Do you need an MC at Events - Part 2

What does a great MC do? I will be getting to that. But I realized after last night’s wedding that a great MC is a must have for a wedding. Let me preface this by saying I’m referring to a ‘top’ MC someone who truly knows and cares about events. Like the MasterCard commercial they’re priceless. Here’s why:

The groom for last night’s wedding lost his father at the rehearsal ceremony 2 nights previously. He had passed from advanced stages of his disease. It wasn’t unexpected but nonetheless the timing hit the family very hard as I'm sure you could imagine. They decided to go forward anyway and make the wedding the celebration his father wanted it to be.


On a side related note, truth be told, this kind of situation is not at all that uncommon at a special event like this. With 100 to 300 people as your usual guest size, there’s often times a recent illness or someone has recently passed, or simply a wondering if someone in the family is going to be able to make it; and there are powerful emotions stirring. I experienced this at my own wedding. My father was coming up from Florida and was unable to make it due to emergency bypass surgery. Two days before the wedding we were waiting to hear he was in the clear. My best man announced during the party that my father’s wife called to send his love and that he wished he could have been there, but he’s recovering.

These emotions combined with the usual heightened emotions and anxiety that accompanies these occasions can really compromise the host and hostesses’ and guests’ intentions to generate a great party on their own. But none of this is ever imagined when they are thinking about the wedding and desire or need for an MC. I wasn't planning to have one at my own wedding and changed my mind 2 weeks before. What a GREAT decision that was.

As an MC coming into this kind of evening, referring back to the wedding after the father's death, I knew there would be a lot of emotion, both triumphant and poignant, bitterness and sweetness. The direction we were given was to celebrate the night, and that’s what we did. For this reason alone, which no one would think to consider, it is essential to have a really top MC running the show. He carries the weight of the party and keeps it moving for everyone.
(continued on next part)