Richard Birtchnell is The London Toastmaster
I’m back! My first live engagement in 16 months and where better than at the iconic Natural History Museum with an Asian wedding celebration. It was wonderful.
Are you organising a wedding in London? Are you looking for an experienced wedding toastmaster, Master of Ceremonies or MC? If you are, contact Richard Birtchnell today.
Back in July of last year I was hired as a wedding Toastmaster and Master of Ceremonies for a Muslim wedding celebration at the Victoria & Albert Museum. The first two pictures show the beginning and the end. Other pictures in between show chronological sequence of events of a ‘Night At The Museum’ …
Welcoming guests at Cromwell Road entrance 6.30pm
Holding the horses and carriage for bride and groom’s departure at 11pm
Suppliers can’t access the building until it is clear of the public – that’s about 5.30pm
Staging, lighting, sound, music, photography, catering, decor and operational staff all wait to enter and have only one hour to set up before guests arrive
Small civil wedding to start with… close family only. But this will be the FIRST EVER civil ceremony the V&A will ever have allowed having just received their licence.
Groom awaits Bride
Bride on her way accompanied by Mum
The two are joined
Group photos in the garden
Couple shots
Reception begins
Tables ready in the Raphael cartoon gallery for the dinner
The only way I can get to see the Mary Quant exhibition during brief downtime
In front of the St George altarpiece
Amazing artwork from 15th century made in Spain
Couple with Mums
Bride’s Dad makes speech
Family table
Couple shot
Couple prepare to depart
Horse and carriage awaits
Back in 2019, I was hired as a wedding Toastmaster and Master of Ceremonies for an Indian wedding at The Grove, Watford. Here are six Rollers ready for family members
Indian wedding the weather was hot, even hotter than Mumbai!
Richard Birtchnell, aka The London Toastmaster, has yeas of experience acting as an Asian wedding Toastmaster, Master of Ceremonies and MC all over London, the South East and even internationally. Contact him on 020 7730 3725.
Day three of the Indian wedding celebrations at Grand Velas Los Cabos, Mexico where I acted as wedding Toastmaster, Master of Ceremonies and MC.
Mandap prepared for Indian wedding ceremony
Blue sherwani now
Bridesmaids and Groomsmen make entrance
Final evening reception. White tie and tails for me
Ballroom ready for 350 guests
My ‘Dallas housewives’ still like my accent
Break dancers
What could be more bizarre? A Disco ninja… and with this my engagement is over. Now back to London with many happy memories!
DAY 1 : You can see Day 1 of the Indian Wedding in Mexico here
DAY 2 : You can see Day 2 of the Indian Wedding in Mexico here
Richard Birtchnell, aka The London Toastmaster, has yeas of experience acting as wedding Toastmaster, Master of Ceremonies and MC for many years. Contact him on 020 7730 3725 to check his availability.
Day two of three of my engagement as MC at Grand Velas Los Cabos, Mexico for an Indian wedding for its associated ceremonies and celebrations.
With Pandit Sharmaji for the morning Ganesh Pooja ceremony
Down at the pools for Pithi ceremony. Red sherwani. Then followed a pool party for 350 guests
Making new friends. Couldn’t resist. These Dallas housewives told me they liked my British accent.
Ready now for the civil ceremony in the afternoon
Spectacular vista. If you could sail in a straight line from here, your next landfall would be Thailand
Couple get married. Eight bridesmaids and eight groomsmen. Now for the evening party on the beach
With country music legend Steve Holy who was engaged for couple’s first dance at the beach party… to sing his platinum-selling no.1 hit ‘Good Morning Beautiful’
All going well …
Richard Birtchnell, aka The London Toastmaster, has yeas of experience acting as wedding Toastmaster, Master of Ceremonies and MC for many years. Contact him on 020 7730 3725 to check his availability.
In December of last year, I was honoured to be hired as a wedding Toastmaster and Master of Ceremonies for an Indian wedding held at the luxury resort of Grand Velas Los Cabos, Mexico. This event was to take place over three days. Here I preview my five costume changes and share some of the experiences of Day One
For the Sangeet- the pre wedding party
For Ganesh Puja and Pithi ceremonies which purify, cleanse, lighten, expel evil and bring good luck to the families
Ready for the civil ceremony
Now for the Indian ceremony at the mandap
For the last night celebration dinner and Ball
Los Cabos is on the Pacific coast
Hotel entrance – the beginning of an amazing experience for 350 guests, mostly from Dallas Texas
The hotel totally dedicated to the wedding guests
Three pools
Creative Christmas tree
At the Sangeet – pre wedding party… The lady’s dress is stacked with tequila shots
With Frida Kahlo lookalike
‘Strictly’ and ‘Dancing With The Stars’ Oksana and Jonathan Platero, Anna Trebunskaya and Dimitry Chaplin
Day Two coming up…
Richard Birtchnell, aka The London Toastmaster, has yeas of experience acting as wedding Toastmaster, Master of Ceremonies and MC for many years. Contact him on 020 7730 3725 to check his availability.
