Started Dating May 1, 2003

Bought our house April 10, 2007

Engaged Oct 12, 2007

Big Day July 18, 2009

Before the Wedding

Meet with the Bride and Groom to work out a written agenda for the reception. Find out as much information as possible about their preferred format for the day.

• Do they want toasts? Who will give the toasts?
• Can they give you a little information to help you with introductions?
• Can they help you with the pronunciation of any unusual names?
• Do they have special people they would like introduced?
• Have they asked guests who are speaking to limit the time of their toast/speech? Three to four minutes is ideal.
• Who do you speak to on the catering staff?
• How do the bride and groom feel about the tradition of guests clinking spoons on glasses to signify they want the bride and groom to kiss? Does the couple want an announcement made about this?

It's a good idea to check with the bride and groom again before the wedding day, in case there are any changes.

Plan how long each section of the evening will take. Timing is important. You need to know:

• time dinner will be served
• time entertainment will start
• time the reception site is available-both for the start and the end of the event.

While it will help to be prepared, things don't always turn out just as planned. Be prepared to be calm and flexible and maintain your sense of humour if the unexpected happens!

Before Dinner

• Meet with the caterer and the disc jockey.
• Introduce yourself, welcome the guests, and announce the arrival of the bridal party. You may want to ask the guests to stand as the bridal party enters the room.
• Announce the serving of dinner and introduce the person who will say grace.

After Dinner

• Introduce the members of the head table to the guests and say a few words about each person at the head table.
• Introduce each person who is to speak or give a toast. Toasts are traditionally given to the bride, with a reply from the groom, and to the maid of honour and bridesmaids by the best man and to the groomsmen by the maid of honour. A toast can also be given to the Bride's parents and the Groom's parents.
• Make any special announcements. There may be guests who have traveled some distance to attend or are honoured guests such as a grandparent.
• Ask the bride and groom to cut the wedding cake.
• Announce the bridal waltz. After the bride and groom have danced for a few minutes, the bride may dance with her father, before everyone is invited to join the happy couple on the dance floor.
• Invite the single women to gather for the tossing of the bride's bouquet and then the single men to gather for the tossing of the garter.
• Announce when the bridal couple will be leaving.
• Let guests know of the time the evening will end, when the bar will close, and any other information to make the evening finish smoothly.

Things to Remember

Always be sure you have learned how to pronounce all the names you will be announcing. Ask those who will be speaking or giving a toast to limit their speech to three or four minutes. Brevity, sincerity and a sense of humour all help make for a successful Master of Ceremonies.

©  Laurie  ©

    Forum Moderator

(I was going to answer this but I don't think it coudl possibly be answered any better than LaurieK did, lol...)

Another thing she did before she introduced the bridal party was to go over 'housekeeping rules'.. we had our reception at the country club and so we had to make sure guests knew to stay off the course.  She told them that, where to smoke if needed, reminded guests not to drink and drive, and not to take the centrepieces that I had rented (this she did really well by making a joke: "See those lovely centrepieces on your table? Yes, they are lovely, but not lovely enough to take home, as they are rented..)

~ September 12th, 2008 ~

Thank you 2 be Wed!

The reason I asked was cause I asked my dj to be our MC and he said he has never been asked to do that before.  So I was starting to think I had no clue who was to be able to do it.

Started Dating May 1, 2003

Bought our house April 10, 2007

Engaged Oct 12, 2007

Big Day July 18, 2009