Wedding Emcee advice

[Northendzone]

F-bombs, lots of f-bombs....

[surferguy]

Done a couple of these myself and the best joke I pulled was on the bride/groom.

It is all about set up and timing. Nearing the end of the night after all speeches were done I took to the mic and started to give my heartfelt thanks and congrats to the couple. Then I turned to the crowd and stated that ______ and _______ have given me the honor of letting you know that they are expecting...

(Stunned silence and a few gasps from crowd as I "flipped my page notes"

You to have a good time tonight, so please do not drink and drive!

The look on the brides face was priceless. Joke went over great and was a good send off for the party.

The other quick and dirty I pulled was an introduction of the grooms father who was also my high school math teacher.

I rambled for a bit about how he taught us math in high school. Then went in for the pitch: one of his greatest lessons was when he told us there are three types of people in the world, those that can count and those that can't.

It is a slow burner and not everybody gets it, which to me is even funnier.

I even heard his wife say " well that is only two???"


Lol - I still laugh at that.

[YYC in LAX]

I was a co-MC with my brother last July for my cousin's wedding. I was persuaded to take a Viagra before the reception started and we did the entire thing with raging hardbars. It was horrible and I wouldn't recommend it. Seriously, don't do it.

[Hockeyguy15]

I've done it a few times now and while I don't mind doing it I find it to be a lot of work, more work than people think.

I think my favorite part of it is introducing the wedding party, and telling some funny stories about them...The guests really seem to enjoy it.

[Northendzone]

i also understand that most people like to hear ribald and salacious tales about the bride and groom - if you have any pictures, you can go with a powerpoint presentation.

[Reaper]

Originally Posted by YYC in LAX

I was a co-MC with my brother last July for my cousin's wedding. I was persuaded to take a Viagra before the reception started and we did the entire thing with raging hardbars. It was horrible and I wouldn't recommend it. Seriously, don't do it.

WTF?
"I plan on standing up and talking in front of a large group of people. A rock hard errection would help things be comfortable and in no way awkward..."

[cDnStealth]

Originally Posted by YYC in LAX

I was a co-MC with my brother last July for my cousin's wedding. I was persuaded to take a Viagra before the reception started and we did the entire thing with raging hardbars. It was horrible and I wouldn't recommend it. Seriously, don't do it.

For what reason!?! Why would you think that would be a good idea? You were drunk before you started right?

[GreenLantern]

Originally Posted by SportsJunky

I've done it twice. I would say just make sure to not make it about you. The jokes and stories should be about the bride and groom. Try not to tell too many stories where you are in them. The guests have to look and listen to the MC enough without having to picture him in all the stories.

Originally Posted by Maritime Q-Scout

I've emceed two weddings, and I'm a rather witty, funny, dry, sarcastic person in small groups. People like tend to like my quirky sense of humour. Hence being asked to be the MC at the last two weddings I was at.

That said I started this thread two years ago as I knew that I needed a plan going in.

I actually do a lot of prep before hand. I ask for a rundown of how the bride and groom want their wedding reception to go, then think of segways between each. I have notes, a loose script, and run everything by the bride and groom, as well as in my head several times before I actually direct the evening.

Essentially that's what you're doing, you're directing the reception. The stars of the show are the happy couple, and you're basically saying "in this scene the best man gives a speech, and action" then let the other take the spotlight.

The only time I ever involved myself in a story was introducing the father of the groom for a speech at the last wedding I was at. And only did it to show how well I knew the groom's father.

Keep things G rated, and as the night goes on *maybe* advance to PG depending on the crowd.

If you can entertain while keeping the focus on others, and behave while doing so, you'll have done your job well.

Good luck

6 years old but those are the two best pieces of advice in this thread. Thought I would bring them up again for whoever needed the help.

Make sure it is all about the bride and groom, nobody gives a crap about how well you know them or your history together, unless it is a funny story ABOUT the bride and groom and you just happened to be there.

