Atlanta Black Bride

Blending Cultures at Your Wedding

A friend who is half black and half -Japanese contacted us about ways to incorporate her asian heritage into her wedding. 

Since the groom was African American, they both knew that wanted to include a broom to jump over and other family traditions but, how could she honor her Japanese mother and Japanese grandparents too?  Black-Asian-themed weddings are on the rise, and at first this might come as a surprise. 

After all, nothing could seem further from the Jumping the Broom vision when we get, when thinking of a traditional African American wedding.

And in fact, that’s one of the forces behind the rising popularity of the Black-Asian-themed wedding: how it turns things seemingly upside-down.

Trvia fact, in a Chinese-style wedding, white is bad (it’s the color of death) and red and black are good (they’re the colors of luck and prosperity).

We  might wonder whether brides that plan Asian-themed weddings are Asian (or marrying someone who is or is mixed). The answer is, sometimes. Surprisingly often, they aren’t, and the choice is purely aesthetic.

Today’s trends break down into two main types of Black-Asian-themed weddings: the Japanese or “Zen” style, which values simplicity and nature, and the more riotous Chinese style, which bristles with bright colors and shiny fabrics can fit exceedingly well into African American culture.

A high school friend of our brothers’ married a beautiful India woman, and can I tell you the ceremony and food were phenomenal!

Although some choice may surprise some of your older and more traditional guests, the mixed bride  or groom may find his or her personal values deeply expressed in the Black-Asian-themed wedding.

After all, the usual wedding is a certain kind of pageant: the couple pretends to be royalty for a day, and lavishly entertain a large party – seemingly without a care, though they rack up huge debt to do so.

Brides drawn to the Zen-style ceremony often want to avoid the “royalty pageant” and simplify the ceremony (ironically, this can result in greater elegance for the price tag).

This type of bride might read “voluntary simplicity” books, care about the environment, enjoy an uncluttered house or apartment with a handful of Japanese accents (Shoji lanterns and screens, for example) and find
herself attracted to natural materials, which don’t have to asian per se.

She may feel freed by a simpler wedding gown, and carry an unfussy bouquet of calla lilies. Her centerpieces might be lanterns surrounded by black and white stones. For favors, she might give out fortune cookies placed in take-out boxes and topped off with chopsticks.

Other brides find aspects of tradition stifling, so they mix up their ceremony with Chinese-style zest.

The bride might dress her bridesmaids in glowing red (or slinky black!) Cheongsams, dresses with high collars and slit sides.

She’ll hand them brooms instead of nosegays, and pass out chopsticks for their hair. Her own gown might be trimmed in a  gorgeous brocade in red, orange or gold.

Perhaps she’ll wrap up the ceremony with a butterfly release and hand out lucky bamboo stalks as wedding favors.

This bride doesn’t mind charting her own course in social affairs, and she honors the asian members of her family, parents and children.

In either case, the Black-Asian-themed wedding is a great way to tie your ceremony and cultures to your personal values.

Perhaps the thought of such a wedding crossed your mind, but you thought you had to be a tradional ceremony with African American ancestral traditions.  The fact is, Asian traditions and trends have been shaping Americans deeply since the 1960s.

Maybe it’s time to ask yourself this: which type of Black-Asian-themed bride are you?

Tags: asian themes, asian wedding, cultural wedding, jumping the broom, mixed cultures, traditions
Posted in Essential Planning | 2 Comments »

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