Cultural Orphan

Last year, I was a bridesmaid in a friend's wedding. The ceremony was a traditional garden wedding with a gazebo and beautiful flowers. Her colors: chocolate brown and rose pink. She looked stunning in her white dress, with flowers in her hair. The string quartet played traditional wedding tunes. I was blown away.

But when we got to the reception site all of us girls were called into the dressing room to help her change out of her white dress, and into the traditional red Chinese wedding attire, which she had already worn once that morning in a traditional Chinese ceremony with their immediate families. The four of us bridesmaids huddled around her as we rushed to help her put on at least twenty pieces of gold jewelry, which was representative of good luck, wealth, and prosperity. The white flowers in her hair were replaced with red rosebuds. She looked even more beautiful than before. An hour or so into the many-course Chinese dinner, we were called back to the dressing room to help her change into another red dress. This one also reflected her Chinese heritage, but was a more modern and quite a bit sexier. This one was clearly her favorite.

A few weeks later, the fiance and I went to a the wedding of a Mexican-American co-worker. They had a mariachi band—SO fun!

I really love the idea of celebrating your heritage through your wedding. Unfortunately, my fiance and I both come from a mixed European descent (German and Polish, we think), and the wedding traditions I've stumbled upon are less appealing than all the Chinese customs. I suppose the white gown and veil, vows, and ring are the custom. But I know there have to be more creative ways to pay homage to our roots (even though we're not really sure what those roots are). Do you have any ideas? Anyone adding German or Polish traditions to their ceremonies or receptions?