The tradition of marriage has undergone many changes over the years but it's still going strong in the Spanish speaking world, especially Latin America. Religion still plays an important role there, and as two very good friends of mine from Mexico are about to get married, let's have some useful Spanish words and phrases all about marriage.
On announcing their plans to marry, the happy couple may be teased, similar to English:
¡Vas a cometer el error más grande en tu vida! - You're going to make the biggest mistake of your life!
There's a common Spanish saying that someone may use if they don't believe the couple in question are well suited:
Antes te cases, mira lo que haces - Before you marry, look at what you're doing
Not exactly one of the most romantic Spanish phrases!
The Spanish phrase for a wedding is: una boda, and there are two phrases commonly used for marriage: el matrimonio and el casamiento.
El novio refers to the groom, la novia is his bride, and together they are los novios. Further simple Spanish phrases for your continually increasing vocabulary are: el padrino - the best man and la dama de honor - the bridesmaid.
Of course, the perfect couple - la pareja perfecta - will need to exchange rings - los anillos de la boda - as a symbol of their unending love. And at Hispanic weddings, you may also see thirteen gold coins - los trece monedas de oro - given by the groom to his bride for safekeeping.
These coins are called: arras - security, and are a sort of dowry. Furthermore, the thirteen golden coins represent Christ and his 12 apostles. After los novios have completed los votos - the vows - the gold coins will be passed to the bride.
The end of the ceremony is quite different, and you may get a small surprise when the bride and groom are leaving the church. Rather than greet the newly weds with confetti, people will let off firecrackers - petardos - which creates a more noisy atmosphere as you can guess!
There's a little change in Spanish because you're married with your partner instead of to, as we say in English. For example:
Estoy casada con Esteban - I'm married to Esteban - Rodrigo está casado con Lara - Rodrigo is married to Lara.
What may cause confusion to arise is the usage of both ser and estar in the first person when a person states "I am married" as it is subject to whether or not an individual thinks people are married at present or permanently.
These common Spanish phrases concerning weddings are so simple and useful to know. They'll give your vocabulary more depth and give you a useful insight into Hispanic culture too!
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