How to Plan a Multi-Cultural Wedding

More and more couples who are tying the knot these days are in a multi-cultural relationship. As such, when they come to planning their wedding, it is not always a traditional white wedding, with western ideals and traditions. Multi-cultural weddings are more likely to incorporate different aspects of each person's culture and heritage. This article will look into different aspects of a multi-cultural wedding and offer suggestions on how to create a culturally balanced wedding that the bride, groom and their respective family members will appreciate.

How to Plan a Multi-cultural Wedding: Be flexible with the wedding dress and accessories

The traditional white wedding dress is often the main focal point in a western wedding. Family and friends will stand as the bride and her father walk down the aisle and they will admire the bride's weddingdress. But in many other cultures, the bride will not wear a frothy white dress on her wedding day. In Japan, a woman will traditionally wear a white wedding kimono, which is called a shiro-maku. Rather than wear a veil over her face, a traditional Japanese bride will style her hair with gold combs and accessories called kanzashi as she is united in marriage. So if you are marrying a Japanese woman, it is important to keep her views in mind and not insist that she adopt a western style wedding dress. She may feel comfortable conforming to your wishes, which is fine. But she may prefer to keep to her own country's wedding dress tradition.

How to Plan a Multi-cultural Wedding: Language

Depending on where you get married, it may be possible to have the marriage talk and vows taken in English as well as another language. Before you do this though, you must be aware of what you will be saying in another language and that when you take your vows you take them in good faith. In some countries you must take your vows in the commonly spoken language of that country for the marriage to be legally binding. If you would like, you can follow the first set of vows with vows in the second language as well. That can help family members to feel more involved if they are not fluent in English.