Cross-Cultural Wedding Celebrations

Who doesn't love a beautiful wedding, right? And with Janet Jackson slated to marry Qatari billionaire Wissam Al Mana this Spring, I'm crossing my fingers for ~~an invitation~~ a culturally diverse wedding spectacular!

A few years ago, I ran into a close friend while I was in Miami and was whisked away from a conference I was attending to meet up with the rest of his family (his wife is one of my BFFs) at their suite at The Biltmore. Talk about a pleasant surprise!

They were in Miami having come in from New Orleans and were attending a fabulous wedding between a relatively well-known African-American man and a stunning Ethiopian woman (see wedding video above). My girlfriend's pictures took my breath away as did all of the drop-dead gorgeous Ethiopian men and women milling around the hotel. I remember hanging out at the hotel pool green with envy that I wasn't an intimate part of such a cultural spectacle.

When I got back to California, I annoyed my boutique customers with this story, excited to at least have been on the fringe. One of my Ethiopian customers was tickled by my enthusiasm and promised to take me to a local wedding the next time one of her Ethiopian friends got married. I am still waiting. =/

My own destination wedding in my ancestral Barbados 12 years ago had its own cross-cultural components to it: My French-American husband wore an Indian sari I found on University Avenue in Berkeley, California (an area with lots of Southeast Asian shops) and I wore a custom made linen ensemble, an adaptation of what might be considered ethnically-inspired with beautiful gold trim. (Somewhere there's a video.)

For those of you who have been a part of all of the incarnations of the OBG brand, it will probably come as no shock to you that my fascination with culture and my personal sentiment surrounding weddings brings me here to this space in this moment to share a video (below) I found on the Web that depicts one couple's cross-cultural wedding celebration.

Having just returned from my first trip to Marrakesh, Morocco (writings coming soon), and having had a love affair with both Paris and Martinique for many years, this absolutely beautiful (well-produced) wedding video of a man from Morocco and a young woman from Martinique (that live in Paris) is right on time. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. And if you're sentimental at all, grab a few tissue. #sniffsniff