# Mexican wedding sentiments **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 9, 2016, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-wedding-sentiments/754396 "2016-05-09T14:56:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Anny\_Middon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc79bd/32.png) [@Anny\_Middon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anny_Middon)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2016, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-wedding-sentiments/754396/1 "2016-05-09T14:56:39Z")
My nephew is marrying a Mexican woman later this month. I’m going to make a card to go with her shower present (shower is Saturday) and a card for the wedding present. I’d like the card for the shower to be the sort of card she might get for a shower in Mexico. I’m thinking the wedding card might be bilingual. My original thought was to have the sentiments in English, but use a Mexican artwork depicting a wedding; unfortunately every Mexican wedding art piece I found online is a Day of the Dead wedding – and let’s face it, smiling skulls don’t seem that appropriate. 1. Do you think this is a good idea? My thought is that doing this will underline that we are welcoming her into the family. For complicated reasons, I don’t think my brother and sister-in-law (parents of the nephew) will necessarily do a good job of this. 2. If it is a good idea, what should the cards say? I suck at languages, so it’s not like I can decide what I’d like to say and then translate it. Plus, if there are traditional Mexican wedding sentiments, I’d like to go with the tradition. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2016, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-wedding-sentiments/754396/2 "2016-05-09T15:07:35Z")
_¡Felicidades!_ Sorry, we just reuse the same expression for everything, if speaking in general terms. If there are specific things you’d like translated, give 'em to us and any of the bilingual folks here will be happy to assist. ---
**Author:** ![Anny\_Middon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc79bd/32.png) [@Anny\_Middon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anny_Middon)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2016, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-wedding-sentiments/754396/3 "2016-05-09T15:16:01Z")
Thanks, Nava! I’ll definitely use ¡Felicidades! on the shower card. Looking at the cards I’ve made for other nieces/nephews for the wedding, I’ve said, “May your lives together be filled with joy and laughter.” Would you (or some other Doper) be so kind as to translate to Spanish? ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2016, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-wedding-sentiments/754396/4 "2016-05-09T16:00:16Z")
I would say _que vuestras vidas estén llenas de felicidad y alegría_ which backtranslated would be more like “joy and happiness”; _alegría y felicidad_ flows better when said out loud. The more literal version would be _felicidad y risas_ but it sounds funny to me (it’s plural because it means having many occasions to laugh). You can stick _ojalá_ (valid for all numbers) _espero_ (singular) _esperamos_ (plural) in front if you want. They’re all expressions of hope. Since I’m from Spain you may also want to wait a few hours so our LA correspondents can critique my offerings 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2016, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-wedding-sentiments/754396/5 "2016-05-09T17:10:48Z")
Mrs Iggy (Colombian) would not use \*vuestras \*, instead favoring _sus_. Some Latin American countries eschew the second person plural (vosotros) forms. So modifying Nava’s greeting it would be: _que sus vidas estén llenas de felicidad y alegría_ ---
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2016, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-wedding-sentiments/754396/6 "2016-05-09T18:18:34Z")
Ran this by a Mexican-American colleague to be sure. From the look on her face it was very clear that Mexicans do not use _vuestras_. Go with \*sus \*instead. ---
**Author:** ![Why\_Child](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b782af/32.png) [@Why\_Child](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Why_Child)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2016, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-wedding-sentiments/754396/7 "2016-05-09T20:46:36Z")
I took all the Spanish courses my community college had to offer, and 3 courses of conversational Spanish after that. **PLEASE** understand, I am **NOT** trying to nitpick native speakers, especially concerning a culture with which I have very little familiarity. :o So, just curious - but since the nephew _is_ family, and the goal is to welcome the woman in, would it also be permissible to use the familiar? 😕 “Tuyos,” if memory serves. (And it may not. It’s been years!) ---
**Author:** ![NVME702-redux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a183cd/32.png) [@NVME702-redux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NVME702-redux)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2016, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-wedding-sentiments/754396/8 "2016-05-09T20:54:52Z")
> [@Iggy](#): > > Mrs Iggy (Colombian) would not use \*vuestras \*, instead favoring _sus_. Some Latin American countries eschew the second person plural (vosotros) forms. > > So modifying Nava’s greeting it would be: > _que sus vidas estén llenas de felicidad y alegría_ Mexican woman, right here. This is nice. and add Les desea, con mucho amor, Anny Middon Which translated means; May your lives be full of happiness and joy, I wish for you, with much love, Anny Middon ---
**Author:** ![Anny\_Middon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc79bd/32.png) [@Anny\_Middon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anny_Middon)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2016, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-wedding-sentiments/754396/9 "2016-05-09T21:31:04Z")
> [@NVME702-redux](#): > > Mexican woman, right here. > > This is nice. > > and add > > Les desea, con mucho amor, Anny Middon > > Which translated means; > > May your lives be full of happiness and joy, > > I wish for you, with much love, Anny Middon I really like this – but can you edit a bit so that it translates to “We wish for you, with much love” – card will be from both me and hubby. Thanks so much! ---
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2016, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-wedding-sentiments/754396/10 "2016-05-09T21:49:07Z")
If from both of you, just change _desea_ to _deseamos_ que sus vidas estén llenas de felicidad y alegría les deseamos, con mucho amor, Anny Middon ---
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2016, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-wedding-sentiments/754396/11 "2016-05-09T21:59:33Z")
> [@Why\_Child](#): > > I took all the Spanish courses my community college had to offer, and 3 courses of conversational Spanish after that. **PLEASE** understand, I am **NOT** trying to nitpick native speakers, especially concerning a culture with which I have very little familiarity. :o > > So, just curious - but since the nephew _is_ family, and the goal is to welcome the woman in, would it also be permissible to use the familiar? 😕 > > “Tuyos,” if memory serves. (And it may not. It’s been years!) The greeting the OP is looking for calls for the genitive… a possessive pronoun modifying another noun. That takes the _sus_ pronoun in the third person plural in Spanish. sus vidas = your lives If it was not modifying a noun then the _tuyo/suyo_ form would be appropriate. El libro es tuya = The book is yours. ---
**Author:** ![Why\_Child](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b782af/32.png) [@Why\_Child](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Why_Child)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2016, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-wedding-sentiments/754396/12 "2016-05-09T22:25:41Z")
Thanks, **Iggy!** 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2016, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-wedding-sentiments/754396/13 "2016-05-10T01:28:07Z")
I don’t think I would do anything different than I would if she were NOT Mexican. Send a tasteful card to welcome her to your family.