Marino's Hawaii Wedding Emcee & DJ/Entertainment Blog

In a recent conversation with Diego & Eleanor, who are having their Hawaii wedding later this month at Moana Surfrider Westin Resort, Diego had mentioned that one of his favorite pastimes was watching The World’s Strongest Man Competition on ESPN.

If you’re not familiar with The World’s Strongest Man Competition, the premise of the show is that the producers are looking for the World’s Strongest Man. To determine this, participants are given several challenges that only a Strong Man can do, like pulling dump trucks, lifting two-ton boulders, and running a time trial race while carrying weights over their shoulder. Losers get eliminated over the course of the show until only one is left–the World’s Strongest Man. That sounds like a fun enough thing to enjoy, so I thought about how to incorporate that into their wedding.

We came up with this creative activity that will happen starting at dinner and run throughout the reception, an alternative to tapping the glasses to get the newlyweds to kiss:

To prepare for this event, I will bring a 10-20 lb dumbbell weight to the reception and leave it near the stage.

If guests want to see the newlyweds kiss, instead of tapping their glasses, a guest must come to the stage and hold the dumbbell in front of her, with her arms forward and straight. If the guest is successful, Diego & Eleanor would kiss! It’s really that simple.

What makes this activity fun is the twist that is thrown in: the longer you hold out the weight, the longer the kiss will be. So if you can hold it out for a few seconds, Diego & Eleanor will kiss for a few seconds. If you hold it out for a minute, they’ll kiss for a minute. If you hold it out for longer, then we may be there the whole night!

Diego & Eleanor love the idea! We can’t wait to see how it will turn out at the wedding, and I’m certain the guests (especially his guy friends, whom Diego tells me are quite competitive) will get a kick out of it.

written by Marino_NinjaEntertainment \\ tags: 2010, Advice, creative, diego, dumbbells, eleanor, Fun, games, ideas, june, moana surfrider, unique, world's strongest man

I’ve recently come across a troubling trend. With the need to make their weddings very unique and original, many brides have begun to do activities and games at weddings that have absolutely no relation to them and just do these games for the sake of doing them. Worse yet, they ask their emcee to do it, but without the proper training and rehearsal for it, the emcee delivers a presentation that can be embarrassing and even offensive. In the end, is this what they really want?

I was recently made aware of this by a photographer friend of mine. Her client had hired a well-known radio personality to emcee the event; this radio personality was a good friend of the bride & groom. Apparently during her research, this bride had read on my blog about some of the games that I do and asked the radio personality to attempt these games at her wedding. Specifically, one of the games she wanted to do was the Kissing Games, a popular and highly interactive activity that involves the audience and is done throughout dinner and the reception.

Unfortunately, this radio personality works at a station that is known for its “shock jock” format, and this radio personality was used to using double entendres and saying things that could be heard as inappropriate and lewd. So when he did the Kissing Games at the wedding, instead of making the activity very fun and romantic (which is part of the reason we do it at weddings), he made it very lewd, sexual, and offensive. Yes, it was funny, but was it worth offending grandma and shocking the guests for a laugh?

My point is this: If you are going to copy my games or create your own, make sure your Master of Ceremonies knows the reasoning behind it. Why do it? The Kissing Games were meant to be more than a fun diversion; it was meant to create romance and enthusiasm in the audience. If we do the Golf Game, it’s not just because it’s fun and unique; it’s because either the bride, groom, or guests like to play golf! If we do the Anniversary Card Crafting Activity, that’s because the bride or groom likes to do arts & crafts!

Also, Make sure your Master of Ceremonies knows HOW to do these activities and actually REHEARSES them beforehand. As with any live stage presentation, the actors and performers memorize the script and rehearse their lines long before the curtain rises just so that their performance is flawless and perfect at every performance. If your emcee tries to “wing it” and attempt a game/activity they’ve never done before, it’s very likely that the activity will fall flat and not make the impact that you want.

Image courtesy KYLER KWOCK/Kai Photo

written by Marino_NinjaEntertainment \\ tags: Advice, creative, Emcee, games, planning, preparation, wedding

Two days ago, I posted a clip of the Best Wedding Entrance Ever. I wrote about how much time it must have taken for the wedding party to rehearse this, to get the timing and staging right so that it comes out very smooth and fun!

Here’s the Man of Honor’s “toast” at Amy & Brad’s wedding. Like the Wedding Entrance clip, Amy & Brad’s wedding party spent a lot of time rehearsing and preparing for their presentation. What made this even more amazing was that they were all spread out across the country. At the end of the video, Amy writes about how her Man of Honor even sent out sheet music and rehearsal tapes to people from New York & Maryland all the way to Ohio, Kentucky, and Florida, just so they would be ready for final rehearsals the week of the wedding. The resulting “WOW Factor” from their effort is amazing.

If your Maid of Honor or Best Man is looking for inspiration for their toast, here’s something you might want to share with her or him:

written by Marino_NinjaEntertainment \\ tags: best man, creative, Fun, maid of honor, man of honor, preparation, speech, toast, wedding

Do you have a Devil’s Advocate in your wedding planning process? The DA is a person or group of people who assumes the negative perspective to squash your unique or creative ideas. He represents a subtle yet toxic danger to your wedding plans, minimizing your opportunity for a creative and memorable wedding celebration. The DA is the one who often reminds you that an idea or wedding professional is “too expensive,” “not important,” or “it won’t work,” without offering solutions as to how to make it work.

Such negativity will only hold you back from achieving your ideal wedding celebration.

For example, let’s say that you meet a really awesome Certified Professional Master of Ceremonies who can help you create a fun, memorable celebration that YOU want. He has a lot of creative and fresh ideas to make your party very entertaining, enjoyable, and stress-free. He has the experience to make it happen. You want to hire him. But your mother-in-law constantly tells you that it won’t work.

• “He’s too expensive.”
• “You can get Uncle Kekoa & Aunty Lynn to do it for free.”
• “A photographer is more important because you need great pictures.”

In this example, your mother-in-law is the Devil’s Advocate. All she does is highlight what won’t work without offering any solutions or ideas on how to make your idea work.

You need to make sure the Devil’s Advocate isn’t too active in the wedding planning process. Her negativity will prevent you from having the wedding you want, since she will always give you doubts about your decisions. keep her as far away from you, if possible!

If you want to have someone take a negative position to keep you on track, choose a person who not only criticizes, but also helps you find solutions on how to make your ideas work. Using the above example, let’s say your BFF brings up the same objections as your mother-in-law, but she also offers ideas on how to make it work:

• “If you really want that emcee, we can cut from another part of the budget that is less important.”
• “Can we get the professional emcee to do all of the formal stuff, and have Aunty Lynn & Uncle Kekoa do the personal stories and stuff?”
• “Let’s go for a cheaper package from the photographer, so you can have your favorite photographer AND that Master of Ceremonies that you want.”

In this case, instead of shooting down your great idea, you have someone help you to make it happen.

And when your wedding happens the way you want it to happen, you’ll be much happier with the result, won’t you?

So lose the Devil’s Advocate, and have Your Dream Wedding Reception.

written by Marino_NinjaEntertainment \\ tags: Advice, creative, Fun, stressfree, unique