I mced another wedding just a few weekends ago and I started it with. Good evening everyone, my name is Evan, I will be your MC for the evening. I am a long time friend of blanks and have known blank since they started dating seven years ago. That is all you need to know about me since the real reason we are here today is to celebrate a wedding so lets just get to it. Ladies and gentlemen it is my pleasure to introduce to you you..

I was mentioned twice for the rest of the night, once by the groom to say thanks and once in a story about the groom trying to snuggle me on the fishing trip thinking I was his bride.

Keep it about the bride and groom!!! And keep it short. Nobody likes sitting through 3 hours of speeches... if the introduction is at 6 you should be done meals speeches the whole shibang before 9, I usually aim for 8:30 and that gives everyone a 15-20 minute breather to get their drink on/smoke before the dance starts. Nothing worse than half the wedding outside smoking while the first dance is going on.

[J pold]

Bump!

MC'ing a fellow CPers wedding on Friday. I've read this entire thread front to back and there is some great advice. I've taken down a few jokes that I think would be appropriate for the big night. I'm comfortable in front of a crowd and have done lot of public speaking before so I'm feeling pretty good. I've got a run-sheet created in excel and have vetted everything with the bride and groom.

I still have a few things that I need to workout.

They don't want to do the clinking glasses thing but would do an alternative means of getting them to kiss. I've heard of people needing to sing a love song in order to get the B&G to kiss. I don't love this idea as it puts people on the spot and takes too long. Has anyone else seen something different?

I also need to come up with a table game to determine the order tables will be served dinner. I've seen B&G trivia but I don't want it to be too time consuming as my main goal is to keep the night moving.

Thoughts CP?

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by J pold

Bump!

MC'ing a fellow CPers wedding on Friday. I've read this entire thread front to back and there is some great advice. I've taken down a few jokes that I think would be appropriate for the big night. I'm comfortable in front of a crowd and have done lot of public speaking before so I'm feeling pretty good. I've got a run-sheet created in excel and have vetted everything with the bride and groom.

I still have a few things that I need to workout.

They don't want to do the clinking glasses thing but would do an alternative means of getting them to kiss. I've heard of people needing to sing a love song in order to get the B&G to kiss. I don't love this idea as it puts people on the spot and takes too long. Has anyone else seen something different?

I also need to come up with a table game to determine the order tables will be served dinner. I've seen B&G trivia but I don't want it to be too time consuming as my main goal is to keep the night moving.

Thoughts CP?

Like no clanging of glasses idea or just ideas in general?

I've gone to one wedding where the MC warned everyone not to do it so as not to break anything ended up in a chorus of people screaming "Ding ding ding". Buy one of those front desk bell things and allow people to ding it for kisses if they... donate something something? (Drink ticket to someone, or donation to foundation bride and groom likes... I dunno)

But if not that, it's going to be games of some sort. Whether it's trivia or a survival game or an action for 20-30 second kiss is up to you. Usually if it's trivia about bride and groom, each successful answer is a 5 second kiss ish. The planning for this would be tight though and your concerns about length and putting people on the spot is unchanged.

I've also seen the bridal party in games for which bridal party success vs bride and groom means kissing (ie: Scavenger hunts, trivia, fan votes after a dance off, singing, physical endurance, rock paper scissors etc.) Depends how crazy you want to go. Went to one where if groomsmen lost a game, had to kiss another groomsmen instead of bride and groom kissing. Needless to say, it was a low kiss wedding.


Table games... umm... no. I wouldn't suggest it. Takes waaaaaaaaaaaaaay to much time. If it's ok to be random, then do a box with random balls between 1-87. Highest number goes, lowest numbers last. Takes less time and less chaos tallying results.

[Hockeyguy15]

For an alternate to clinking glasses I've seen "come up and show what kind of kiss you want them to do" and another was they had a bunch of movie quotes on flash cards and you could randomly pick one and act it out. Some were short, some were multiple characters, it seemed to go well. Not a lot of people want to get up and be in the spotlight, so it seemed to limit people.

[fundmark19]

I went to a wedding that to make them kiss you had to successfully take out a body part from the board game operation. Who doesn't love playing operation

[heep223]

Went to one this summer that had one of those little putting greens set up in front of the head table. You had to sink it to get them to kiss, and if you missed you had to take a shot of vodka.

