Toastmaster/Master of Ceremonies?

I really wanted to have one but OH doesn't want one as he and his Aussie family will find it too formal. They don't do pomp as he calls it lol! I had to back down on something and that was it I'm afraid. I think it adds a really nice touch and they look great in their red coats!

After much persuasion from mother, i am having one- only because it will hep things run smoothly!

No, our wedding is way too small to need one. Have been to weddings where they have had them, defo think they are needed for the large weddings.

Enterflora- a toastmaster is like a co-ordinator of the day. He will announce the speeches and receiving line etc and will tell guests when to move in to the room for the wedding breakfast. He just kind of looks after things really.

My mum was the one that persuaded us to have one too- I think we need it as we have close to 100 guests to contend with. He will be there to announce our first dance as well. x

We're really lucky that one comes with our venue. Don't think we could do without one at our venue as there are so many rooms we'd lose people all over the place. We'll need someone with a good set of lungs to round people up and make sure the daily timings work out.

A toastmaster and master of ceremonies are two very different things.

Toastmaster - red coat, formal. Master of ceremonies - more informal.

They both undertake the same role, but in different ways.

A lot of venues say they provide a master of ceremonies, but in actual fact its the function manager making a few announcements rather than a full master of ceremonies role.

Our wedding is quite small and our venue event coordinator acts as an informal master of ceremonies so we wont bother with having a proper one. It might be worth asking your venue if they offer this service and see how much they're prepared to do so you may not actually need to hire a formal one.

It is sometimes useful to have a professional deal with other professional vendors on the day to ensure best experience for the couple. A best man would rarely be experienced in all the requirements and duties involved.

Not suitable for all weddings although should be considered.

I have been to literally over 1500 weddings and my experience of this shows that at many weddings they are often worthy. What they actually do varies according to the requirements and variables of the wedding on the day. What they bring is experience in delivering the vision of the couple on the day. You may well have a fine best man, although many do go awol on the day and have little experience....so I am not knocking your best man, just suggesting that a professional MC has more depth of experience. Would for example your best man talk to the chef about timescales? Would he have thought this a requirement?

I can see why it wouldnt be some people's taste, but I like the idea of having a formal wedding, and having the Toastmaster for me is all part of the big day. When we discussed duties with him, he was more than happy to help with things like liaising with the hotel staff on the day and other suppliers. He will also announce the receiving line, the speeches, conduct the cake cutting ceremony and generally be a "go-to" guy for the day.

I have been planning this wedding for 18 months, and when it gets to the day it will be nice to think that someone else is taking care of everything for me and my H2B. I dont want me, H2B or anyone else in the wedding party to have to worry about or deal with issues on the day. He will make everything go smoothly for us, and I am really looking forward to it. ?

x

Our venue provides one so were using him - I firmly believe in letting those with experience do what they are employed to do.

We meet him the night before the wedding to go over everything down to the very last detail, give him our table plan, table names, name cards, sweetie table stuff etc. And just make sure everyone knows what they are doing & when.

He tries to ensure the timings that we want are kept to as closely as possible. IE he will inform the chef when we enter the hotel after having our pics taken so chef can get going. He will ask everyone to make their way to the receiving line when we are ready, he will ask those who are making speeches to stand up & do so in the correct order instead of OH, BM & the dads looking at each other going 'ummmmm now what'. He'll invite us to cut our cake at the appropriate time and generally keeps the reception part of the day flowing.

I have never been to a wedding where there wasnt one but its standard in NI for the hotel to provide you with one.

Same here CanterburyBride- I love all the formal stuff too ?. Sounds like your Toasmaster will be doing similar things to ours! xx

Alot of people are saying that their venue provide's them, that's brilliant! Ours doesnt so we had to do some browsing until we found the right one! ? x

We have ours booked. I have been to weddings where there wasn't one and getting people together for photographs, herding everyone round, co-ordinating everything is a bit of a mammoth task. We want all our guests (incl Best Man) to be able to relax and enjoy the day so I wouldn't want them to have to think about all of those things. We're only having 100 people in the day but I think it is well worth the money.

