Cantonese- Him and Catholic - Her

abdd

how do you fuse the wedding traditions? they are just so different... I went to 2 interracial weddings in the same situation... they just had 2 weddings one or his family and one for hers.

 

I want everyone together.

 

Please help.

Avion22

Is there any way to have two ceremonies on the same day with everyone there?  For example, you could do a short Cantonese ceremony, followed by a short Christian ceremony?  Then your Cantonese guests will get to witness the Christan ceremony to understand that part of your faith, and vice versa.   Two ceremonies might be a lot for one day, but if you keep them short, and try to keep the locations close to each other, you might be able to pull it off.  I know that would probably mean changing outfits (at least for the bridge and groom).  Otherwise, I would suggest trying to fuze both traditions into ONE ceremony, but I'm not sure if that would be possible in this case...

almost-a-bride

Are you getting married in a church? If not, then it can be easy to mix both traditions into one ceremony.

ootmother2

I love the idea of combining your cultures but the Catholic church doesn't allow more than one ceremony and it must be Catholic.

Does your FI have a religion he prefers?  I ask because you can be married in the Catholic Church and have another " co officiant" if you are of different faiths.

With a dispensation, you can even be married in his church (if Christian, I think) with a Catholic priest co officiating.

You DO have options, please talk to your priest about them.

Good luck!

unplainjane

actually we are in the same situation but reverse. my FI is catholic and i am chinese and non-catholic. we are having a catholic wedding ceremony. and during cocktail hour we are doing a chinese tea ceremony. i haven't decided yet if i'll change into a traditional chinese dress. so we didn't try to merge ceremonies or traditions.

Lisa50

Cantonese -- geographic/regional affiliation rooted in/associated with nation of China.  Of course, Cantonese people are living all over the world.

Catholic -- religion found all over the world, including China

What, exactly, are you trying to fuse?  I know many Cantonese who are Christians, several Catholic.  Is your Cantonese FI non-religious, a practicing Catholic, or does he practice another religion?   Knowing that might be a good starting point.  Sorry, I need more details to be helpful.

clearheavens

FI and I are a Vietnamese Catholic couple.  The two aren't exclusive.  Like Lisa50 said, the Vietnamese is a culture limited to a certain people and certain time, the religion is universal and is cross cultural and across time.

We are having a tea ceremony the morning of the Big Day.  We'll have the red gift boxes, the introductions, the serving of tea, the whole thing.  We'll be wearing our cultural attire (ao dai).

After that we're having a Nuptial Mass just like any Catholic couple getting married.

Then we're having a reception at a hall.  We'll be taking formal portraits with the arriving guests, which is a Vietnamese tradition.  During table visiting, we'll change back into our cultural attire (ao dai), another Vietnamese tradition.

My bio lists other traditions we're doing:

http://thanhlong.weebly.com/tradition1.html