Pretty funny and it limited the amount of people, because many didn't want to have to take the shot. Also got cheers whenever someone sunk it!

[vanisleflamesfan]

"So why is a single man always thinner than a married man?"

"A single man comes home from work, goes to the fridge, takes a look... and goes to bed".

"A married man comes home from work, takes a look at what's in the bed... and goes to the fridge".

Or just:

"You two are great but no one will want to hang out with you once you pop out some screechers."

[Hugh Jahrmes]

Assuming mkst of the guests know the groomsmen you can always fill in dead time slots here and there with stories from the bachelor party. It will help all the guys who didn't get invited or couldn't make it feel like they were there.


Mkst importantly though, if you want to tell cute romantic stories about their past, realize this can be dangerous as they may have given different j formation to say, parents, siblings or roommates in order to break off plans that maybhabe been pretty serious in some cases.

This is easily avoided by only telling stories about their previous partners.

Good luck, MCis actually pretty fun

Deoending on how things were planned out, you may have to coordinate with a wedding planner (If they used one) and adhere to a pretty strict timeline. Can be fairly flexible with going over or under here and there, main concern is being ready when the kitchen is. If there's planner, ask for a copy of a timeline with the kitchen , DJ etc, discuss where your bits should go, and maybe have someone help you keep tabs on what's happening with the food so that you can shuffle some content around and not end up with a huge waiting period standing around feeling like you're on the spot. Which leads to a super important tip - talk to the bride and groom and establish a policy for how "open" the mic will be, if at all. Good luck if the foods late and cocktail hour turns to cocktail two hours on an empty stomach.. A loosened up pal could easily absolutely devastated a sensitive/nervous bride or groom who are already emotionally overwhelmed by the big day. If they only want specific people up, or family only, do they want memories shared or just short wishes and sensors, whatever, stick to that and find a way to deflect the drunk guy who could likely end up owing you one later on for that. .

Sleeping really lightly today and was woken up by something so hopefully that's not all ofer the place.

[normtwofinger]

Table games for food are just wrong. We were at a relative's wedding and our table sat the entire extended family. We ended up getting last to the buffet and very little food was left. Put a downer on the rest of the wedding for most of the family; I didn't care.

If it's plated, have the kitchen serve as many tables as possible at once with the family (especially the older ones and kids) first. If it's buffet get the family up first.

[brocoli]

So i was the emcee last year for my buddies wedding and the best joke of the night came at the beginning.

As I welcomed everyone I went into "And (bride) and (groom) just gave me some big news. They wanted to let everyone know that they are expecting....(then a long pause...the longer the better)...everyone to have a great time tonight".

The look on the brides face and the laughter that came out of her dad made the rest of the time just fly by.

[heep223]

And dude....avoid sexist jokes (like the one above re: the fridge and the bed...). Avoid racist jokes. They are not classy or funny even though they might get some laughs from the young people. It's amazing the amount of weddings I've been to that the MC is making derogatory comments for laughs and usually it's a lead balloon.

Just speak from the heart, as per Wedding Crashers advice

[Frequitude]

Games to pick the food order:
Don't do it. The objective should be to get everyone fed as fast and efficiently as possible. The only rules should be to feed the head table first and the parents/grandparents/family second. Beyond that let the caterers/servers do their job in the most efficient way they know how.

Games for kisses:
Lot's of good ideas in here. One I like helps acheive every couple's wish to have their friends share more photos with hashtags and the like but it never really ends up working. To support that, something along the lines of everyone from the table has to come up and take some sort of photo. The getting everyone up is key since it helps disincent too much of it hopefully.

Jokes:
Avoid previous relationships, the bachelor/bachelorette parties and sexist jokes.

[J pold]

Thanks all for the advice – I agree in regard to the table game. I’m going to push to just skip it. I don’t normally like them and think they take up too much time.

I’ve got some good ideas for an alternative to clinking glasses and some great overall advice. The big day isn’t until tomorrow so if anyone has anymore thoughts keep em’ coming!