I am fascinated with foreign weddings. So over the last few months I have asked my friend Ana about her wedding that took place last year in Spain. It is so interesting to see the similarities and differences in American and Spanish traditions. And it’s also interesting, that like here in America, couples are creating weddings to reflect their own personal style and tastes while keeping long-standing wedding customs. Read on to get a some inspiration for your big day!
Ana and Bernardo reside in Madrid, but like many Spanish couples decided to take their wedding outside of the city. They chose to have the wedding in Ana’s family’s hometown of Jerez de la Frontera. The couple also chose to have the wedding during the town’s annual festival La Feria del Caballo (Jereze popular horse-fair). During that week the town was decorated and festive with lots of activities that the guests could enjoy during their stay.
For the ceremony and reception the couple chose an old Spanish home which has been converted into an event venue.
What a view from the bar!
American weddings are typically six hours, but the traditional Spanish weddings are twelve hours long! They usually start in the early afternoon and go until midnight or start in the late evening and go until the wee hours of the morning.
Ana and Bernardo’s wedding started at 1:30 in the afternoon.
What a gorgeous entrance for the bride!
Anna arrived from her family’s home. In Spain it is traditional that the bride get ready at her family’s house and depart from there to the wedding venue.
Entering with a horse and carriage is typical of Spanish weddings in the area.
Ana and Bernardo have a passion for movies and their soundtracks. While guests were waiting they heard the quartet play songs from The Wizard of Oz, James Bond, Pearl Harbor, and Gladiator. Once the ceremony started the groom walked into The Godfather soundtrack, the wedding party entered to Life is Beautiful, and the bride entered to She from Notting Hill.
Notice how the bridesmaids don't wear matching dresses. In Spain they can wear whatever they want! And they don't carry a bouquet. The men wear matching suits, but choose their own ties.
Notice that seating is located all the way around the ceremony. What a great idea to give more guests a close up view. Also, love that in Spain everyone gets very dressed up, even for a daytime wedding.
In Spain there are not as many options outside of Catholic ceremonies. So if a couple wants anything else they usually have a civil ceremony at the courthouse. But, Ana and Bernardo worked hard to find a magistrate that was willing to go on site for their ceremony.
The program with a painting of the old house at the venue.
During a Spanish ceremony the wedding party does not stand with the couple. Instead the bride’s father and groom’s mother are by their side.
Notice that Ana is wearing long sleeves. In Spain they don't wear the strapless dresses as much as American brides.
The bride's bouquet
After the ceremony guests were given hand-made paper flowers filled with rice to throw at the bride and groom as they exited. You rarely see this anymore in America, but it used to be customary as the bride and groom left the church.
Look closely to the woman on the right. You can see her holding one of the paper flowers.
After the wedding guests enjoyed cocktails and appetizers on the lawn. The town of Jerez is the original birthplace of Sherry. So in following with local tradition Ana and Bernardo started off the cocktail hour by breaking open a barrel of Sherry and toasting.
During cocktails the couple took many more pictures with family and friends. Here you see them with the page boys, similar to our tradition of the ring bearer. They walk down the aisle just before the bride.
A couple of the groomsmen couldn’t make it to the wedding, but Ana and Bernardo didn’t want them to feel left out. So they made giant blow up cut outs of them in suits so they could still be a part of the big day!
For food the guests enjoyed Iberian ham, seafood cocktail, Parmesan sirloin bites, and goat cheese with honey and raisins on toast. For entertainment the couple chose to show off the local culture with some flamenco dancers.
Finally it was time for a late afternoon lunch. For guests to find their seats they looked for their names on the seating chart.
Each piece of paper was a table with the guest's name listed below.
The reception hall.
The tables were all named after the bridesmaids and groomsmen.
In typical Spanish style the guests are served courses. They started off with a chilled Cod salad and then had Duck risotto. Dessert was immediately following lunch. But, in Spain they have no wedding cakes! It’s considered old-fashioned. Instead they have a buffet of assorted pastries and sweets.
There was even candy on the bar!
But, even though there Ana and Bernardo had no cake, they had a cake topper! They wanted to give it to their friends that they wanted to see get married as a sign of good luck.
The other Spanish tradition is for the bride to give away her bouquet to someone special in her life. There is not bouquet toss for the single ladies like here in America.
After the luncheon the couple had a charanga (brass band) arrive playing typical Spanish and Andalusian songs dressed in funny clothes as modern flamenco dancers. They guided the guests to the dance floor.
After the guests were up and moving the couple shared a slideshow of their lives growing up and their lives together over the years. It made everyone emotional!
Love the fan!
Then it was time for the first dance!
To continue with their theme of movie soundtracks the couple dance to "Elephant of Love Medley" from Moulin Rouge
If guests wanted time to relax they could go outside and write some well wishes and advice for the couple and pin it on a clothesline.
Later in the evening the couple had a DJ. Ana provided flats for all the women attending the wedding to keep them dancing all night!
Red with white polka dots is a pattern traditionally seen on the local flamenco dancer's dresses.
They also had lots of funny wigs for later in the evening!
After lots of partying, dancing, and drinking all day it was finally time to end the wedding at 12:30 in the morning. As the big send off the guests went outside to light Chinese lanterns and float them into the night sky.
But, that still wasn’t the end! The guests all rode buses back into town for the festival and stayed out until 4:00 AM!
I just had to write about this wedding because it is a real example of following your culture and your traditions, but personalizing your wedding to reflect yourselves as a couple.
