Bilingual Brides - ceremony/reception help?

What if you did your vows in both English and Spanish? I think that would be really sweet!

At the reception you could easily have someone make all of the announcements in both languages as well!

We do a lot of ceremonies for groups that include native speakers of different languages. I like to combine them whenever we can.

I have a fabulous Spanish speaking officiant and she will mix up the ceremony in different ways for different couples, but what I usually do (and I don't speak a word of anything but English. I start with a reading in both languages (I usually use Sonnet 17 from Pablo Neruda); I invite a family member to join me and that is the very first thing that everyone hears; it's truly a welcome. Then we might have another bi-lingual reading in the middle, and then if the couple is comfortable, one can read their vows in one language, one in the other.

I can't help you much with the reception except to pick a great mix of music from all over the place.!

What about doing a bilingual invitation? I've seen some really awesome ones on Pinterest. My FH is Arab and his family speaks Arabic fluently . Though there won't be anyone at the wedding that only speaks Arabic we thought it would be a cool nod to his culture. But that's as much as we are doing. If you feel comfortable enough speaking Spanish you could do part of your vows. And then, as previously suggested, all the announcements could be done in Spanish as well.

I posted something similar to this last week. My FH and his guests all speak Portuguese and some speak almost no English. I am having the ceremony translated and printed in Portuguese and making sure any printed materials (signs, menu, etc.) are in both languages. I am working on incorporating music that appeals to both groups as well.

My family speaks both languages Spanish & English. I was thinking of having most of the mass (Catholic wedding) in English but the readings and petitions in Spanish. I thought about doing a mass where everything is translated but I wasn't a fan of the idea after I attended a translated wedding, especially for a Catholic ceremony. The ceremonies are too long to make people sit through it even longer. If you don't plan on having a Catholic ceremony I could see it working better.

Also goes for the reception I plan to play both Spanish and English music.

We have almost all bilingual guests but some only English and some only Spanish so we had to have an officiant that is bilingual. we are going back in forth in our ceremony with some Spanish parts and some English parts. we are writing our vows together so that I can read them in English and he will read them in Spanish.

Then for the shoe game his sister will ask us questions in English and Spanish. Most of our signs and stuff are in English though. I would recommend that you do some readings like Celia said in Spanish and you can pick them so you know what they say! for music we are doing music from Colombia, Mexico and the usual top 40 here.

I recently went to a wedding where one side spoke only Spanish and the other spoke only English (both the bride and groom are bilingual). The introduction and 1 of the 2 readings were in English, but everything else was in Spanish. For the English speakers, they had a handout with a side-by-side translation of the whole ceremony.

The BM and MOH speeches had to be written and translated ahead of time. During the reception, the BM would read a paragraph or so (don't go too long, or the people who speak the other language will get bored) of his speech in English and then pause so the MOH could read the same part in Spanish. After his speech was over, they reversed roles for her speech.

The couple's families also hired personal translators to follow them around at the reception so they could actually communicate with the others' families. If that's too much money, Google translate is a great tool for the non-bilingual guests.

Thanks for all the suggestions! I think so far my favorite is to do a reading or two in Spanish, and then I'll maybe say my vows in Spanish. I for sure want his to me to be in English so I can understand him, but maybe I'll say mine to him in Spanish. I think he would really appreciate that and maybe I could even do it as a surprise, and have his sister help me translate them! I'd just be nervous about my pronunciation, so I'd have to practice a lot!

@Celia thank you so much for the advice and a specific reading! I'll look that one up when I get home.

For reception I meant mostly speeches, announcements, etc... @ frugal that's interesting, I'd never heard of that idea before. That would actually work because my MOH is English speaking, BM Spanish speaking lol.