Hey!! Today is LOVING DAY!!!! Do you know what Loving Day is? Loving Day is the day we celebrate the legalization of interracial marriage! And what better day to share our programs with you, I ask?!
Now, some of you are probably thinking, “what do wedding programs have to do with interracial marriage?” Well, let me tell you:
First, we are interracial (we’re getting the most obvious one out of the way first, clearly). Second, our program is all about being interracial (or rather, intercultural) because that’s what our wedding is all about. And third, we actually mention this at the end of our programs.
Before I begin, I must say that I have never paid attention to or even noticed programs at weddings, but I never doubted that we would have them. Half of our guests are Chinese and won’t understand the Jewish ceremony, and the other half of the guests will be Jewish and not understand the Chinese parts. We also have our friends, some of whom aren’t Jewish OR Chinese and won’t understand any of it. Thus, the programs.
First the pictures, then some words, shall we?
This here is my sewing machine, all ready to sew some programs. Unfortunately something went awry in the machine and I have to take it in for servicing before I can complete the pink stack and the blue stack…but the green ones are all done, which means I’m 1/3 of the way through. Why three colors? Because everything is colorful at this wedding, and we couldn’t choose just one color for the programs. They’re all the same inside, though.
Here is the design of the program:
I’m quite satisfied with it, but MAN were these a pain in the neck. Believe it or not, the programs were a bigger pain in the butt than the invitations. First off, there was a LOT of printing to be done. These are slightly smaller than half of a regular sheet of paper. Two pages could be printed on one sheet–and there are 13 pages in each program. Plus the front and back covers and the little tag thing. That is a LOT of paper to sew through. It is also a lot of printing and cutting. But mostly it is a lot of ARRANGING. Arranging things in the correct order was a crappy job. Mr. CP and I did it while watching a really, really bad movie. The whole experience was incredibly painful, I’m not going to lie. But it’s over, so we’ll move on.
Here’s an inside page:
Now, for content.
On Page 1, we have our wedding day timeline.
Page 2 is kind of a welcoming. It explains how we met and thanks everyone for being with us.
Page 3 explains the meaning of our ceremony site and the meaning of “our” song–My First, My Last, My Everything, by Barry White.
Page 4 explains the order of the ceremony and reminds people that there will be a group photo in the ampitheater after the ceremony.
Page 5 explains how much our cultures matter to us.
Page 6 summarizes the Chinese traditions.
Page 7 & 8 explain the Jewish traditions (there are more Jewish traditions than Chinese traditions because we’re having a Jewish ceremony).
Page 9 thanks our parents.
Page 10 thanks our officiant and explains how we know her and why she is special to us.
Page 11 is for the bridesmaids.
Page 12 is for the groomsmen.
Page 13 is our “Last but not least” page, in which we honor the memory of our family members who have passed away, thank my aunt and my mom for creating the chuppah, thank my uncle for reading the Seven Blessings, and thank our fuzzy children. At the bottom of this page, we also write:
“Less than fifty years ago, our inter-racial marriage would be illegal. Today we are not only proud to be marrying one another, but we are proud to be Californians, now that gay marriage is finally legal.”
Without fail, that last part makes me cry every single time.
Okay, so I know this all seems needlessly thorough, but trust me, it’s actually really perfect. Mr. Cream Puff gets bored easily by these things, and even HE said it was great and interesting. Which I took as the highest compliment, of course. 
At a later date, I will be going through all of the cultural aspects of our ceremony in separate posts. If you guys would like to see the actual wording of any of these other pages, let me know! I would be happy to share them with you, but I didn’t want to make an ultra-long post. 
To end this, how about a little bit of trivia? In 1948, exactly 60 years ago, interracial marriage was legalized in California. But it wasn’t until1967 that interracial marriage became legal in the United States. The history behind the fight for interracial marriage is very similar to the fight for gay marriage. Unbelievably, very similar reasoning was given for the “immorality” of interracial marriage, and a constitutional amendment was proposed to prohibit it (unfortunately in the case of gay marriage, the amendments passed in many states). I find it absolutely fascinating that it’s been only 41 years since the Loving decision, yet history is already repeating itself. Hopefully in another 41 years (hopefully less), it will be just as strange a thought that gay marriage was once illegal. Here’s to Loving Day! And here’s to really long programs!
*Sobs* I love you, Creampuffs! Thank you for sharing this and for putting this message in your programs. And Happy Loving Day from an interracial baby
That is a wonderful part to put in your programs. We have a couple who are our very good friends and I am bummed every day when I think that they might not ever be able to marry each other (we live in Alabama and they both own local businesses, so moving isn’t an option) in the eyes of the government. I would be proud to be from CA as well.
Great programs, by the way. You are so talented. What kind of needle did you use to get through all the paper?
Great post! Your programs look beautiful and I’d love to see your the wording to your program. Are you going to post it in your personal blog or bio or somewhere? Thanks!!
