Can you give me a heads-up?

perkins81

I just moved to Las Cruces, NM to be with my boyfriend/FI (we're not engaged yet, but plan to be soon) and I was wondering what kind of wedding traditions should I be prepared for in this area? I come from a caucasian family and have lived in the midwest and also in the southeast, but never the southwest. My boyfriend's family is hispanic. Most speak English fluently, but a few don't.

Last week, he and I attended a friend of the family's 50 yr wedding anniversary, where they re-said their vows and had a big reception. On each table was a pile of "Mexican wedding cookies" or something like that which I'd never heard of or seen. My boyfriend's mom explained it was a tradition in this area and that we should do it at our wedding. This got me thinking - what other kind of traditions should I be aware of???? I want our wedding to be a balance of cultures and not just about his side of the family (which he is totally ok with) but I also don't want to offend his mom or other family members. If I know what's coming, I can be prepared

katiekrol

Well, for starters, be prepared to have a HUGE wedding. There is no such thing as a simple, intimate affair around here. Everyone is everyone's cousin, and then their cousin's cousin. Etiquette is kinda out the door as well. People don't think they need invitations to come. You just need to be comfortable and easy-going. I will post more as I think about it

Good luck!

perkins81

Really? OMG. What if we have no money and have no choice but to have a small wedding? (Which at the moment is what we are looking at unless we can get better jobs). Should we just elope and secretly invite very close friends and family? LOL. My whole family is OOT anyway so it wouldn't matter to them

Thanks for the warning! Keep 'em coming.

Oh, and my boyfriend also told me today about the "Dollar Dance" - it actually sounds pretty cool - I'm not gonna complain about receiving money!

Beazilla

You can have a small wedding, but you may need to be firm about it and be willing to call people on trying to bring extra guests. My family and friends haven't had that problem, but that may be how their circles operate or they're willing to be call Uncle Fred and tell him that the invite is just for him and Auntie.

At the reception, La Marcha is pretty traditional . It's sort of like follow-the-leader in dance form and it was the first dance at the weddings I've been to that had it. The bridal party came in after the leaders and guests joined in.

I love biscochos.

sculli

oh yeah La Marcha is very traditional especially for larger weddings.  As Katie said, majority of the times weddings here are very large because of the large families but you can do them small.  My FI and I want more of our friends at our wedding then the family (if we did family because 99% of mine lives here, guest list would be over 200, no thank you).

A lot of the weddings I've gone to have the money dance (some people see this as tacky, we see it as tradition.  As for food, I think anything goes.  If you really don't want to have NM food as center of attention at the wedding maybe do NM food for the rehearsal dinner.

I say do what works for you and your FI.  Just enjoy the planning experience, do what you both want to do, if you want small go for it!  You can always ask us for advice and we can try and help you out.

Good luck!!!

perkins81

thank ya'll for the advice!

[Deleted User]

It really depends on his family with how big the wedding will need to be.  If his family is very close (as most southern NM familes) then prepare for having a larger wedding.  Family helps each other out a lot, so someone in the family will most likely offer to make you the cake, wedding cookies, mexican food, etc.

Mariachi band would be a plus for the reception.  There is a cool festive tradition where egg shells are filled with confetti and cracked over peoples heads. 

KouklaMou23

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_new-mexico_can-give-heads-up?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:130Discussion:5443a7b1-6b76-4dff-9433-c58bbe4b19b4Post:c3ba023b-edad-4704-819d-71c69736f6cf">Re: Can you give me a heads-up?</a>:
[QUOTE]Well, for starters, be prepared to have a HUGE wedding. There is no such thing as a simple, intimate affair around here. Everyone is everyone's cousin, and then their cousin's cousin. Etiquette is kinda out the door as well. People don't think they need invitations to come. You just need to be comfortable and easy-going. I will post more as I think about it :) Good luck!
Posted by katiekrol[/QUOTE]

I love your post because it's SO true! hahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!