10 Spanish wedding expressions for your destination wedding in Spain | Easy Spanish phrases
Congratulations, you’ve decided on a destination wedding in Spain, a country full of natural beauty and inspiring landscapes. A wedding in Spain also gives you the perfect opportunity to pick up on some local lingo.
Tying the knot in Spain means an abundance of gorgeous places to choose from to celebrate your special day, from dramatic, towering mountains to vibrant villages or the countless beaches and coves that dot its coastlines.
Addtionally, Spain, apart from being a country full of stunning scenery, also has fabulous food and a beautiful language with a wide global influence.
So what better way than to learn a few wedding-related phrases in Spanish in anticipation of saying “Si Quiero” (I do) in España.
- I do – Si, quiero.
- You may kiss the bride – Puedes besar a la novia.
- I can hear wedding bells – Suenan campanas de boda.
- Honeymoon – La luna de miel
- Cheers for the newlyweds! – ¡Que vivan los novios!
- Will you marry me? ¿Quieres casarte conmigo?
- Wedding – La boda
- Congratulations to both of you on your wedding day – Felicitaciones a los dos en el día de su boda.
- Best wishes on your wedding day – Los mejores deseos en el día de su boda.
- And they lived happily ever after – Vivieron felices y comieron perdices. (What eating partridges has to do with living happily after is a bit of a mystery, but that’s how all fairy tale stories end in olé, olé land).
Additionally, el novio refers to the groom, la novia is the bride, and together they are los novios. The best man is el padrino and bridesmaids are las damas de honor.
After the ceremony (la ceremonia) there is a wedding reception (un banquete), with lots of sangria, food and vino (no translation needed) to celebrate. Usually los novios use a huge sword to cut the wedding cake (tarta nupcial) and then feed each other a slice.
During the whole banquete it is normal to hear the wedding guests call out “¡Vivan los novios!” (Cheers for the bride and groom!) or “¡Que se besen!” (an expression people chant to ask the couple to kiss).
Most commonly, the day after the wedding (la boda), the newlyweds (los recien casados) leave for their honeymoon (luna de miel) to enjoy their first days as husband and wife (marido y mujer).
Wedding words aside, the Spanish language is full of irresistibly interesting trivia.
Did you know that the Spanish language, apart from being the 2nd most spoken lingo in the world, after Chinese and before English, has texts that were written over 1000 years ago?!
Las Glosas Emilianenses (Glosses of Saint Emilianus) was written in 964 by an unknown author thought to have been a monk at the Suso monastery.
Additionally, the resemblance between Old Spanish and the modern written language is such that a reader of Modern Spanish is able to read medieval documents without much difficulty.
Spanish is also a phonetic language, which means that words are written as they are pronounced.
That said, you will no doubt appreciate that the correct pronunciation to ñ is roughly like an English “ny” and you definitely don’t want to confuse año (year) with ano (anus).
You’re welcome!
Luckily there is one universal language we all understand….LOVE.
If you’ve enjoyed reading this article, for some extra Spanish olé on your wedding day, check out the following blog about traditional Spanish wedding rituals to include in your destination wedding in Spain, where we explain what arras are, and their significance in Spanish weddings as well as why Spanish brides tend to choose Orange blossom as their wedding flower, what the cutting of the Groom’s tie means and much more.