Oh, and I was a bridesmaid in my bff’s wedding to her now-wife last year here in CA. No, it wasn’t legal, but they went for it anyway and had a beautiful ceremony and said forget about the laws. I loved that. All 100 people in attendance, their bridal party, everyone gave them total support. They’ll have a civil ceremony now to make it legal, but I love that so many people can see how ridiculous it is and that some people are going on, living their lives the way they should and want, and fighting hard to force others to see things the way they should be seen.
So weird…I was also thinking about doing a sewn program with a tag of our monogram (I think I spotted it on the Knot). Did you have a problem sewing through so much paper? How did you hold the tag in place during the sewing process? Any tips on the sewing process are also appreciated.
Happy Loving Day! and I HEART your programs.
Also thanks for the background on interracial marriage, I’m embarrassed to admit I had no idea about the amendments.
I am so thankful for the lesson on Loving Day! I found this site, which is great: http://www.lovingday.org/
My fiance and I are an interracial couple, but being seventh generation American and quite a mix of all things fair-skinned, I don’t have a strong cultural background of my own, whereas my fiance has a very strong cultural background. I am very into learning about interracial relationships, raising multi-racial children, etc. and my fiance doesn’t even think about race.
Thanks for the info!
Do you always hear about what beautiful children you will have? : ) I love your programs!!
Miss CP, your programs are lovely, both visually and in the beautiful ideas they contain.
I’m going to be an annoying lawyer and make one minor correction to your last paragraph. The Loving v. Virginia decision didn’t legalize interracial marriage, but rather struck down state laws that prohibited or refused to recognize interracial marriage. (Only reason I point it out is that it sounds confusing when you talk about the California law first.) It was one of my most favorite decisions that I read in law school.
What a great post! Cute programs and a great message!
Ummmm, Cream Puff, you are like, my idol. I LOVVVVE anything with paper and thread, and sewn programs are like, the top of my list. Not to mention, I love everything about your wedding.. but this threw me over the edge.
Yay for California leading the way once again! (I hope the rest of the country gets with the program a little quicker this time.)
Happy Loving Day to all!
Happy Loving Day - great post as always (and very cool programs)!
Your programs are so cute, though the messages they convey are even more special! You are getting married the same month as me so seeing you getting your programs done really makes me want to move my butt to get mine done Thanks for sharing!
I LOVE IT!!!!!!! you’re scary ms cp. i had a vision of this program.. well rather an invitation for my niece baptismal with the same cover w/a hanging tag and binding idea. JUST LAST NIGHT! kinda eerie. Thanks for sharing the facts of Loving day.
These are gorgeous! I am seriously interested in seeing the text for these — we want to do something very similar and I’m so excited to see this. Please share??
they look gorgeous and i love the sewing part. i wish i had a sewing machine… but i probably wouldn’t know how to use it! could you share the text.. please?
Love the Loving Day and your acknowledgment of same-sex couples. Great post!
I hope your guests are open minded. Very nice programs.
@V: So what if they’re not? We have some very, um, close-minded guests and we’re still having a moment of silence both for appreciation of family members not able to make it and for those who don’t yet have the legal ability to marry. I fully expect it to make some people uncomfortable, and in my opinion, that’s all the more reason to do it.
@Miss Cherry Pie: totally with you Miss Cherry Pie!! I think there is way too much concern for what is “pc” and not ruffling people’s feathers or making them the least bit uncomfortable–what about healthy dialogue and respect for people opinions? People should never be afraid to express themselves–especially to their family and friends! What Miss Cream Puff is doing is awesome–a true reflection of her & Mr. Cream Puff’s identities.
Your posts are always so inspiring & beautiful…I think I have a bride crush hehe.
@Miss Cherry Pie:
I totally agree with you, there are always going to be people who are closed-minded and not willing to listen to reason, but those people shouldn’t change the way we express our love for each other.
Happy Loving Day!
What a great post! Thanks for the bit of history as well–I had no idea! Can I pick you brains about what Chinese traditions you’re including in your ceremony? I am thinking of sewing our programs as well, but 13 pages–wow! Well done!
Love, love, love!!! I’m actually doing a variation of sewing on my invites and programs, too!
Miss Cherry Pie:
the worst: they walk off the wedding
the medium: people are WTF? but stay quiet and go about their wedding business or just ignore the whole thing.
the best: people leave with a message.
Obviously, I just voiced a thought and not a bad one at that…you don’t have to jump on me.
Personally, I don’t think weddings need to be a political statement but I guess is about love, right?
I’m in an interracial relationship as well, so I would love to see the text of your programs. Go for the uber-long post, Ms. CP!
I’m also seconding the calls for sewing tips - I love stitched bindings like this, but I’m not particularly skilled at sewing. lol.
