How to incorporate my Hispanic culture into my wedding design?

Aww, that's so lovely! Multicultural weddings are the best!

I am not Hispanic myself, so I hope I don't get anything too wrong or appear ignorant! I guess what elements to include is going to be heavily dependent on what Hispanic country your family are from.

Are there elements from parent's or grandparents weddings you could include? Ie, a piece of jewellery, a tiara/head piece, a veil etc that would be representative of your culture, or made there?

Then there is food - you could either choose a caterer who specialises in foods that are traditional to you, or maybe if there is a parent or grandparent who makes something specific, that could be the favor (like, for my family - white - it might have been marmalade, jam, or lemon curd, for example!)

Music is another way! My old flatmate was Mexican and she explained to me that when people get engaged where she is from, whilst it is becoming more common to buy an engagement ring, traditionally, one partner would hire a Mariachi band to serenade their partner, and the more elaborate and large the band, the more impressive the engagement, obviously! I thought that was so nice! So maybe you could hire a traditional band or play some music from your background during the reception or cocktail hour.

I also found this article - which hopefully provides you some more ideas - the disappearing act sounds kind of fun, haha!

The above are all great ideas. You could also use one of the colors of your country's flag as one of your wedding colors.

Thank you so much Jasmine and Rosie (same names ☺️) ! This was super helpful and it’s making me thing a lot. My parents are from the Dominican Republic if that helps! I could ask them if theres a flower with more significance and incorporate that in my bouquet. The food is also a good idea! My venue is handling the food so I can choose something very specific to the culture.


Really appreciate these ideas! Keep them coming if anything comes to mind

These are all great ideas. For ceremony, you can consider a church if you would like to incorporate your cultural faith. There are also Hispanic traditions that are incorporated in a Catholic ceremony, such as the arras. I included Filipino traditions of chord and veil with the arras. For non-Church ceremonies, you can have someone read a poem by a Dominican author, or an excerpt in Spanish.

Fabric is another way to incorporate your culture. Mantilla veils are lace along the crown and face. You may even have fabric designs or an embroidery style that is uniquely Dominican. I chose my dress from a Spanish designer (Pronovias) due to the embroidery style. When I put it on, it seemed right and was the pattern I had seen since I was a little girl. I also borrowed my mother's woven tablecloths for my sweetheart and cake table. I would have liked more authentic fabric, but COVID prevented international travel and JoAnn Fabrics custom fell short.

You can also incorporate culture in jewelry, flower choice, music, and food. But, certainly the people will bring the joy and liveliness of your heritage on this special day. Best wishes!

View Quoted Comment Lovely!!! Thank you Michelle! This is a such a wonderful and supportive forum. I am noting down all of these points

My husbands family is from El Salvador and my family is Puerto Rican. We are both big foodies and have many similarities in the food that we eat. Our venue was a Cuban restaurant that also had event spaces for weddings, etc. The food was amazingly delicious, they provided the usual cheese and meats trays as well as fruit and veggies for the cocktail hour along with potato balls, empanadas and ham and cheese croquettes. The entrée was surf and turf (steak and sautéed garlic shrimp) with white rice, beans and veggies, a tropical salad was the starter and apart from our cake which was included in the package we got they also served flan for guests who wanted to try it.

Cuban and Puerto Rican food have many similarities, there are also some similarities in food from El Salvador so we were able to add some of that into our wedding. Also our guests couldn't stop commenting on how good the food was so we knew we made the right choice.

View Quoted Comment Thanks Alejandra! I have a few ideas for the caterers at my venue based off that. appreciate your advice!