Toast Master

I was doing an all dayer wedding a few years ago and they had a toastmaster. He was an elderly gentleman that looked the part in his red coat...but it transpired that he'd had no training, had thought it was a good way of boosting his pension. The best bit was, he got me to do the cake cutting and then told me he hadn't done a cake cutting before and wanted to pick up ideas!

Moral of the story.... make sure the toastmaster has some kind of training and is a member of the guild.

Are there different guilds do you know?

The cheaper one has done training to be a toastmaster, but the other one is part of the Guild Of Professional Toastmasters.

There are quite a few guilds and associations, including:

• The Guild of Professional Toastmasters
• The Guild of Toastmasters
• The London Guild of Toastmasters
• The Executive Guild of toastmasters
• The English Toastmasters Association
• The UK School of Professional Toastmasters
• The National Association of Toastmasters

The most important thing is to talk to the prospective toastmaster(s) and get a feel for whether you think they are capable people. The good ones are able to make or break an event. My personal style is less formal - for example I tend to steer people away from having me announce guests as it tends to get very boring very quickly.

Apart from one, the experience I have had has always been positive....if it suits your genre of wedding. They do an awful lot more that is really appreciated or understood. They can help the flow of the day much better than you might realise.

The one I mentioned above worked at a Chigwell hotel....I will name that hotel if anyone PMs me. I reported him to his association as a disgrace to an honourable profession.

I have to be honest, I've had some wonderful, wonderful toastmasters, and some appalling toastmasters too!

I'd thoroughly recommend that you speak to your suppliers and see if they know any Toastmasters whom they've worked with before and get on well with.

Pete