How to Brief Your Wedding MC: A Checklist for Couples

Here is how to brief your wedding MC in one sitting: give them the people, the plan and the tone. The people means who is in the room, who is speaking, and who must be named correctly. The plan means your run sheet with real timings, the venue's rules and every supplier's name. The tone means how you want the night to feel, in plain words. Put those three things in writing, then book one call to walk through them together. That is the whole brief.

A good rhythm is to send the brief two to three weeks before the wedding, then hold a final call about a week out, once the venue has confirmed service times. Below is the exact checklist we use, the timeline that works, and the handful of details that go wrong when nobody writes them down. It is the same information a good professional wedding MC in Sydney will ask you for anyway, so you may as well have it ready.

Why does a wedding MC need a brief at all?

Because an MC can only hold a room they understand. Your MC is the one person on the night who speaks to every guest, every supplier and both families, and they do it from the moment doors open until the last song. If they do not know that your grandmother is hard of hearing, that your two surnames are pronounced nothing like they are spelt, or that the kitchen needs mains on the table by 8:15pm sharp, they will find out live. A good MC can improvise around most things. They should not have to improvise around things you already knew.

A brief also protects your plan. Weddings drift: photos run late, a speech doubles in length, the bus from the ceremony hits traffic on the M4. An MC who knows what matters most to you can cut the right thing when the clock gets tight. Without a brief, they are guessing which moment you would rather lose.

How to brief your wedding MC: the checklist

Copy this into a document and fill it in. Anything you cannot answer yet, write "TBC" and the date you expect to know. Your MC would rather see a gap than a guess.

1. Your names, as you want them said. Full names, the names you actually go by, and a phonetic spelling of anything an English speaker might stumble on. Decide now whether you are being introduced by a new surname, and if so which one.
2. The guest list in numbers. Total guests, the rough age range, how many children, and anyone who needs special care: elderly relatives, guests with limited mobility, a plus-one who knows nobody. Ask the MC to look after them.
3. Languages in the room. Which languages are spoken and by roughly what percentage of guests. This is one of the first things we ask on the first call, because it changes who we shortlist. If half the room is Mandarin-speaking and the MC only has English, half the room is watching a show they cannot follow.
4. Family names and roles. Both sets of parents, step-parents, grandparents and anyone who must be acknowledged, with pronunciation. Note any family situations the MC should handle quietly: a divorced couple who should not be seated or named together, a parent who has passed and will be remembered.
5. The bridal party. Every name, pronunciation and relationship to you, in the order you want them introduced for the entrance.
6. Speakers, in order, with time limits. Who speaks, when, and how long you have agreed with each of them. Five minutes is a sensible cap for most; eight is generous. Tell the MC if anyone is nervous, likely to run long, or planning a surprise.
7. The run sheet. Guest arrival, entrance, first dance, meal service, speeches, cake, bouquet or any games, last dance, farewell. If you have not built one yet, start with our wedding reception run sheet template and adjust it to your venue's service times.
8. Venue details. Venue name, the coordinator's name and mobile, the room, the finish time on your contract, noise restrictions, and where the MC can set up. Note parking and the loading dock if the venue has one.
9. The other suppliers. DJ or band, photographer, videographer, planner and caterer, each with a name and a mobile. The MC will contact them before the day so the first time they meet is not thirty seconds before your entrance.
10. Traditions and ceremonies. Tea ceremony, zaffe, garter and bouquet, a cultural dance, a religious blessing, a sparkler exit. Say what happens, who is involved, and whether it is formal or relaxed. If your family does it a particular way, tell the MC; it varies by family and no MC should assume.
11. Tone and boundaries. Three words for how you want the night to feel. Then the things that are off the table: no jokes about the bachelor party, no mention of the ex, no calling your father to the floor unexpectedly. The boundaries matter more than the three words.
12. Music cues. Entrance song, first dance, parent dances, cake cutting, last song. Even if the DJ holds the playlist, the MC needs to know what is coming so the announcement lands on the beat.
13. Dress code and your colours. So the MC turns up looking like part of the night.
14. Your contact on the day. Not you. A friend or family member who is not in the bridal party, with a mobile, who can make small calls while you are having your photos taken.

