As I previously mentioned, Mr. H and I will be having a Catholic Mass with some of the traditional Hispanic traditions involved. One of these items are the arras, the 13 coins that will be handed to Mr. H and then to me during the ceremony.
Many families have arras that they pass down through generations, but Mr. H’s family does not, so we began to search around for what kind of coins we wanted to use for the wedding. The only thing I was really picky on was that I wanted them to be silver (or at least a silver tone).
My immediate reaction was to start looking on the Internet. After Google searches galore, I realized that there seemed to be one particular vendor that dominated the arras world, J. McKinley. Each and every site that I clicked on seemed to only sell these brands of arras. Most of them were simple and it was hard to find silver ones as well.
We also thought about visiting local Hispanic Bazaars for coins, but after speaking with Mr. H’s mom and some of the Hispanic women at work, they didn’t think that I would find anything similar to what I was searching for (particularly when it came to quality).
So I kept searching. I found an article that listed a few sources for purchasing arras, which was helpful, and led me to a few interesting links, one of which was My Barong.
I remember from comments left by several Weddingbee readers from my previous post, that the Philippine culture shares many of the same traditions as the Hispanics because of their history of being ruled by Spaniards. My Barong sells Filipino wedding items, but they also sell unity coins in several varieties, silver or gold, shiny or matte, English or Spanish.
(~:~ Love ~:~ Trust ~:~ Commitment ~:~ Respect ~:~ Joy ~:~ Happiness ~:~ Harmony ~:~ Wisdom ~:~ Unity ~:~ Nurturing ~:~ Caring ~:~ Cooperation ~:~ Peace ~:~)
A nice feature about the coins is that they are large compared to most - about the size of a silver dollar instead of the usual dime or nickel sizes. What I loved the most about the coins is that on one side, there is an image of the Irish Wedding Knot, but on the opposite sides are 13 different icons with words that are meaningful to any marriage.
It meant more to me that the coins truly symbolized Mr. H and I coming together in marriage, moreso than just the same image on each one.
Before we made our final decision to purchase from My Barong, FMIL Hydrangea planned a trip to Mexico to visit her sister and offered to check out what they offered for arras. If she couldn’t find anything similar to what we were looking for, she was going to see about having them custom made. In the end, it turned out that, in order to custom make them, we would have to have the same image on each coin, so we opted to order from My Barong.
Mr. H wanted the shiny silver coins, and I decided that they should be in Spanish because it is one of the Hispanic traditions we are incorporating into our wedding, so we placed our order and received them in about a week. I took a short survey after the purchase and also received a $5 credit back to my card!
In the end, we really were happy with our decision and satisfied with the transaction. Have any of you had to find arras for your wedding? Was it as hard of a search for you as it was for me?
We had our wedding in the Philippines (I’m Filipina, he’s american) and incorporated almost all the Filipino traditions even if we did not have a Catholic wedding. For our arras (I’ve also seen them referred to as arrhae) we used half of what my sister used at her wedding which was gold-plated peso (Philippine currency) coins and silver dollars (sakagawea looked really pretty) and i thought that symbolized our marriage quite nicely. I’ve also seen these unity coins being sold in the weddings at work Philippines website.
I am also planning a wedding including Hispanic (Mexican) traditions. Yours is the first I have seen post about it. We are renewing our vows and having the wedding we went able to last time. It has been interesting and I am excited. I hope you will post more details about this element. What a cute couple you both are also!
My fiance’s parents just got back from the Philippines (their annual trip) and I can’t wait to see the cord, veil, and coins they picked up for us.
We had a hard time finding the veil. Luckily, my Aunt went to the Philippines and got me one…or was it two…and there’s a third one on its way. Hehe.
The cords, I found in downtown LA!
As for our coins, my dad has some silver coins dating back to the 1800s and we’ll be using those. He totally polished them out to make them all brand-spankin clean!
Our arras will consist of 12 coins from our travels, and 1 coin from where we are heading for our honeymoon 
We’re using the coins that my mom and dad used in their wedding!
My mom had our arrhae made in the philipines. She had the silver dollars recoated and connected with a heart in the middle. . For our cord she had american dimes connected to form a figure eight.
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!
Oh man, it was super hard to find them! I also liked the ones I mybarong best, but they still weren’t exactly what we wanted. In the end my fiance’s mom got us a set in the Filipines. We also found them at a Spanish bridal shop in Chicago, in case that helps anyone else.