Once Upon A Time...The Importance of Stories

 

Once Upon A Time…well, last week actually, but isn’t that how we start stories? – I was regaling a table of guests at a bridal event with stories of celebrities I have met during events work in London.  In truth, the specific stories I was telling doesn’t matter, what matters is the telling of stories. 

Why do I consider stories to be so important?  Well, we all grew up with stories – bedtime reading, fairy tales and more.  They teach us to read but, more importantly they teach us about the world, they teach us to dream, to fantasise, and they connect us.

A story can be as simple as what you did today – but told in an engaging and (hopefully) entertaining way.  In my world of hospitality (which sometimes feels like a fantasy world!) stories are useful on a personal level to be able to engage with guests.  Its all part of communicating and building relationships.

 

Because I spend so much of my time making sure all my guests are feeling welcome and comfortable I feel it is vital to have a wealth of stories in my head, and sometimes just bits and pieces of trivia, so that you can initiate a conversation and involve everyone.  From chatting to a table full of guests, to a lone drinker at a bar as you serve them a drink, hospitality involves making each individual feel special and involved.  I’m fortunate in that I have had so many experiences, I really do have a wealth of stories to tell, but everyone has something to say – and in my job its also how you tell the story, not just the content.

35 Years behind the microphone as both an events DJ and a spell as a radio presenter has certainly helped, as did being properly trained by the London Transport Museum as a tour guide.  I spent time deep underground telling visitors about the history of a disused tube station.  Although it was a memorised script (no reading from notes) it was down to each guide to choose which facts to use and how to deliver them.  A moment’s pause after hearing memories of the blitz made it more poignant.

 

Table hopping in a room of literally hundreds of guests is made much easier if you always have something to say – and use that to draw stories out of those guests.  Even the shyest of guests will join in – if you provide the start point 

One of the other important uses I have for stories is when escorting a nervous bride.  In the minutes before walking through the door and up the aisle you want the bride to be smiling, not worrying about anything that could go wrong.  Its down to me to – quite honestly – just chat rubbish to take their mind off any concerns.  I’ve used this technique very successfully many times!

 

Talking of stories – your wedding day is wrapped up in stories, it’s the last chapter of your love story, it’s the first chapter of the rest of your life.  On the day, it is its own Fairy Tale that needs to be told.

Every part of the day is a chapter, every introduction is a short story and your speeches are stories in themselves.  The Father of The Bride speech, and that of the Groom, are tales of the Princess, whereas the Best Man’s speech – well, that can sometimes be like an original Brothers Grimm story – and they weren’t as pretty as the Disney versions!

Your wedding day needs a storyteller, a narrator, someone to help turn the pages and link the chapters.

 

Let me tell your greatest story.

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