How do I accomidate non-english speaking guests?

Question

The grooms family's native language is Spanish. The majority can speak a little English or at least understand it, but there is a handful (mother and father in law included) who would miss out on quite a bit if Spanish weren't available. I want them to have fun & feel included too. Many of them are traveling from Mexico and Spain to the States to attend and I want to express my gratitude.

How can I incorporate spanish into our wedding ceremony in a way that's not distracting to our English-speaking guests but makes our Groom's family feel welcome?

Answer 1

I went to a wedding where the bride was Guatemalan, and the groom was American. They had a bilingual ceremony ,since the bride's family didn't speak English. If you haven't found a church yet, and there is a significant Hispanic population in your area, try to see if there is a church that has services in Spanish.

Most of the officiants in those churches speak both Spanish and English, and they usually don't mind holding a bilingual ceremony.

At the reception, you can alternate between songs in English and in Spanish. Ask a younger member of the groom's family to help you make a list of songs. Most Latin American songs are great to dance to, and I'm sure the English-speaking guests won't mind them.

If you are Catholic, you can also have Latin mass, that way nobody would understand it, but it'll still sound beautiful.

Answer 2

Give them Spanish to English dictionaries.  Than hand them a tray full of champaigne to pass out to the guests.

Answer 3

Hand them(the hand full that can't speak) a written version in spanish,or say it orally in both languages.

Answer 4

can you find someone to do teh ceremony that is bi-lingual?  Or get a translator to say everything as it goes?

Answer 5

Wow- that is really tough to do, especially if you and your immediate family do not speak Spanish.   Luckily, most wedding ceremonies are pretty much the same.  Perhaps you could hire a bilingual pastor that could give part of his sermon in English, and part in Spanish.  Also, instead of having one prayer, perhaps you could have two, with one in English and one in Spanish.

If the food you are serving is buffet-style, then make sure that the markers say the food's name in both Spanish and English, especially if it is difficult for the guests to identify what the food is.  If the guests pre-order the food when they RSVP, make sure the choices are in Spanish as well.

There are some really beautiful Spanish songs that you could play at the ceremony, or maybe (if it's in the budget) you could hire a mariachi band to play some live songs.

Answer 6

Maybe put a giant banner that says "Hello" or "welcome to our wedding" in both english and spanish

or put it on the invitations... that will make them feel included.

I went to a wedding where the bride was Chinese and they had this big Chinese dance with one of those crazy paper dragons you see on TV in parades. Maybe you could do something like that thats more traditional for the spanish.

IF there are kids maybe during dinner have a piniata hung out on the dance floor.

Answer 7

You are so considerate! Hire an "interpreter". Try to find a local spanish teacher at a High school/college. If you have close friends that speak the language, ask them to helpout a little. Personally, that's what i would try. Hope it helps, good luck!

Answer 8

I'm not sure what your budget is like, or what sort of restrictions your venue for the ceremony has, but you can use an LCD projector & screen (if you have the ceremony at a hotel, they can easily rent this stuff to you) to display the 'gist' of what is going on during that particular part of the ceremony.  I attended my sister-in-law's Korean speaking only church, and they basically put up things on the screen that let English speakers know what part of the service we were in, and what the general idea was.  So, if we did a scripture reading, the translation would be on the screen.  You could do something similar.  And you could even display the exact vows on the screen.  You're going to need a 'tech' or someone to switch slides.  But I think you could easily put something together on power point.  Work closely with your officiant on the order of wedding and what important points should be on the screen.

Or for music, you could also certainly incorporate Spanish hyms or songs into your ceremony.  Perhaps you could do your vows in English, and your fiancee do his in Spanish?

Or on a more basic level, you could also do translations on your program for the scriptures and vows.

I attended a Korean/English Wedding where there were 2 officiants, and everything was spoken in with English AND Korean, if that's an option for you, as well?

Answer 9

I find this incredibly considerate of you to want to accomodate the non-english speakers.  They're traveling a long way and spending a lot of money so pat yourself on the back for your good manners!  

This would be one time where I would encourage a 'program' - it can be done in both languages.  Do you have a bi-lingual officiant, or perhaps someone at the church or a close friend could translate what's being said?    I don't know how much it costs but the courts use translators and you may be able to hire a translator that could provide the little headset OR have the translator speak out loud... no shame in a bi-lingual "broadcast" of your ceremony..  

Congtats & best wishes

Answer 10

that was my situation to but it wasnt a wedding..it was church. i was an english speaker that was attending a spanish speaking church with my inlaws. there were 2 gringas (white girls) attending so this was so nice; they gave us earphones and we tuned into the correct frequency & there was someone in the back translating the entire thing for us. that worked the best.  

Answer 11

maybe you could learn your vows in spanish and the groom could say them in english

that would be nice :)

Answer 12

We were in the same situation, but with Ukrainian.

We had our wedding ceremony all done in the Ukrainian language, with the booklets of the service being bilingual, so everyone could follow.

For the dinner/program - our MC was one of my older sisters who is fluently bilingual, so she used both languages. Speakers did a bit of both. For thank yous, my husband spoke in Ukrainian, I did English (I'm not fluent in Ukr.).

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Talk with your officiant to see if it's possible to do at least a bilingual ceremony - depending on the denomination, etc. a pastor/priest will sometimes allow another celebrant with him to do the ceremony.

Also, just as an aside, we had bilingual wedding invitations. They were the type which are folded, so the front just had flowers and our names, and inside - the left side was all the information in Ukrainian, the right side was English.

Good luck!

Hope you are having a great mix of cultural foods and music, too!

Answer 13

I think it would be a really nice gesture if you said your vows in Spanish. It would show that you appreciate and respect your husband, his family, and his culture. Other than that, i think most weddings are pretty much the same, but maybe you could include a few things that are traditional in your husband's culture. And bone up in your spanish a little, so you can at least greet and thank your guests in their language. I'm sure they will really appreciate it. Also, your first dance could be to a spanish song, or even do a spanish dance...the list goes on, I'm sure you'll figure a lot of things out. Good luck!

Answer 14

Well I guess you could have a person translate what the English speaker says like sentence by sentence unless you don't mind them whispering to each other. Or you could invest a little and buy headphones that will be connected to someone who is translating live

Answer 15

Study spanish words on the internet

Answer 16

tell them to take ESL classes! no just kidding. here's a good idea hire a translator to follow them and convert the english spoken ceremony into spanish (the translator can whisper to them during the actual wedding) or the headphones in the ears that speak spanish to them from a live translator

Answer 17

Get a translator and have them sit close to the Spanish speaking guests.

If you can't get anyone, don't worry too much about it. I'm sure your groom will be happy to tell his family how appreciative you are.  Body language is going to be very important so Smile a lot.

I went to an all spanish language wedding and they didn't translate anything. It was still like any other wedding I've been to and the reception was a lot of fun.

Answer 18

Just make sure they have plenty to drink, and all else will work itself out...

Answer 19

My husband is Albanian, and we had the same problem when his family came over for our wedding. We didn't have anything translated. A wedding is a wedding. His parents were proud to be there with him and we made sure that we attended to them at the reception, if they knew what they were eating and what we were going to do next and why. It was a lot of fun, and just having everyone there to share in our special day was great. It didn't matter if we didn't understand eachother verbally. Some of his family did speak English, so they translated any time we needed it.