A job like no other..
So, what does it take to get a wedding right for the customer?
I have decided to do a blog post outlining what it does take.
It starts with the initial consultation with the family and what their expectations are on the day. This initial phase in this instance took quite a long time. I found it good to have individual consultations with the Bride, The Family and the Groom and not forgetting the venue.
With this job the Father of the Bride needed some special bits, including speech planning and an adaptation to the Wedding March, all being kept secret and requiring more detail in the planning. I found it hard to communicate with what was a remarkably busy venue and could not guarantee our plans would not get leaked.
Apart from the usual Master of Ceremonies job, I would need to do some tech on the day, also providing all my gear, apart from P.A. to be available as the venue and family could not confirm the details of what was there.
Weeks before the big day, I communicated with the Father of the Bride and Best Men to give them the push, saying it would be impossible to throw it together at the last minute.
Anyway, we get to the week before and its time to knuckle down and get this show planned. The job entailed a full PowerPoint show, fake phone call and videos ripping off a DVD player. Hey, no big problem until you look for a PC still containing a CD Rom.
Also, with there being no guaranteed internet connection, I never rely on the internet on the day for critical parts of th like the Wedding March. The bride had sent me Spotify links saying “we can play it off the phone or tablet”. This, in my world just is not an option. So, in the run up to any Wedding Day, everything is on the laptop,tablet and on a USB memory stick just in case.
We recorded and mastered a vocal of the Father of the Bride
The day before we set off to the venue, another meeting was held to finalize everything and especially the timing of the Wedding March track, because as you can imagine, we didn’t know how long it would take for all the bridesmaids to get down the aisle.
As the vocal had to play at the point the Bride gets to the door, once play had been pressed, “the missile” had been launched and could not be stopped or restarted. So, as you can imagine some guesswork and luck would be needed to get this right. The pressure was on.
Arrival at the venue the night before wouldn’t lend much help, as I couldn’t get access to the room until 7.am the next morning.
So, still no time to adjust anything apart from changing it on the day. Changing the plan at this time would cause just too much undue stress and upset at this point. In my job, I just have to adapt and overcome. Later that evening, over a dinner meeting with the speech party’s final adjustments were made to the programme.
Ok, so we are all set… not quite.
7 am, the day of the Wedding, I am up and on scene, with a Wedding Ceremony planned at 1pm, loads of time YOU SAY!
At this time you would find me Iike many others, asking the venue, liaison questions. At this particular venue, we were not the only event that day. It’s really knowing when to put the gas on with these guys as they are busy, but sometimes you have to put a bit of pressure their way when it’s really needed, without seeming rude. Flowers, Chair Covers, Ceremony Dressing, Table Setting, Cake positioning and the Seating Plan are all as important as each other, but it’s about staying calm and just getting my job done!
At this point, I am the liaison for the Bride and Groom, as I am there to check that everything is going to plan and on time. On this occasion, no Wedding Planner was appointed, as the venue had a very productive team of staff.
But, this is where the prior meetings and planning come into action. I was just there to check and check again, monitor progress, and act as a runner for the other people if necessary.
This particular day, we had three projection screens around the room, with quite a high-end system requiring some tinkering to get all the screens working in sync. This meant some switching of cables and flicking buttons to get it working just right.
But, remember, this is for the Wedding Breakfast, we have a Ceremony first and that has to take priority. You find yourself getting tasks done and in any free time you jump back to an ongoing problem hoping to fix it, then back to the tasks and repeat as necessary. You might say spinning plates. 12pm soon approaches and Guests are starting to arrive.
Again, greeting guests and formulating a plan with Ushers, whom I have only just met and who sometimes don’t actually know what they are there to do. This is where it is important to appoint a Master of Ceremonies. I take care of the gathering of the guests and having to on this occasion, herd up on two or maybe three floors to get everyone seated when we want them.
The bar is a great area for everyone to catch up and meet, as you can imagine, some of them haven’t seen each other since the last wedding in the family.
Waiting for the nod from the bridal party….. at this stage, you may find me milling around, running and walking fast without instilling panic or confusion to the guests. You must always smile and look your best infront of the guests and Wedding Party. At this point in my day it is all about maintaining situational awareness.
It is the Bride who dictates the start of her Wedding but I/we have to be ready and waiting.
This particular time was a Registrar’s Wedding, which meant the ceremony was under licensed premises. So imagine this, and it did happen at 12.30, the venue liaison whispers in my ear. “we are still waiting for the registrar”. Not good with only 30 mins to go. I remember in a jokingly fashion, I said to him “well who are those two people sitting in the room at the table?” He rushes off to confirm, they had slipped through the people waiting for them at the hotel reception and made their way to the room themselves. Panic over, but was it, remember adapt and overcome. I then get informed by the Registrars that they need to meet the Bride and Groom first.
With all the hustle and bustle, we find the Groom and take him away from greeting his family and friends to meet the Officials.
Then getting the Officials to the bridal preparation room, in a hotel I’m not familiar with is the next task. Yes, this did get the brow sweating and heart racing but all in a days task.
Ok, we are a go for launch…….
,But with this, I saw the venue liaison walking into the bar and greeting the guests party by party, informing them to take their seats in the ceremony room.
In my book, this was no good and going to take far too long, MC to the rescue, a deep breath in.“ My Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen, please now make your way to the wedding ceremony, down the corridor in front of you.”
With a laugh and looks of shock on some guests, we are off, everyone is moving down the corridor. But that isn’t everyone…
It’s then down two flights of stairs, “Fire Escape” because the lifts take too long. Into the lobby bar and repeat the process. Once I see everyone moving in the right direction and the venue liaison taking up the rear. It’s back up the stairs to the Ceremony room to prime the system.
Prime the system.
