no pressure

so we did something for the first time recently! the mister is an accomplished public speaker. from being a teenage debate champion (best speaker at national finals!) to representing singapore internationally for moots (incl winning best speaker in europe while on exchange) to being arrowed to emcee multiple school events and friends' weddings. he's practically professional. on the other hand, i think i've emceed one racial harmony concert back in the day (in mandarin no less) and the last time i spoke 'in public' was to deliver my grandfather's eulogy four years ago. mind you, the mister gave all the speeches at our three wedding celebrations and i was happy to stand and smile serenely by his side. 

however, when our dear friends tied the knot, they asked us to emcee their wedding. despite my protestations at being the charity case, certain it was only the mister they wanted but were being nice include me, they insisted, bless them, that they wanted us to do the honours. this sent me into a little panic and procrastinated till my flight home before putting pen to paper. this is probably me being overdramatic as, really, the emcee is merely the traffic warden, signposting the wedding and cue-ing in the speakers. but what warmed the cockles of my heart was how the mister used his free day before i got back to discuss the technical cues with the groom-to-be. and (undiscussed!) wrote half the emcee script, complete with timings and prompts, while unbeknownst to him, i filled in little anecdotes to introduce the speeches. when we sat down to run through our draft, we realised the two halves complemented each other and promptly went to the welcome party instead of revising it. the welcome party was a glamorous all white affair and because we were trying to maximise our short time home, we snuck out of that to join the mister's folks for a second dinner.

(photo lifted from the multi-talented weylin's fb page. she's a dear friend who did D&N's flowers and my wedding bouquet* in iceland!)

the wedding rolled round and i mean there were just 300+ people so really, no pressure :P what was sweet was how it was at the same place we'd our wedding lunch celebration 18 months ago and brought back many fond memories. although again we joked that the last time i was on that stage, i didn't have to say anything! it was a gorgeous, simple ceremony. heart-felt and brimming with love and joy. D & N are very special to us. i'm not normally emotional but remember welling up in the middle of the used car showroom last easter when they called to say D had popped the question in bali. and they're the only couple that's stayed with us in our tiny flat, squeezing on our tiny sofa (it's not even a sofa bed!) and saying it was comfortable when we know it wasn't. and we couldn't be happier to see them exchange vows. 

i don't think we were too terrible at emcee-ing but i was super nervous and kept gripping the mister's hand while speaking. didn't realise the podium stopped at chest level and am sure everyone saw my shaking legs as i clung on to the mister for dear life.  and if i could change one thing - i'd have gobbled down my delicious main instead of risking having it cleared while we were on stage :( but we live and learn, and now that's over and done with, i'm glad they trusted us with the honour and would do it again (ONLY FOR THEM!) in a heartbeat :)

(and here's my darling husband trying to reassure me that emcee-ing is just like being a traffic warden. unconvinced!)

*clickety click for a side of angrybird