Planning a Multi Cultural Wedding

Multi-racial couples are marrying more frequently. With this increase comes a need for possessing a multi-cultural feel. With so many lovely traditions that hold a large amount of significance to plenty of families, it is important to concoct a wedding that may celebrate the cultural variety instead of focusing on one culture and neglecting the other.

Whether or not the couple feels deeply about having their heritage represented, it is important to think about the viewpoints of familial relations too. Whilst the wedding is for the couple and they should typically plan it as they deem fit, this should not be done at the risk of hurting the feelings of members of the family by neglecting their culture in the ceremony and reception.

One of the simplest tactics to deal with a multi-cultural wedding is to permit one culture to dominate the wedding ceremony whilst the other culture dominates the wedding reception.

At the ceremony, care may be taken to be certain that the clothes, words, music, decorations and procedures stick to the culture of either the bride or the groom. If the culture of the bride dominates the ceremony, then you might permit the culture of the groom to dominate the reception. This could be done by providing food, entertainment and toasts that dwell on the time-honored traditions of the groom's cultural background.

Whilst this may be more difficult, it could be a better solution because neither family feels left out of a part of the wedding.

There are numerous variations for blending the practices of two cultures into the wedding ceremony. For instance, you could consider having both the bride and the groom dress in the customary attire of one of the families, but have 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 whilst the groom dresses according to his cultural customs. This would prove the fusing of the two cultures with the union of both individuals. You might even consider having the bride and the groom dress according to each other's cultural customs as a symbol of their being prepared to embrace the other culture in their union.

Cultural weddings may also be merged at the reception in a few ways. A way to try this is to serve foods that apply to one culture and supply entertainment associated with the other culture. This separation may appear too insensitive for some couples and they may need to fuse their cultures in a more delicate way.

If so, they could try to serve a buffet style dinner that serves cultural favourites of both heritages, together with two bands playing traditional music of both the bride and groom. This will not only serve to unify the families but will make sure that the entertainment never ceases. Plenty of live bands play for only about twenty minutes at a time and then take a break. The 2 bands could alternate playing their music so that there is rarely a lifeless moment at the reception. If budget restrictions do not permit hiring two bands, you could consider hiring a band to play the music of one culture and consider hiring dancers to represent the other culture.

As the amount of multi-racial couples increases, there is also an increased need for creative methods to merge two different cultures into a wedding ceremony and reception that may be enjoyed by all guests. Careful and subtle concerns should be made to make sure that neither culture is offended by the festivities and they are both significantly celebrated and exhibited.