Wedding Blog

The past two Sundays, Mr. Hydrangea and I have begun to ask his family to participate in our wedding for all of the Hispanic traditions that will be incorporated into our wedding ceremony. Well, I should say they all talked and I more or less listened as they all spoke in Spanish. I can understand nearly everything, but have yet to work up the nerve to try to speak to his family. I get a little embarrassed and intimidated, which I’m hoping I’ll grow out of one of these days.

Because one of the couples that we wanted to ask to be in the ceremony lives in Mexico, we had to call them and ask them to be the Padrinos for the arras. Essentially this means that they will purchase the arras, or coins, that we will use in the ceremony. The arras are the 13 coins that the Padrinos bring up to the altar and hand to the groom. The groom then places these coins into the bride’s hands to symbolize his promise to support his new family.

Last night, we (myself, Mr. H, FMIL Hydrangea and FFIL Hydrangea) went in person to meet with another Aunt and Uncle, but they live in our hometown so we made a personal visit. They knew that we were coming over, so they had cheesecake and fruit waiting and we sat and chatted. At one point, I had to nudge Mr. H because he was nervous as to what to say, so he kept waiting…and waiting…and waiting. Finally he asked them to be our Padrinos for the anillos (wedding rings). While these Padrinos can give money for the rings or purchase them for us, they will also bring the rings up to the altar and hand them to the priest during the ceremony.

For our last stop of the night, we went to Mr. H’s Padrinos’ home. These are his Godparents who baptized him when he was an infant. We sat down and all talked a little, and then Mr. H asked them to be the Padrinos de Velación, which essentially means that they will help to pay for the church for the ceremony. Because they baptized him as a child, it is considered one of their responsibilities as Godparents to pay for the church when Mr. H gets married. Then we ate more cheesecake.

Most of these items we intend on purchasing ourselves. When the Padrinos accepted being in the wedding, we just told them that they could contribute whatever they would like towards the wedding. These couples are asked to participate not only financially, but also to act as our mentors throughout our engagement and our marriage. It is considered an honor for them to be asked to participate in the wedding, but for us it is also an honor for them to accept the position.

I really enjoyed visiting with Mr. H’s family, although the communication barrier sometimes left me a little confused. Next weekend we are off to ask a few more people to participate, but I know one thing that I definitely will not do before we go: eat dinner. After two houses and two large pieces of cheesecake, I thought I was going to burst.

More to come…