The Emcee: Master of Ceremonies
RJ Scott Photography
A master of ceremonies can mean a few different things, according to Danielle Vogelheim of NM Designs in Bay Harbor.
“An emcee can just be a DJ, a voice, or it can be a person who coordinates the entire day,” she said.
The latter option is what Vogelheim suggests most weddings would benefit from.
“The emcee should be someone who aligns the flow of events,” she said. “They are in charge of the microphone and make announcements, introductions, plan how many speeches there will be and how long they will last.”
She added they also announce when the first dances are to occur and, if there’s a buffet, they let the guests know when to go up.
“It’s nice when the person doing these announcements is a friendly face, even a close friend of the bride or groom, instead of a hired DJ,” she remarked.
Vogelheim has been planning weddings for more than seven years. She worked in Chicago after college and returned to the area in January 2010 with the goal of starting her own event planning business. She opened NM Designs in Bay Harbor as soon as she returned to Northern Michigan. She is an event designer and works in the same location as a florist and stationery designer.
Vogelheim said her role is either designing the event — securing rentals, creating the physical environment, making a time line for the event — or she can also coordinate everything as the master of ceremonies.
If the person performing the emcee duties is also helping plan the wedding, she said they should be at the rehearsal and should hand out a time line to everyone who will play a part in the wedding describing to them what their role will be. She went on to suggest that if a friend is doing the emceeing, but didn’t plan the time line, ensure they have access to it well before the wedding so they can prepare for their responsibilities.
Some mistakes people make in creating a smooth flow at the reception usually include not sticking to their time line, Vogelheim said.
“You should leave an extra cushion of time between events so that there’s time to relax,” she noted.
Photography by Paquette
If planning your own wedding, another way to create a smooth flow for the reception is by choosing local vendors, said Vogelheim. Photographers, DJs and videographers who are from the area in which you’re getting married will know one another, know the roads and how to get where they need to go, and, chances are, they will work well together because they have done so previously.
She said it’s also important to pick the right venue.
“Some will have the basic amenities there already,” she said.
Others will not have chairs, tables, a dance floor or a bar. Vogelheim noted that it simplifies the process to choose a venue that has those things in place, but if you want to have more creativity in the setting you may want a place where you can plan from scratch.
Another mistake the wedding planner sees people make is they don’t enlist the help of friends and family as much as they could.
“The biggest way friends and family can help out is through setting up and tearing down the venue,” she said.
She went on to advise the couple getting married to ask volunteers for their help when they first begin planning the wedding and then a month before the date, to send them a letter with more specific ideas of how they could assist.
“Other than that, the bride will need help with small details the day of the wedding, last-minute tasks that might not have been thought of,” she noted.
Vogelheim said being there to help with those tasks and for moral support are extremely helpful to keep stress levels low.
“Brides need to let go of their worries and allow the emcee to handle everything. They need to relax and be there in the moment with family and friends,” Vogelheim said.
Up North Bride Home » Fall 2011 Edition » The Emcee: Master of Ceremonies