Integrating Cultural Diversity into Weddings

Throughout Canada there are many cultures and ethnicities; specifically, 500 ethnic and cultural origins were reported in the 2021 Census. So, when two people decide on marriage, a creative way to express to themselves to friends and family is to incorporate traditions and aspects from both cultures.

Having worked as an event planner for the past four years, I have worked at 100’s of weddings. In my experience, I have found that when couples bring out their cultures during the ceremony and reception the guests are more attentive, and it makes the day more memorable. To integrate both modern and traditional customs into your couple’s multicultural wedding you must first find the right vendors to work with. This is where we – wedding planners- come in with our “little black book” to guide and encourage cultural diversity by having a strategic roster of vendors that can cater to all customs.

Key aspects that will help you bring both of the couples’ cultures to life are as follows:

• Finding a Multicultural (multi-faith) officiant
• Having a mix of cultural foods
• Hiring a diverse DJ or another form of entertainment unique to your culture

Your Officiant or Religious Guide

This summer I had the pleasure of working with a talented interfaith officiant named Floralove Katz. She was flown out from Ottawa to Whistler by the couple, where she officiated a custom Jewish & Muslim ceremony. Floralove offers bilingual or multilingual ceremonies; interfaith, secular, gay, civil, spiritual, creative or theme weddings. A professional singer, Floralove can include Cantorial blessings, hymns, prayers, and preferred songs. Experiencing such a unique ceremony that blended their cultures together was so special. This is a call for more interfaith officiants! Start networking with different officiants to find people that can customize and create something unique for your clients

Ethnic Food & Drink

Food and drink are such an important aspect of the wedding for most couples. This is why, as wedding planners, we need to show them that they have options! Picking basic plated chicken and beef meals is going out of fashion, as new and exciting food concepts are taking over weddings. When trying to combine two cultures it’s a fun idea to have the canapes or appetizers highlight one side, while the main dinner highlights the other culture. Having a dessert table is an easy way for guests to sample a variety of different desserts from your culture too. In Toronto, Marigolds & Onions will cater to any culture and even has a multicultural wedding menu.

Having a buffet dinner is also an easy way to incorporate different types of food at your event. The picture shown below is from a Chinese and Pakistani wedding that we planned this summer.

Multicultural DJ & Entertainment

A party isn’t a party without music!! Make sure you explore all entertainment options with your couple: live bands, singers, harpists, DJs, and other types of traditional music. Make sure that your band or DJ recommendation has experience playing all types of music, and if they are directing traditional dances, like the hora, make sure that they have led the dances before. Using the hora as an example, many guests attending the wedding who are not Jewish have never danced the hora before. If you have an experienced DJ, they can direct guests on how to move, so more people join the dance floor and enjoy the experience.

One of my favourite harpists in Toronto, Denise Fung, can learn any song on her harp. She can take songs from any culture and learn to play them for your wedding!