, and become a better person with a new life skill.
Laying down the rules
Your best friend/brother/cousin is finally getting married. The venue has been booked, the bride is anxiously breathing down everyone’s necks to have dresses made, suits picked out, flowers arranged and music selected. You, of course, have been assigned the (dubious?) honour of acting as the Master of Ceremonies. Having always been the centre of attention, the man of the hour or the one with the silver tongue, you’ve probably figured that you’d wait until two days before the wedding to quickly jot down a few jokes that will provide at least some entertainment at the reception.
Well, think again! You have been chosen to play an essential role at the wedding. Not only is it your responsibility to ensure that everything runs smoothly and without unexpected hiccups, you will be the man/woman behind the curtain, and not the centre of attention. Being the MC at the wedding gives you the unique opportunity to make this ceremony more than just another wedding, to make it a day that will be remembered for years to come – not just by the bride and groom, but by everyone attending!
In order to succeed in being the ideal MC, there are some ground rules you should grasp before tackling this challenge:
Rule number one: This is not your show!
The bride-to-be, if at all like any other woman on earth, has been planning this day since before she even knew how to write her own name! The wedding day should be about the bride and the groom first and foremost. Thereafter, the well-being of all the guests is your responsibility to ensure that nothing distracts attention from the happy couple.
Rule number two: Everything that goes wrong is your fault.
The bride and groom and their friends and family are there as guests, and therefore their primary responsibility is to enjoy the wedding. Your responsibility, then, is to make this possible by preventing and/or managing any possible disasters. This will require meticulous planning on your behalf.
Rule number three: At least 80% of the success of the wedding depends on you.
Besides your crucial role as disaster manager, you have a responsibility to act as a facilitator to create the atmosphere at the reception. This will not be achieved by the usually perceived role of cracking worn-out jokes, but through carefully looking after the needs of the guests (physical and psychological), and ensuring that all the speakers at the wedding are properly prepared and introduced.
The following chapters provide guidelines for each of the different roles you may need to play as MC in facilitating, disaster management, hospitality (taking care of the guests), and making memories.