Intercultural Confusion..

futurehuerta

Hello. I'm getting married and I'm white. My fiance is Mexican. I speak spanish fluently so it is not hard or difficult for me to be around his family. He speaks English so it is not hard for him to be around my family... but when we get married.

But my family doesn't speak spanish
And his family doesn't speak strong english

I'm worried about our wedding day and how our guests and families will interact with each other.
Are there any helpful suggestions as to how to possibly make this wedding smooth and enjoyable for everyone??

katiewhompus

Hmm maybe make sure to have a few people who know both languages at each table to translate. Also think about doing the major events and announcements in both languages.
If the ceremony is in one language, I would recommend making a paper copy of the other language so they can follow along.

LP11509

We had a similar(ish) situation, but with English and American Sign Language.  We had interpreters there to help facilitate communication during the ceremony and toasts and made sure that we sat people who had language in common together.  It worked out beautifully, and I'm sure yours will too. 

Do you have someone who could translate the ceremony/important parts of the reception for you? Or could you hire a translator to do this?  As far as guests socializing after dinner etc, I wouldn't worry about that as much.  People will gravitate towards people that they can communicate with.  

2dBride

This is one situation in which I think that programs could be very helpful.  A program with the ceremony in both English and Spanish could help all your guests follow the ceremony.  If you are having family members participate (e.g., as readers), you could have each one participate in the language in which s/he was most fluent, but the program would enable everyone to follow along.   It would also help to avoid the situation my brother and I found ourselves in at my sister's ceremony (conducted entirely in Spanish).  They did the traditional Mexican lasso ceremony.  Not being familiar with the custom, and not understanding the Spanish, my brother leaned over and asked me, "Is that the traditional Mexican bondage ceremony?"  I had a very hard time maintaining a straight face.

DrPB2b13

If you're concerned about the ceremony portion, have you considered having either two officiants, or a bilingual officiant?  You could have a line/segment done in one language, followed by the other, or go back and forth between the two (e.g. one section in English, the next section in Spanish).

As for the families socializing at the reception, I wouldn't worry about intermingling terribly much.  Every wedding I have ever been to, the bride's family interacted with the bride's family, the groom's family interacted with the groom's family, and never the twain shall meet (save, of course, prior inter-family relationships). 

ExpatPumpkin

We had basically the same situation, and I promise it's doable!  My family speaks no Spanish and while nearly all of his does speak English, it's their second language and they obviously prefer Spanish.

Here's my advice (and what we did):

- Biligual ceremony - don't repeat sections, just have some parts in each language. 
- Do your vows in your native languages so that each set of parents understands 100%.
- When doing your seating chart, let his family/friends sit together and yours sit together.  This will avoid awkward/strained conversation.  Everyone will get together on the dance floor anyway
- Find ways to tie in both cultures - we had an American jazz band, a Latin DJ, and surprise mariachis at the end of the night, for example.

You can watch our highlights video (in bio) to see how it all panned out.  I had the same concerns that you did, and it turned out that I was stressed for no reason

Let me know if you have any specific questions.  If you need a bilingual Catholic program, I can email ours to you. 

Good luck!