i got through it in one piece. i am still alive.

i was an MC yesterday at a wedding in steinbach. i've been good friends with shauna kasdorf (oh, i mean warkentin!), the bride, for about 21 years (i don't think i can say that about anyone else). if you've ever been an MC, you know what i just went through. it's a delicate balance, MCing is. you don't want to be too brief, you want to talk about the couple enough for the people to get to know them a bit better, to make the people understand why they chose you to stand up there and go through all that. you want to make the people laugh. you want to make the program flow quickly and smoothly.
and you certainly don't want to talk too much. there's nothing like a wedding reception where the MC goes on and on and nobody cares anymore and the jokes are too cheesy to laugh at anymore. it's like when the great uncle goes up there during the open mike and talks for 20 minutes about the couple, and then about how the groom was when he was little, pulling out stories that really aren't funny what-so-ever, but the people laugh because the stories are so terrible, and then he progressing on to talk about people that nobody knows and the increasing divorce rate and other inappropriate topics, until finally when he sits down, everyone gives him a round of applause - not for his speech, but for finally sitting down.

no, this did NOT happen at shauna and ray's wedding, thank goodness (but it has happened at a wedding where i was a guest). it was a wonderful reception - if i may say so - with no glitches, just a few spontaneous decisions on my part which i'm sure no one even noticed.

i wasn't nervous when i was up there. it was kind of fun, being on the stage again. i threw in a joke story that i got off the internet, one that wasn't even cheesy, which everyone laughed at quite heartily. and then i told a few stories about the couple that made people smile. smiling is nice, yes, but i wanted more laughter. when the tributes for the bride and groom came along, there was much laughter. but you know, this was good. this is the way it should be. the MC should be good, entertaining, but not the star of the show. that's for the bride & groom. that's for the maid of honour & the best man. i think somehow i found the right balance.


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