Professional Wedding MC vs Family Friend’s MC

Should we hire a professional emcee (MC) or have one of our relatives/family friend to emcee for us?

This has been one of the ‘BIG’ questions that couples asked us. They kept on going round in circles and were unable to decide until a week or two prior to the wedding, and of course most of the good professional emcees have been fully booked, some are even booked a year in advance.

The professional MC, with the extra fee ranging from $250 – $700 depending on their professionalism…and we are talking about English Vietnamese MCs here 😉 So WHY the big gap between a handful of bilingual MCs out there?

Let’s break down the main tasks of a wedding MC first:

– Announce the arrival of the married couple.
– Introduce the speakers.
– Announce the cutting of the cake.
– Announce the bridal waltz.
– Inform the guests when it is time to say farewell to the bridal couple.

Sound easy enough? Some relatives and uncles in the family with some public speaking skill can do this. The answer is yes, but the outcome would base on …. luck! They might be fluent in Vietnamese, but when it comes to English, they got your Western guests more confused than when they spoke in Vietnamese.

The tasks seem easy, but the role actually involves more behind the scene work than on stage. Other skills such as planning, organisation, communication, ability to solve problems etc. are essential when emceeing.

We have witnessed MCs jotting down names of people to be called out just minutes before the grand entrance, mis-pronounced the names of the bridal party and worse, got their facts about the couple ‘wrong’….ouch!

If you have spent countless hours planning for your big day, making sure everything is perfect, then having an Emcee that you can trust and have seen their work is equally important.

The average fee for an Emcee is around $500 (depending on the location of your venue). Depending on the work and preparation that they put in, some charge more. Of course their popularity is also a factor. Remember that you will get what you pay for, so if you want ‘free MC’ from your relatives or on a low budget, have your fingers crossed and hope for the best.

All the very best with your planning and we hope that this little post somewhat gives you an insight on what to expect from your emcee.

LFG.