La Musica
January 28th, 2008 @ 1:28 pm by Mrs. Hydrangea
Planning a multicultural wedding isn’t as hard I had thought it would be. May I remind you that I still have 8 months left, but I’m going to be optimistic about this fact. The most difficult thing (aside from cutting down the guest list) has been figuring out what to do with the music at our wedding.
Mr. Hydrangea’s family is from Mexico - and his generation is the first born in the U.S. Their musical tastes tend to be very traditional Mexican music. My family is a traditional American family, with musical tastes that are all shades of the rainbow…except Hispanic music. Not because they dislike it, but because none of them were raised listening to it.
In the beginning, Mr. Hydrangea and I wanted to have live music at our wedding. We think that the entertainment value of a live band would be awesome and a little different then just a dj. As we researched more and more for a band to play at our wedding, it became very evident that having a band that could play both your “regular” music and the traditional Mexican music that his family likes would be a VERY difficult task (and also an expensive one at that).
From the day that I started researching for our wedding (which happened to be a couple of months into our relationship…a little premature I know), I researched all avenues for each type of vendor and came upon a popular Dallas dj who also happened to own a popular lighting company in Dallas, Lite Dallas. Since I was sure I wanted live music, I left this option on the back burner. Fast forward to 5 months after our engagement and I decided to give the dj a shot, musically.
To my surprise, when I spoke to him on the phone he mentioned that one of his assistants happens to be Hispanic and that they perform about 7-8 of the same types of weddings each year. I figured this might be a really good thing, so I set up a time to meet with him to see his personality and find out what kind of a dj he really is, i.e. is he cheesy?!
Definitely not so! I think this was the most excited I’ve seen Mr. Hydrangea through the whole planning process, and the one meeting I’ve managed to get him to attend for the wedding. He completely calmed our nerves about having a typical dj and made us feel even better about combining our two VERY different families in one big room.
The best part is that we will most likely have a Mexican Trio to play for our cocktail hour, so we will still have some element of live music at our wedding.
(picture from triosoldemexico)
Andy has you feel out an entire notebook of important facts: where to be, what you like, who can (and cannot) make speeches, details on your wedding party, etc. The fun part is that when he introduces our wedding party, he’s going to do a lighthearted roast of each of them to break the ice and get everyone’s attention.
If money were no object, we’d have it all, but we are really excited about having a dj, instead of a band.
How did you all decide your music for your reception? Did any of you face the dilemma of blending two cultures, and music genres, into your party?
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5 Responses to “La Musica”
I’m Hispanic (my FI is not) and I’ve thought of having a mariachi band for cocktail hour. Unfortunately most of my Hispanic relatives won’t be there so the music will be totally unfamiliar to the majority of the guests. So we decided not to do that.
Hi Miss Hydrangea!! I have always thought I would for sure have a band but not sure if that is going to fit into my budget or the overall feel of the wedding. I am totally interested in hiring Andy Austin for my wedding (haven’t set a date yet but am already planning the really important things…like a dj. ha!) and have heard fabulous things about him. If you don’t mind me asking, how is he price wise?
CS - PM me and I’ll give you the info on Andy. He’s more expensive then most djs, but once we met with him it was well worth the expense!
We had a band, since my family (Mexican) kind of bailed out, i just made 2 CDs; one with Salsa/Raeggeton and another one with slower boleros…The band played them in their breaks, which was great!
Still wishing we had had a trio…i think that would have been fun, but being in PA it would have cost A LOT.
Mrs. Hydrangea, Dallas
Age and Occupation: 26, Administrative Assistant
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 27, Network Analyst
Engagement Date: June 2007
Wedding Date: September 2008
Blogging Since: January 14, 2008
Venue: Catholic Church and Reception at The W Hotel
About Me: Mr. H and I come from very different cultures and backgrounds so I'm excited to plan our wedding with a balance of both traditions. My mom has always been a DIY queen, and I'm just now starting to get into it with a new house and a wedding to plan!
Yes, we had to blend both of our cultures and music is of the biggies when it comes to weddings in both of our cultures since they are all about the dancing (Greek and Persian). We hired a DJ and gave him the ethnic music from each culture to play. PLUS we also wanted some “American” music, so really we had to blend three different types of music!
It went really well and we had all three types of songs mixed throughout the night and the DJ had instructions to not play any songs twice and not to take requests. Some of our aunts would request the same Greek/Persian song over and over again if they had the chance. We know this because they had the chance at other weddings and did so.
Everyone loved learning the dancing from other cultures and it definitely made our wedding unique and memorable.