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12th Dec 2006

With more and more couples marrying spouses from different cultures, wedding co-ordinators the world over are being asked how they can blend the two cultures together successfully in a wedding theme.

Suprisingly, an East meets West celebration is quite easy to achieve and here are a few ways in which it can be done.

Use flowers as your theme
By selecting 2 blooms [such as a rose and an orchid] you can focus your wedding theme around these. Discuss with your florist how these may be used together in floral arrangements and ask them to prepare a table decoration for you to see. You’ll be amazed at what they come up with. Equally, you could look into a bespoke invitation where you instruct the designer to work with the 2 flowers you have chosen.

When it comes to the reception tables, use the rose for female place settings and the orchid for male place settings. Place cards, napkins and favour boxes can then be decorated with either a flower depending on who will be sitting there.

Menu Blending
In order to merge the two cultures together, why not discuss some menu blending with your chef or caterer?

There are many dishes that can be created which involve key ingredients from Eastern and Western cultures. It may cost you a little more if you wish to create an exclusive menu for your wedding, but it will definitely be worth it especially when you hear the eruption of conversation when each dish is revealed!

Colour Matching
There are typical colours that lend themselves to certain cultures. For example, Oriental weddings may have burgundy or black as their key colours, whereas a British wedding may have gold or cream colours. Such colours can be easily blended together to bring both parties together. Where using ribbon to tie to napkins, favour boxes, invitation trims and floral arrangements, incorporate both colours together to signify the marriage of the two cultures.

An Eastern ceremony and a Western Reception
If you are struggling to tie the two styles together, why not have completely separate parts of the wedding?

Where brides are insistent about having a traditional ceremony pertinent to their culture, grooms can then have a reception that represents their cultural background. This way, no-one needs to tread on anyone’s toes and both families can be involved in the arrangements. Equally, each culture can enjoy their own celebration as well as appreciate the different style of the other part of the wedding. This is often a great way to bring both families together for such a special occasion. It also gives both families an insight into the culture of their new family.

Marrying into a different culture can often be difficult and – unless you are very lucky – the news of such a union is not always well received. Parents have a clear idea of what they expect in terms of partners for their offspring. Marrying out of your culture can mean that these expectations are not completely fulfilled. But, by following some of these simple ideas you can create the perfect “East meets West” wedding which will also educate family members about a different culture and remove some of those stereotypes which most people have.

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