Mexican Wedding Traditions

annaliesehart

My fiance was born and raised in Mexico, but being a guy, he doesn't really know about the wedding traditions. I got a book out of the library on it, but we don't really like a lot of the things it said. Does anyone know of any fun Mexican wedding traditions we could incorporate into our fairly traditional American wedding?

heidi1068

You're FI sounds a lot like mine.  Since you are looking for "fun" traditions, I am guessing you are talking about for the reception and not for the ceremony.  Here are some of the things we are planning or at least considering.   Not all of them are necessarily traditional but they are very common at contemporary Mexican weddings:

1.  Chilaquiles verdes as a late night snack  (we went to a wedding last year with a churro cart, which was also great, but we won't be doing that because of the length of our reception and the fact we are serving wedding cake)
2.  La vibora instead of regular U.S.-style bouquet toss (I would not do a bouquet toss, but I actually think la vibora is kind of fun)
3.  Cheap, goofy favors to pass out during the dancing (think big glasses, Carmen Miranda style headbands, etc)
4.  If budget allows, a stilt walker or other performer to dance for an hour or so during the reception to get the party going.

HTH!

fam6

Are you looking to incorporate Mexican traditions into your ceremony in a meaningful way?  Or just something fun into the reception?

pollyguts

My fiance is also Mexican, and I have lived in Mexico for a year with him. I think  we might get a mariachi band to sing a few songs at the very end. But I am also open to other ideas.. not sure exactly yet. We are not religious so we are not doing the traditional Catholic traditions, but we might have a poem or two in Spanish. Churros at the end would be awesome.. let´s see if we can afford it.

Any other ideas?

fam6

Ceremony: We are including the traditional Catholic traditions because we are both Catholic.  We are also having one reading Spanish, a blessing in Spanish and some of our music is Spanish.

Reception: Our decor has a Mexican flair.  We will be dancing to a Spanish song.  Our favors are personalized and have a blessing in both Spanish and English.  Our music throughout reception will be a mix of English and Spanish.  Prayer over the meal will be done by my mom in English and his dad in Spanish.  The Groom's cake is tres leches; while the wedding cake is a traditional American wedding cake.

We are just using a combination throughout the entire day!

gutier65

Reception tradition:

Padrinos and madrinas (sponsors)- This is the best part! You ask the most important people in your families life and ask them to be a padrino (sponsor). So forever and ever these family members will be known and recognized as your padrinos.

You can have one for the following:

- flowers (center pieces)
- couple challaces/ glases
- sign in book and pen
- music
- cake

The vivora de la mar- This is where all of the women in the room gather hands and brisk-walk (sometimes run) around the hall holding hands. The bride and the groom stand on chairs and the line of women go underneat the bride and groom. It's super fun. Young and old love it! You can put a faced pace song you like.

Ceremony Tradition:
Las aras- the mexican/catholic coins that represent happiness, health, and wealth in a marriage.

La vela (the candle)- Is the unity candle that joins the bride and groom.

Las flores a la virgen (flowers to the virgen mary)- During mass the flowers are taken to the virgen mary (usually there is one in the church). If you aren't getting married in a church, I have seen a small photo with a vase for the flowers to be placed in.

Enjoy! Melissa

VintageMexicanWedding

My fiance also grew up in Mexico, and I love this part of his heritage.  Here's a few other ideas to supplement the great ideas that have already been written here...

13 Coins:  An old Mexican tradition where the groom would present 13 gold coins to the bride.  We will present gold wrapped chocolate coins to our guests, to represent this old tradition.  I even found a Mexican candy wholesaler online who sells gold wrapped chocolate pesos!  http://www.aztlanproducts.com/

Mexican wedding cookies:  Often given as favors at Hispanic weddings. 

I see a lot of brides using the "Dia De Los Muertos" figurines at their wedding (a skeleton bride & groom who are supposed to represent your commitment "till death").  I haven't decided yet if I am going to use this, but I somewhat like the idea.

Paper Flowers:  A big part of Mexican decorations, and you can easily find a distributor online, or else make them yourself (Martha Stewart has a bunch of DIY  ones on her website).

Vitrolero:  In Mexico, they serve "aquas frescas" in large glass barrel jars.  This idea has been around a very long time, and is very elegant and vintage looking.  You can find them online, and at your local cash & carry store. 

I've seen some references to a rope tying ceremony/lasso that gets incorporated into the ceremony.  The bride and groom braid it together, or it gets draped over their wrists to symbolize their togetherness. 

Colors and textures:  Think about what's popular in Mexico, and use it to guide your decorations...  old paper, wood, tile, pottery and metals like tin and iron.  For our centerpieces, we  have wrought iron candle lantern decorations atop a hand painted large Mexican tile, surrounded with red rose petals.  Our programs will be printed on a parchement like paper.

Cake:  If you don't like the tres leches cake, try a Mexican chocolate cake instead--easily accomplished by having your baker add some spices (cinnamon, etc) to their mix, or by having them purchase Mexican chocolate.

For beverages, check out your local cash & carry grocery for wholesale cases of Jarritos soda, and then consider a sangria and mexican beer. 

Favors can be hot sauce, mini bottles of tequila, moracas, etc.  You can get Tapatio by the case directly from the Tapatio website.  And I think (ironically) that the Oriental Trading Company has a few different options for maracas. 

A somewhat silly thing that I am doing at my wedding, will be the first dance song with my Dad.  He is Swedish originally, and LOVES Abba.  And because Abba was so popular in Latin America, they recorded most of their popular songs in Spanish.  So, I found a free mixing software online (Audicity), and we will be doing our father-daughter dance to "I have a dream", which will start out in Spanish, and then switch to the English version.  (Luckily Abba used the same music track for both versions, and just redid the vocals).  Like I said, kind of silly, but it allowed me to honor my Dad's heritage, while sticking to my theme.

Well good luck! 

SraChavezCervantes

I'm not entirely sure about the Carmen Miranda thing.  Carmen Miranda wasn't even Mexican.  Also, I am a Latina bride who is also a lifelong mariachi and I am yet to see a wedding with Dia de los Muertos centerpieces.

The elements from this board that are truly Mexican include:

Tres Leches cake

La vibora del mar:  except it is done with both men and women.

Immediately after la vibora del mar, the men at the party usually toss the groom in the air several times.  Some weddings are also beginning to dance "El mandilon"  which you can see if you search those exact words on YouTube.

Chilaquiles work, but oftentimes, menudo is served late to help sober guests up.

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jessinricardo

Oh, I am loving the skeleton novios for a cake topper. That is very clever, but I also have never seen it at a wedding before.