I am always filled with great delight and excitement whenever I am asked to be the wedding emcee, whether for friends, family members or referrals. On the other hand, very often I do get asked why would anyone seek professional wedding emcee? After all, the usual emcee fare is just a couple of lines from the script given by the hotel banquet staff. In Singapore, a typical wedding celebration would start with the video or photo montage of the couple, followed by the grand entrance march-in, cake cutting, champagne nuptial toast and the newly wed making the couple speech.
There are several reasons why couples engage wedding emcees and I have listed two most common:
Delays
The guests have been seated for the past half hour and are getting fidgety. Meanwhile the wedding coordinator pops over and says "we are not able to start until 30 minutes later. There's some delay with the ... ... ..."
Delays can happen and will happen in the least expected way one could think of. Traffic delay of an important family member or guest, damaged/ stained wedding gown, make-up artist late arrival or even delay in food preparation by the kitchen.
The role of an emcee is to help engage the audience, direct their attention away from the delay and let the audience believe that the emcee engagement is part of the evening's program that was planned.
Stage Coordination
Many months of advance preparation, from getting the guests seating arrangement to selecting the best cuisines for the guests whom we invited to share the couple's joy, all seems fine and well-planned. On the actual day, the groom left his thank you speech script in the earlier jacket that he changed out of. Emcee has invited the couple up on stage for the thank you speech. Oh dear, what's next? Or the video montage was supposed to play prior to the march in, but the computer stood frozen in its track. How do we deal with this situation?
Couples usually spend time discussing through a lot of the details and logistics for the dinner but left out the stage portion. The role of the emcee is not just to ensure a smooth program from the start till the end, but he is also the guardian of the couple on stage and the showmaker, making sure they look graceful and relaxed on stage. In this case, the photographer will be able to capture the couple's best smiles!
I am sure as you read this post, many of us, whether as guests or organizer, would have seen minor or major glitches during wedding dinners. If you would like to share your experience, drop me a line at style.emcee.sg@gmail.com .
(I would like to thank all the couples whom have over the years made me a part of their joyous and special celebration.)
We are glad we had you as our emcee. Many of the guests said you did a good job in keeping them entertained. Thanks for handling the crowd so well Richard. You are really good. We will recommend you to others for sure!
