Multi-Cultural
Wedding Ideas
- by KissMeGoodnight.com
While many different religions and nationalities
have their own well established traditions, it is becoming
increasingly common for couples of mixed ancestry to marry. Inter-racial
couples are marrying more and more often and with this increase
in inter-racial marriages comes a need for weddings
that have a multi-cultural feel. With so many wonderful traditions
that hold a great deal of importance to many families it is
important to plan a wedding that will celebrate the cultural
diversity rather than spotlight one of the cultures while neglecting
the other. Even if the couple themselves do not feel strongly
about having their heritage represented, it is important to
consider the feelings of family members as well. While the
wedding is for the couple and in general they should plan it
as they see fit, this should not be done at the risk of hurting
the feelings of family members by neglecting their culture
in the ceremony and reception.
One of the easiest ways to handle a multi-cultural wedding
is to allow one culture to dominate the wedding ceremony
while the other culture dominates the wedding reception. At the ceremony
care could be used to ensure that the attire, words, music,
decorations and procedures adhere to the culture of either
the bride or the groom. If the culture of the bride dominates
the ceremony then you could allow the culture of the groom
to dominate the reception. This could be done by providing
food, entertainment and toasts that reflect on the time-honored
traditions of the groom’s cultural background.
While the preceding solution of having one culture control
the ceremony and another culture control the reception is one
way to plan a multi-cultural wedding, many couple choose
to blend both of the components of the wedding instead. While
this can be more difficult, it may be a better solution because
neither family feels left out of a party of the wedding. There
are countless variations for blending the traditions of two
cultures into the wedding ceremony. For example you might want
to consider having both the bride and the groom dressing in
the traditional attire of the one of the families but having
them enter the ceremony to traditional music of the other family.
Another variation on this idea is to have the bride dress according
to her cultural customs while the groom dresses according to
his cultural customs. This would symbolize the joining of the
two cultures with the union of the individuals. You could even
consider having the bride and the groom dress according to
each other’s cultural customs as a symbol of their being willing
to embrace the other culture in their union.
Cultural
weddings can also be blended at the reception in a number
of ways. A simple way to do this is to serve foods
that relate to one culture and provide entertainment that relates
to the other culture. This separation may seem too harsh for
some couples and they may want to blend their cultures in a
more subtle way. One way to do this is to serve a buffet style
dinner that serves cultural favorites of both heritages. Also,
if you budget a significant amount of money for entertainment,
you could consider hiring two bands so that you can have one
band that specializes in the cultural heritage of the bride
and one to represent the groom’s heritage. This could not only
serve to unite the families but can also serve to ensure that
the entertainment never ceases. Many live bands play for only
about 20 minutes at a time and then take a break. The two bands
could alternate playing their music so that there is never
a dull moment at the reception. If budget constraints do not
allow hiring two separate bands you might want to consider
hiring a band to play the music of one culture and consider
hiring dancers to represent the other culture.
Multi-cultural weddings are on the rise. As the number of
inter-racial couples increases, there is also an increased
need for creative ways to blend two different cultures into
a wedding ceremony and reception that will be enjoyed by all
the guests. Careful considerations should be made to
ensure that neither culture is offended by the festivities and that
they are both prominently displayed and celebrated.
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KissMeGoodnight.com : 2005
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