On this occasion, timing was so important. I had chosen to have the laptop play the audio, but have me controlling the laptop remotely on my tablet in my hand. At this point, I am like a musician about to go on stage. The feeling starts to set in and that tablet does not leave my hand, I am constantly monitoring the remote connection. I have to be ready to go!,
Everyone now seated, waiting for the elevator doors to open to greet the Bridal party. I must say my heart rate has increased. The doors open and out they come. I make the usual comments to the Bride mentioning how beautiful she looks. But it’s the Father of the bride I go straight to “everything is ready, everyone is seated and we are a go!” moving back and trying to organise the Bridesmaids into the order and maintaining this, the daughter of the bride is getting upset and wants her Daddy.
Now, I have got to get the daughter to her Daddy without the Bride and Groom seeing each other. Plan B, get a bridesmaid to usher the daughter to the ceremony and I’ll take it from there. On my way back, I get asked “Where is the Brides mother?” I can’t see her anywhere in the ceremony room, I have the bridal party waiting and venue staff waiting for the nod. Ohh dear!
Like it was on cue, at that moment of me going to climb some stairs, the elevator opens and like there is no panic I have found her.
Now, running back to maintain the Bridesmaids order, I like to get the bridal party lined up like soldiers in a platoon, so that when its time to go there is no scuffling and shuffling causing potential damage or delays to the walk in. Maybe a bit much, but I like to maintain that order down the corridors, which on this job is just the way it had to be.
Now, remember that timing I had been so worried about and the music has to be just right. That’s out the window now, I’ve just had to lose a flower girl and I can’t do the maths on the fly. I’m going to have to wing it. I know I have 1.22 min after pressing play to get the bridesmaids into position and the Bride and her Father on “The Spot”.
.
The Audio with the Recording!!
Ok, at the door. If you have ever seen the film “Father of the Bride”, then at this point I am like Franck and Howard cueing the music off the tablet and timing the bridesmaids at 10-12 second intervals. Some, walking slower than others, I am just having to gamble the timing. All the bridesmaids in position and I am faced with the Bride and her Father, I say “10 seconds” to them at this point, remember the Bride has no idea about the vocal or the track sequencing that we have planned,it is like a spacecraft launch!
Moving forward to the spot and the doors behind them close. I hear the vocals kick in. I look over to the venue team, who were not aware of the reason for the exact timing and planning that morning. They just look in disbelief at me showing them the thumbs up in silence, we absolutely nailed that! With a silent applause from the venue staff and a wink from the liason, I knew this was something new to them.
We have done it, being there for the Bride, Groom and family is now the priority. The lend of a handkerchief to the bride on this occasion was required. But every good gentleman knows that is what it’s there for, it is not to be used but leant in times of need!
With all this, it’s time to have a breather and check on my appearance and a wipe of my brow with a second handkerchief carried for my use!!
I make the error I won’t ever make again!
At the end of the ceremony, I direct the guests to drinks and canapés, maintaining that situational awareness and one final check of the tech side of the speeches setup in the Wedding Breakfast. On this occasion, the videographer had asked for an audio feed from the microphones of the speeches. We quickly rig up an auxiliary feed from my desk, which we will deploy just before the start of the speeches. This is all taken care of while the guests are enjoying the “catch up” in the bar and the Bridal party are with the photographer.
Remember, you maybe required to be summoned to find a family member or hold the hand of an old Grandma or Grandpa to get them to the photo shoot. You have to be ready to move from your task to fix the situation we have Infront of us.
Once the photos are done, it’s a sort of mini break, grabbing the Father of the Bride and the Best Men to go through that speech and mark the cue points for me on the slide show we had produced earlier that week.
The Venue is ready, The Kitchen is ready, The Bride and Groom are ready and the guests aren’t. It was time for the powerful voice again. In weddings, it is important to sound authoritative and directive without being obtrusive. Very hard, but just maintain that smile on your face. At weddings, people expect to be told what to do. I have been to so many weddings with no MC and found myself having to step in as the venue just don’t have the capacity or person with the clout to get people moving.
Onto the speeches, all is going well until I make the error I won’t ever make again!
Introducing each member to the guests, pretty standard stuff until you pretend you can’t find the Father of the Bride and pretend to cast your phone to the screens and make it look like you are FaceTime calling the Father, making it look like he is at a football match down the road.
Well, it certainly got everyone’s attention and the prior planning and editing paid off.
The error I made is after the first speech, I decided maybe a bathroom break was needed. On this occasion I remember taking the mic away from my mouth thinking “what have I done?” I have just let all these people out onto the three floors again, I will need to act fast to make sure everyone gets back. Its mad but it could have been a lot worse. I won’t do it again.
People say to me when they see me in action that I never seem to stop moving, well this is the key. I need to know where everyone is or at least have a good understanding of where the day/night is going and when I will be needed. Its sort of a behind the curtain, where I need to be there when I am needed.
At the time the band for the evening arrives I am there to go through the requirements of the venue and the bridal party. This goes back to those meetings we had, I understand if something has to change from the plan, which way I need to change it so as little disruption to the day occurs. When it comes to the end of the night, I would say after the first dance I can start to let my hair down and start to reflect and debrief myself over the first beer of the day.
I found myself on this occasion giving myself a pat on the back as we had done it, the initial plan from the Father of the Bride suggesting I stop the music mid flow play a vocal track and try and guess where to play the music again, to us recording it and producing a well engineered and timed piece of art and a speech with no hiccups and the guests actually believing he had gone to a football match until he walked through the door. It’s a wrap!
One thing after all the years of stage managing and doing this job, when you’re running and controlling events like this. It’s only you and the event organizers know when things are changing from the plan, everyone else is having a good time and believes this is the way it should be going. Well, at least if you’re doing your job right that is the way it is. It appeared this time I was!!
