The Best Tips for a Bilingual Wedding
- Anika Kreckel
- Aug 22, 2024
- 5 min read
Having a wedding, or any event, where not everyone speaks the same language is super cool, but also logistically challenging. At my own wedding, we had people who spoke only English, only German, or only Italian, and some people who spoke a combination of all two or three. To make sure everyone felt included in the festivities, regardless of what language(s) they spoke, we focused on the following areas:
the wedding website
our ceremony
programs, menus, signs, etc.
speeches & toasts
and mingling among guests
As a wedding planner that specializes in creating meaningful celebrations centered around connection and bringing together cultures, I'll describe what you can do to help make your wedding inclusive, regardless of what languages your guests speak!
Select a bilingual wedding website
While there are a ton of options out there for wedding websites, I have found that there is really only one that caters to multilingual weddings, and that's Wedsites. With Wedsites you can:
create the same website in two different languages
assign a preferred language to each guest
allow guests to RSVP in their preferred language
send digital invitations to guests in their preferred language
Wedsites offers all the best features of a wedding website, including guest contact collection, RSVP management, and actually helpful planning tools. The RSVP features can be extensively customized for individual events and guest lists for different events across different days, and you can hide certain parts of the website from guests who don't need certain information. These are amazing features to have, if you're planning a multi-day affair.
If you are looking for a wedding website for your multilingual wedding (or any wedding!) I can't recommend Wedsites enough.
(These are purely my own opinions, and are not sponsored!)
Help guests understand the ceremony
First things first, if you can, choose a bilingual or multilingual officiant. This could be someone who speaks the languages the guests speak, or it could even be two, or three people! Just keep in mind, if you're getting legally married, the main officiant has to abide by the legal rules of marriage wherever the ceremony is taking place.
Strategy 1 - translate as you go
As the ceremony is taking place, you could opt to have the officiant(s) speak a bit in the first language and then translate into the second. Doing this in small chunks makes it manageable for the guests to follow, and not feel lost because one language is being spoken for too long a stretch. At my wedding we were a bit concerned this would make the whole ceremony feel too long, but it didn't! Partially, because we combined this strategy with another...
Strategy 2 - provide a written translation
Provide a written translation to the guests. This is ideally only for parts of the ceremony, but can be done for the whole thing, if that makes the most sense for your wedding! We opted to verbally translate the main parts of the ceremony and then give guests a written translation with their programs, for the elements of the ceremony that were more personal. For us that meant, when our officiant spoke directly to my husband and me and shared memories of us and our relationship, she spoke only in English and the translation was printed out.
Strategy 3 - let the context take care of things
Instead of translating everything word-for-word, either in writing or verbally, you can leave some things to be understood by context. For example, my husband did his vows in German and I did mine in English. At the end of the ceremony our officiant said some of the closing words in German and some in English. You really don't need to translate "you may kiss," or "family and friends, let's celebrate." What happens directly afterwards usually explains itself 😉.
In the end, choose the combination of strategies that feels right to you. It will also really depend on how many guests you have that speak each language and how good they are at understanding the other language that is spoken.
Translate your written materials
Programs, menus, and informational signs are all things you'll want to translate at your wedding, so everyone knows what's going on.
Having a greeter at your ceremony to ask guests which language they need for their program and/or ceremony translation is key.
If you're having a plated dinner, indicate which guests need which language menu on the seating chart in order to help the caterer or the wedding coordinator set up.
If you have a guest book, or games, or favors that require an explanation, don't leave people out! Make sure these instructions are printed in both languages.
Translate the speeches? How!?
This is a tricky one, because a lot of people write their speeches or toasts at the last minute, or even do it off the cuff. Instead of translating everything, you can select an equal number of people to give speeches in each language and alternate between them. Or, you might be lucky enough to have friends and family who can give a speech or a toast in both languages!
Google Translate's talk to text feature is actually pretty good, so you can also tell your guests to open up the app, hit the microphone button and watch the speech be translated before their eyes. Careful though, while the app's default setting is just to translate to text, there is an option to have the translation be read out loud from the app, and if this accidentally happens, it could be disruptive.
If you really want to be sure everyone understands everything, you can make sure people write their speeches in advance, translate them, and then have printed copies at people's seats during dinner.
Get the guests to mingle...
This can be tricky at any wedding, but especially so when there is a language barrier. If you're having a seating chart for dinner, being deliberate about mixing people up a bit, but keeping them close to people that you know they can communicate with is very important.
Incorporating games like conversation cards (in both languages!) and a photo scavenger hunt can help people come together over a shared activity. At our wedding, guests had a lot of fun with our photo scavenger hunt. Unfortunately the cards were premade in German only, so we designated two bilingual friends to go around to everyone explaining the game, and guests helped each other carry out the tasks.
Takeaways
All in all, hosting a multilingual wedding does require a bit more thought and effort, but that additional work is worth it if it helps you and your loved ones feel more connected to each other on your wedding day.
You don't have to do it perfectly. Choose what feels right to you!
Do your best with the resources you have and get creative based on the unique circumstances of your own wedding.
Maris Events specializes in making bilingual or multilingual events a success! If you're bringing different cultures together and getting married somewhere in Europe or New England, we're happy to help you plan your dream wedding.
Select photos taken by Lucrezia Senserini
