To Some Marriage Is A Word; To Others A Sentence.

[rrptownley]

This is all great.

One thing though, for those who had bi-lingual weddings. How did you go about speeches and such? Groom's family do not speak spanish and bride's family don't speak english

 

[syngirl]

A word, definitely a word

So I did it. I asked my Girlfriend of 5 years to marry me. She said yes and now we are in full planning mode for an end of November wedding.
Yippee!
But yes, there are some trails to overcome and where else do I come for help but faithful Baexpats.org.
I have studied and garnered all the valuable information from these threads: 1, 2, 3, 4.
What I still need to know (please) is:

Goldsmiths recommendations for the rings.
Wedding dress recommendations.
Event spaces outside Capital within 1 hour drive.
Florists.
Catering.

Our budget is, low. :angry:
If you have any recommendations to share I would be really grateful. We are open to (nearly) anything!

How many people? (for the venue) and when are you planning to get married?
Friday and Sunday weddings tend to be cheaper - at least as far as the venue. Also more availability.
Try to avoid high season.

Congratulations!

Better yet, mid-week, especially if your budget is low. You could try for a Thurs night before a long weekend -- we did that and it cut a fair bit off the budget. Or the monday afternoon of the long weekend as well.

What style of wedding do you want? There are cheaper venues but not necessarily that great, we looked at a lot, years ago -- ie the estimates quoted wouldn't have much to do with now. There was a forum somewhere out there where people talked about prices -- look up argentina novias or casamientos and maybe it will come up -- foro de novias maybe? Cant remember... It can be cheaper to just contract everything with a salon and have them do all the catering etc. Make sure to pay everything cash except the bond -- the insurance deposit that they are supposed to give you back assuming nothing is broken. Pay that one with a cheque if you can, they will give you so much run around and bs on giving that money back that it's best to pay with a cheque you can cancel if necessary!

 

[Dublin2BuenosAires]

This is all great.

One thing though, for those who had bi-lingual weddings. How did you go about speeches and such? Groom's family do not speak spanish and bride's family don't speak english

We translated both, i.e. best man spoke in English, then some read the speech in Spanish or vice versa. We also had lots of photos on a projector (a ppt basically) and stuff to look at when the other language was being spoken. We did it paragraph by paragraph, i.e. anecdote or story in English, then repeat in Spanish. Was great for the shorter speeches, but the windbags (my brother mainly!)...who flaunted the 3 min speech rule, with them it dragged a little. If you go this route, you have to be really firm with people in telling them they have to do short speeches. If I did it again I would have would called around a few weeks before and told people that I really did need them to stick to the short speech rule.

Basically, it is very possible to read in both languages but critical to have pithy short speeches. ...and plenty of booze for the toasts.

 

[syngirl]

This is all great.

One thing though, for those who had bi-lingual weddings. How did you go about speeches and such? Groom's family do not speak spanish and bride's family don't speak english

By the way congrats!

At Argentine weddings there really are no speeches, they are not familiar with this tradition of best man speeches etc. At the most there may be some words said at the toast, but even that isn't necessarily done. So if you want speeches, I'd really say keep it short and that way it's easier to translate a bit back and forth. And I mean short like 5 mins tops, nothing like the literally 35 minutes+ biography delivered by my friend's brother, his best man. I remember turning to my tablemate at minute 15 when we were just seeing the brothers graduate from high school, and I said oh crap, Neil's just turned 40, we're only at age 18, can this really go on for that long? Turns out that yes, yes it could. I remember the bride's face was just kind of a frozen polite smile thinking exactly the same as everyone else "did he not practice this in front of someone else before the big day?"

 

[Dublin2BuenosAires]

Yeah, more of a brindis than speech...thats the way to go.

 

[rrptownley]

Luckily all my friends and family seem to be social media gurus or journalists. I think I'll stipulate a 140 characters or fewer policy .

 

[rrptownley]

Saturday is fixed now. Looks like they'll be drinking vodka nacional, I'll stretch to imported gin.

 

[Dublin2BuenosAires]

Saturday is fixed now. Looks like they'll be drinking vodka nacional, I'll stretch to imported gin.

Just stay away from the whiskey nacional, better off drinking 4 star mixed with window cleaner.

 

[glasgowjohn]

Just stay away from the whiskey nacional, better off drinking 4 star mixed with window cleaner.

That sounds like a Middletons man talking !!!!

 

[Dublin2BuenosAires]

That sounds like a Middletons man talking !!!!

I like a nice Green Spot, or Lockes (Lockes 8 yr old is a great whiskey for the price!) or an older Bushmills. Generally prefer the smoother irish whiskeys to the petey-smokey island whiskeys (or even the smokier connemarra whiskeys from out in the bog)but they have their moments too. Remain unconvinced by bourbon as it tastes thin and sweet to me, not much depth. Maybe I am drinking the wrong kind.

On the flip side I much prefer scottish smooth ales to Irish stouts, so I am not totally biased !