We are meeting with him next Sunday to go through our requirements and he is coming with us to have a look around the venue to get an idea of how everything is going to work.

We decided to save on the extra cost and had our best man do what he would have done, announce us and anounce all the speaches and cake cutting!

That was exactly my thoughts on it Panjita. I didnt want my family to have to do any of that, so having a professional who has done it many times before just puts me at ease. We are also having about 100 to the day and like you, think its worth the money I am paying for it.

Thats a good idea to take him to the venue with you, I might have to do that with ours! ? x

I don't think our BM would be very comfortable doing that, but its brilliant if you have a BM who is good at that type of thing! Ours wouldnt take it seriously and I dont think anyone would listen to him. x

Yeah and they usually have big booming voices so people take more notice.

We have one in the package from our venue!!

I went to 5 weddings last year and really liked the fact that the ones with the TM were more organised!! there was one wedding where the toastmaster was called Ewan Macgregor, no joke!! he was amazing!! id have loved to have booked him if ours didnt include one already!!

I will ask OH what ours cost but I'm pretty sure it wasn't as much as £400.

Ours is costing us £350. I didnt think its too bad really, considering he will be with us for about 6 hours. x

We have obviously bagged a bargain, just asked OH and apparently our man is charging £150.

Wow that is a bargain! How long will you have him there for? Ours will be there from 2pm til about 8pm. He said his standard rate is £250 but with the few extras we are having and travel it will be £350. x

We get married at 2 so he will be there from 1-1:30ish and stay until the first dance I think? Again I might be wrong. Can you tell my H2B has done a lot of the wedding planning? Lol.

That is an excellent bargain in that case hun. Well done you (or H2B ? )

Haha thats brilliant he is so involved, my H2B has the best intentions, but ultimately it gets left to me ☹️. One of the reasons I am soo glad we are having the Toastmaster for the day! x

Me either, neither of us fancied that idea.

Just spoke to OH and think we might have the receiving line after all lol. It's when the B&G & party wait outside the reception hall and shake hands/kiss/greet all of the guests.

For those who aren't sure what the Toastmaster does, mine sent this. I think you can happily get other people in the bridal party to do these jobs but we just preferred to have a professional:

As your Toastmaster I will:

• Meet with the Bride and Bridegroom approximately two months before the wedding in time to discuss their requirements.

• Arrive at the venue early on the Wedding Day for a thorough check of all the arrangements on behalf of the Host and Hostess.

• Greet the Bride and Bridegroom, parents and guests on arrival at reception and guide them to the reception drinks.

• Give discreet assistance to the Bride and Bridegroom, the parents, guests and photographer during the reception.

• Arrange for all guests to be introduced to the Bride and Bridegroom and their parents in the Receiving Line.

• Announce and lead in to applause Top Table for the Wedding Breakfast.

• Announce and lead in the Bride and Bridegroom to applause.

• Make other required announcements.

• Keep a watchful eye on everyone during the Wedding Breakfast. Deal discreetly with any matters that may require attention.

• Guide the Bride and Bridegroom through the tradition of the ‘Cutting of the Cake’.

• Announce the speakers in correct order and time honoured fashion.

• Assist the Bride and Bridegroom with the presentation of their gifts.

• At the appropriate time provide a suitable conclusion to the Wedding Breakfast.

• If a Civil Ceremony – be available to assist and guide the Wedding Party and guests immediately prior to and after the formalities of the Ceremony.

The preparation before the day will make certain that your day runs exactly as you wish. You can relax with family and friends without stress or worry.

You will be safe in the knowledge that what you want to happen will happen.

That is why you really do need

Your Toastmaster

It is, but on my wedding day I want someone to look after everything for me for once, and my family as I want them to enjoy the day.

Ah that's lovely. Our Best Man is partially sighted so I think he would struggle a bit with rounding people up etc (not just that, he couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery! lol)

I have just been quoted £150 from a prospective dj to help during the day with photos, music for ceremony and breakfast, speeches. If I book that as part of a whole day deal I get it for £100 so it would be £500 for dj, uplighting and day time stuff.