I was at a Sri Lankan wedding at Orsett Hall, Essex with Drummers Delight dhol players and Manny the DJ
Richard Birtchnell, aka The London Toastmaster, has yeas of experience acting as a wedding Toastmaster, Master of Ceremonies and MC for many years. Contact him on 020 7730 3725 to check his availability.
Earlier this year I acted as a wedding Toastmaster, MC and Master of Ceremonies at a Hindu wedding held at the De Vere Grand Connaught Rooms at Holborn in London. For my non-Asian friends, thought I would show the sequence of events which 300 guests would enjoy in a long day from 8am until 1am next day. Always such a privilege to participate.
It is a great honour to act as Toastmaster at beautiful ceremonies for the most elegant of clients at important, unrepeatable – and unrehearsed – events
The Grand Hall ready for 300 guests facing the mandap
It’s early morning; the groom arrives with his family and friends, (known as the ‘Jaan’) accompanied by dhol drummers to be greeted at the entrance by the bride’s family
With the dhol players
The groom has been brought to the mandap by the bride’s mother and the priest (pandit). The ceremony is about to begin.
The bride enters accompanied by her uncle, aunt and siblings. The 5,000-year old ceremony will now take an hour and a half at the mandap, conducted and chanted in Sanskrit by the pandit
After the ceremony, I will announce 31 groups of guests to be photographed at the mandap with the bride and groom. At about two minutes each, we are looking at one hour of calling, assembling, posing and disassembling.
Typical group could contain 25 guests
Ceremony and photography over, its time for lunch.
There’s a live painting being prepared in real time during the ceremony by artist Stephanie South
Bride shows me her artistic henna hands. This is traditional mehndi body art which would have been applied at her henna party a day or two before.
A game called ‘kodakodi’ where the bride and groom compete to find a ring in coloured liquid. Priest is the ’umpire’ while guests cheer for each side. Bride usually wins, by the way.
Bride and groom prepare to leave and she tearfully bids families goodbye (the Vidai) with her parents the most emotional. Symbolically she is leaving their house for the first time…. permanently.
Bride and groom make their way to the exit towards a limousine waiting to take them away… but they’ll be back later for the evening celebrations.
Guests come out to bid farewell
The priest places a coconut under the front wheel to be crushed by the tyre as the car moves off
The symbolic crushing of the coconut ensures a safe journey through married life
Guests attempt to ‘stop’ the car moving until ‘paid’ by the groom
The finished painting by Stephanie South on display at the evening reception
The cake will be cut as soon as the bride and groom enter the ballroom
The bride, being a pharmacist, has prepared favours in ‘prescription’ packaging – inside is a pill box with sweets in.
The bride, being a pharmacist, has prepared favours in ‘prescription’ packaging – inside is a pill box with sweets in.
Bride and groom feed each other pieces of cake after cutting it
5-year old performs a Bollywood dance to delight and entertain: 300 guests
Guests remain respectful during speeches and entertainment
First dance as a married couple. Then of course everybody joins in to the end… it’s been a long day.
Richard Birtchnell, The London Toastmaster, has years of experience working as an Asian wedding Toastmaster, MC and Master of Ceremonies at Asian Weddings all over London. Contact him on 020 7730 3725 to check his availability.
I was privileged to act as a wedding Toastmaster and Master of Ceremonies at London’s iconic Natural History Museum for an Indian wedding celebration.
It’s daylight and 6.30pm and half an hour after the museum closed to the public, the caterers are nearly ready. It will be dark within the next hour and the party will be underway.
Speeches from the Darwin staircase
Under the 4-ton skeleton of a 25-metre long blue whale.
The whale looks ready to eat the 300 guests
If you are organising or planning an Asian wedding or social event, and are looking to hire a Master of Ceremonies, MC or Toastmaster, contact Richard Birtchnell today on 020 7730 3725 or email him.
Back in the summer of 2018, I was hired as a wedding Master of Ceremonies and Toastmaster for an Asian wedding at Waddesdon Manor, Aylesbury. This beautiful period property was originally built by the Rothschild family and is now National Trust, and a beautiful wedding venue.
With Giardino Strings quartet… one of the best in the business — with Lydia Alonso.
Flower girl posing
Bride and groom exit from the Manor
Just act natural…
Speeches
First Dance
Goodbye to this remarkable venue. Such a privilege
If you are organising or planning a wedding or social event, and are looking to hire a Master of Ceremonies, MC or Toastmaster, contact Richard Birtchnell today on 020 7730 3725 or email him.