Stealing Culture

One thing I hadn't planned on feeling while planning our wedding was jealousy...  Ok, maybe a bit of jealously over some fabulous DIY or decorations seen on the web would be normal.  Or, a tiny tinge upon seeing some waif-ish bride wearing the same dress I'll be wearing and looking PERFECT! (Seriously, I saw pictures of at least three weddings with my dress in the last month, one of which was at our venue!)

But, being jealous of my FI and his family because they have more culture?  Is that weird?

I don't really think about my ethnic background very often.  My family is mostly German on both sides, with a little bit of Scottish thrown in on my dad's.  But, we don't actually celebrate our heritage in our daily lives or even on holidays or special occasions.

We do have some traditions around the holidays, but most of them are religious or just odd family-based things (like having baked beans at our Christmas dinner).  There is nothing I can claim as a cultural or ethnic based activity...  And, none of this ever really made me feel any kind of negative emotion until very recently.

When we started planning our wedding, I knew I wanted to incorporate some aspects that celebrated the FI's ethnicity.  Most of his family is very involved with activities and festivals that keep their Mexican roots alive day to day.

Three of his nieces dance with a traditional Mexican Folk Dancing group and perform around Detroit at parades and festivals.  It is so much fun to see them, with the bright outfits and twirling, like this:

from dc.about.com 

(from a search, not anyone in the FI's family, that I'm aware of anyway)

Most of his family can speak Spanish - and his grandmother once asked me if I was planning to learn.  There are traditional Mexican foods served year round, not just on holidays or special occasions.  And, the FMIL still lives in the part of Detroit called Mexicantown, where many of the people share the same heritage.

It's so completely different than my own family and our lack of heritage awareness.

At first, as I picked out items for our wedding, I didn't really think about slipperly slope I was on.  I saw one of our "themes" as vintage with a mexicana twist...  Loteria cards for escort cards and maybe a bit of papel picado for decoration at the reception.  That's all it was.

Then, time went by, and my wedding started to look more and more like inspiration boards with names like "fiesta wedding" or "cinco de mayo wedding":

From Chartreuse Love

Papel picado - yep.  Mexican wedding cookies - probably.  Fans - got em a few weeks back.  There are loteria cards for sure.  Mexican birds/hearts on the invites cut out to look like aforementioned papel picado - absolutely.  Jarritos sodas - planning on it.  Mexican food - at the rehearsal dinner.  Crepe paper flowers - the FI's family is making a bunch for our wedding arch.

It sort of exploded.  And, I'm really pleased with the way things are coming together.  I think it will be beautiful.

But, my original plan was for the wedding to reflect us as a couple and I'm beginning to feel like my part in things is slipping a bit...  Will anyone see me in the details?

I don't want to change anything (and, with only eleven weeks to go, I doubt that I'd have the time to re-do it all anyway) but I have been feeling a bit down about not having much culture to contribute.

Will your wedding reflect your's and your significant other's heritages?  Or, like me, are you coming from a life with few ties to your roots?  How will you balance the details to reflect both of you?