La Musica

Planning a multicultural wedding isn't as hard I had thought it would be. May I remind you that I still have 8 months left, but I'm going to be optimistic about this fact. The most difficult thing (aside from cutting down the guest list) has been figuring out what to do with the music at our wedding.

Mr. Hydrangea's family is from Mexico - and his generation is the first born in the U.S. Their musical tastes tend to be very traditional Mexican music. My family is a traditional American family, with musical tastes that are all shades of the rainbow...except Hispanic music. Not because they dislike it, but because none of them were raised listening to it.

In the beginning, Mr. Hydrangea and I wanted to have live music at our wedding. We think that the entertainment value of a live band would be awesome and a little different then just a dj. As we researched more and more for a band to play at our wedding, it became very evident that having a band that could play both your "regular" music and the traditional Mexican music that his family likes would be a VERY difficult task (and also an expensive one at that).

From the day that I started researching for our wedding (which happened to be a couple of months into our relationship...a little premature I know), I researched all avenues for each type of vendor and came upon a popular Dallas dj who also happened to own a popular lighting company in Dallas, Lite Dallas. Since I was sure I wanted live music, I left this option on the back burner. Fast forward to 5 months after our engagement and I decided to give the dj a shot, musically.

To my surprise, when I spoke to him on the phone he mentioned that one of his assistants happens to be Hispanic and that they perform about 7-8 of the same types of weddings each year. I figured this might be a really good thing, so I setup a time to meet with him to see his personality and find out what kind of a dj he really is, i.e. is he cheesy?!

Definitely not so! I think this was the most excited I've seen Mr. Hydrangea through the whole planning process, and the one meeting I've managed to get him to attend for the wedding. He completely calmed our nerves about having a typical dj and made us feel even better about combining our two VERY different families in one big room.

The best part is that we will most likely have a Mexican Trio to play for our cocktail hour so we will still have some element of live music at our wedding.

(picture from www.triosoldemexico.com)

Andy has you fill out an entire notebook of important facts: where to be, what you like, who can (and cannot) make speeches, details on your wedding party, etc. The fun part is that when he introduces our wedding party, he's going to to a lighthearted roast of each of them to break the ice and get everyone's attention.

We are really excited about having a dj, instead of a band. If money was no object, we'd have it all. How did you all decide your music for your reception? Did any of you face the dilemma of blending to cultures, and music genres, into your party?