I’m not American, so I never knew that interracial marriage was illegal less than 50 years ago. That honestly horrifies me. I absolutely applaud you for standing up for marriage equality. Well done
Awesome post, Miss CP! It definitely is something to celebrate… I know. Alex and I are an interracial couple as well. And I love the nod to the legalization of gay marriage. What a great way to promote that gay marriage should also be seen as a celebration of love as much as any other marriage is.
First off, awesome programs! Second- thank you so much for sharing this. My husband is out of town so I just sent him an email to wish him a Happy Loving Day! I do believe we will have to celebrate every year.
V, I don’t think anyone was jumping on you. I think Miss Cherry Pie was just explaining why making some people uncomfortable for a few moments wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Any anyone who would walk out of a loved one’s wedding because they asked for a moment to reflect on those who are not so lucky is a world-class A-hole. I’d be like, “Peace Out! Good riddance!”.
Can you imagine if, pre-Loving Day, a sixties bride asked for a moment to reflect on interracial couples who weren’t able to legally marry? And some of her relatives walked out in disgust? I wouldn’t want jerks like that at my wedding anyway- better for them to make themselves known.
My family is super-conservative, as well, but my fiance and I are going to note the inequalities of current marriage laws at our wedding as well. And if it makes them uncomfortable? I hope they’re ashamed of themselves.
I love them. I have been struggling a lot with program ideas, I may have to try something similar. A couple of questions:
How much of a “gap” did you allow on the binding edge? The page you show has a lot of white space, are they all like that or are others closer to the sewn edge, are they still readable?
What size did you make them - you said smaller then a half sheet, but what are the dimensions. I really want to get 2 programs/piece of paper
Thanks and great job!
CP, as usual, i am impressed with your wedding planning skill! i lvoe all the cool crafty stuff you’ve put together!
as for this sideline discussion about the last paragraph in the programs: the CPs are interacial after all…i would assume that if guests are open minded enough to enjoy the day with the CPs they wouldn’t have that big of an issue with the mention of gay marriage either.
@V: Sorry, didn’t mean to come off as jumping on you. I was just trying to probe further into why you would worry about that.
That sounds really nice and the cover looks so good with the stitching.
We really didn’t have much to cover in our programs except to explain the glass breaking so unlike ours it sounds like your program is actually useful.
How lovely!
I get it…i guess I should’ve told my backstory…
I was just throwing the thought out there cause one of my aunts…whose son we (the cousins) KNOW he’s gay…made my jaw dropped once.
It was election time and I was voting liberal and she asked me why…I said ’cause they have good inmigration laws (easier for families to unite, sponsorship, work, etc.) and provide equal rights to people (gay & straight)..they legalized gay marriage….she found my views offensive…and went about how ALL homosexuals are pedophiles…yes..that’s what she said…and by molesting children that’s how children become homosexual and that’s how gays came to be.
like I said…my jaw to the floor….
If my aunt had seen this program…she would’ve walked off….poor cousin!
Thanks so much for sharing your programs! They are absolutely lovely. You really should share the wording with us!
[...] of you may remember my programs (I hope so, it was just last week–we better not be that old!), which were sewn [...]
Lovely programs and love the tags! Would you mind sharing some of the wording on the Jewish traditions? We are also multicultural (Jewish & Vietnamese). Your post has inspired me to include some notes on the cultural traditions that we’ll be including. You can email me at tbwinson@yahoo.com it that’s easier for you.
[...] on the left, but after a few trial runs with Mama Canary… it just wasn’t working out. Like Miss Creampuff, our needle would get stuck or break. I didn’t want to subject Mama Canary to the torture of [...]
[...] I posted my programs awhile back, some of you were interested in reading about the various cultural stuff we’d [...]
[...] about an hour later, I realized that the programs I’d slaved over are now printed with the wrong information. I’d dropped them off at the shoe [...]
[...] their support for marriage equality. For example, Miss Creampuff is putting a statement in her programs. Miss Cherry Pie mentioned doing a moment of silence during her ceremony. I hope these ideas help [...]
[...] you may recall, I was about a quarter of the way through our programs when I accidentally jammed my sewing machine and production STOPPED. You may also recall that our [...]
Mrs. Cream Puff, San Francisco Bay Area
Age and Occupation: 25, Illustrator
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 31, Merchandise Planner
Engagement Date: May 27, 2007
Wedding Date: August, 2008
Blogging Since: February 7, 2008
Venue: Ceremony at Crissy Field and Reception at the Green Room
About Me: I never dreamed about my wedding as a little girl because I was too busy playing in the mud or pretending to be Martha Stewart–but now that it's here, I'm having a fabulous time DIYing everything in sight! We’re planning a very fun multicultural wedding (I'm Jewish and Mr. Cream Puff is Chinese), filled with as many personal details as I can muster.
Hey CP! I had no idea about that. Thanks for the history lesson. I guess you can say we will be having an interracial marriage too. FI is Mexican and I am Scottish.
I love the programs too!