When should I send the brief?

Three touchpoints work for almost every Sydney wedding:

• At booking (often a year out). Date, venue, guest numbers, languages, the rough shape of the night and your budget. This is what you share on the first call, and it is enough for us to bring you a hand-picked shortlist within three business days.
• Two to three weeks out. The written brief above, as complete as you can make it. Speaker scripts go here too if you want any of them translated live on the night: share them at this stage and the MC can prepare properly.
• One week out. A call or video meeting with the MC to walk the run sheet top to bottom, confirm pronunciations, lock the music cues and hear any ideas they have. This is the meeting where the MC gets to know you as people, which is what makes the introductions sound like you rather than a template.

The shortest turnaround we have filled was two weeks from first call to wedding day, and the brief still happened. It just happened faster. If you are closer to your date than that, send what you have today and finish the rest on the call.

What goes wrong when the brief is thin?

The same four things. Names get mispronounced in the one moment everyone is listening. Speeches run forty minutes instead of twenty because nobody agreed limits with the speakers. A tradition is introduced in the wrong order because the MC was told "we're doing a tea ceremony" and nothing else. And the quiet guests, the colleagues and plus-ones and older relatives, spend the night watching rather than belonging, because nobody told the MC they were there.

That last one is the fix a good MC is proudest of. At one of our English and Mandarin weddings, a room of several hundred guests had gone shy and the speeches were running long. The MC walked the floor, spoke to each table in its own language, ran short interviews, asked for a show of hands for each language and kept the jokes bilingual and the energy high. The couple were surprised how the night turned out. Friends asked them for the MC afterwards. None of that was possible without knowing, in advance, which languages were in the room and roughly where.

What should the brief say about speeches?

More than you think. For each speaker, give the MC a name, the relationship to you, the agreed length and where they sit. Say whether they want to be introduced with a story or just a name. Flag anyone who may need a steadying hand, and anyone who has told you "I'll just wing it".

If you are running two languages, decide with the MC how speeches will be handled. Scripts shared at the pre-wedding meeting can be translated live. Without scripts, the MC can still summarise the heart of a speech for the other half of the room, but it works best when they know what is coming. Either way, mixing languages where it suits is the aim, not repeating every sentence twice, and two languages will run a little longer than one, so leave room in the timings. For a full picture of who speaks and in what sequence, our guide to the order of speeches at a wedding covers it.

Does briefing change what the MC costs?

Not the brief itself, no. The fee is set by the scope of the night. As a guide, a reception-only wedding host in Sydney is about $800–$1,200 plus GST. A full wedding with an established MC runs $1,400–$2,200 plus GST, and senior hosts and premium bilingual briefs sit at $1,800–$2,500+ plus GST. Each extra language adds roughly 10–15%. The quote on your shortlist is the all-up fee, plus GST, and travel is included within Sydney. For Wollongong, Newcastle, the Blue Mountains or the Hunter Valley, we discuss travel with you first. Full detail is on our pricing page.

What a thorough brief does change is how much of that fee you feel on the night. The MC who has your run sheet, names and boundaries a week out spends the wedding running the room. The one who gets it all at 5:45pm spends the first hour catching up.

Quick answers

How long should the brief be?

Two to three pages is typical: one for people and names, one for the run sheet, and a short page for tone, traditions and suppliers. Dot points are fine. The MC will turn it into their own notes anyway.

Should I give the MC a script?

No. Give them facts, timings and the feel you want, then let them write their own words at the pre-wedding meeting. A read-aloud script sounds like one. The exceptions are formal acknowledgements and anything in a second language that must be said exactly, which you should supply word for word.

What if my plans change after I have sent it?

Send the changes as they happen, and bring a one-page "final version" to the week-out call. On the day, your nominated contact passes anything new to the MC. Good MCs adapt when things run late or move, but they adapt better when they hear first.

If you are still choosing your MC, our list of questions to ask a wedding MC before you book will help you find one worth briefing. And when you are ready, tell us about your wedding: a real person will call you, ask the questions above, and bring you a shortlist of MCs who are free on your date.