Friend as toastmaster

The venue in-house toastmaster is usually a member of the event team who will be there on the day. They just introduce people really.

If your friend is a natural speaker and does it for a living, eg a teacher, medical rep, trainer then they will probably do a great job. My advice is to think about the person's day to day work before you ask them to do this. Public speaking is the number 1 phobia and few people are relaxed doing it.

My H2B is having his brother as his best man and only groomsman, and I am having my sister as my MOH and no bridesmaids. Both of them are bossy and loud and confident (in a good way), so we thought it would be great to give them the roles of organizing people for photographs and toasts.

We'll probably get them to shout for certain groups of people during the photography - so that the photographers can get on with doing what they do best - then get his best man to announce our arrival to the wedding party venue and announce the toasts.

Hello

I offer a Master Of Ceremonies service alongside my singing and DJing.

I've seen this done both very well and very badly by a nominated guest! Make sure you pick someone who is both confident and fairly eloquent. May also be worth seeing if your venue has a microphone he can use, depending on how big your rooms is / how many guests you have.

To explain what I would do as MC briefly. This involves getting everyone seated for wedding breakfast, including waiting for everyone to be settled - chasing people in from outside, the bar, toilets etc! The announcing the bride and groom into the room something along the lines of - "Would everyone please be upstanding for your bride and groom - the new Mrs and Mrs Smith!" Encouraging everyone to clap / cheer as you enter.

Then introducing speeches - again chasing everyone back into the room if they've escaped!

Then announcing the cutting of the cake. Can be done during your meal or evening, if evening just before the first dance works well. - invite people with cameras up. A countdown from 5 to the cut and then encourage everyone to clap / cheer.

Your DJ / musicians will normally deal with an evening cake cutting and any other evening announcements.

Hope this helps!

James