This one is all about Mexican wedding traditions and the craziness that is Mexican weddings!

As a squad we’ve been to one wild wedding in Mexico, and Kim has been to two other even crazier wedding weekends in Mexico. We live to tell the tales, recount the drinks (not water), the dancing, the Mexican wedding traditions, and are giving you all the tips to survive, and thoroughly enjoy one, if you’re ever so lucky to get an invite!

We compare Mexican wedding vs American wedding and give you the tips to prepare and have a night (and often the next day too) of great times!

• Time differences for Mexican weddings
• Cash vs. gifts
• Prepping for the wedding
• What to wear to a Mexican wedding
• Mexican wedding ceremony
• The food at the Mexican wedding and after party
• Mexican wedding traditions
• All the booze
• All the dancing
• And all the fun stories!

Mexican Wedding Traditions

2 (57s):
Welcome to this weeks episode of the Travel Squad Podcast, how to survive a Mexican wedding. So today’s episode, we’re super excited. We’re taking you behind the scenes of a Mexican wedding and before we do thank you so, so much to everyone, because we are currently rated number eight on apple iTunes podcasts for Mexico city. And this wedding is near and dear to our hearts because it was also in Mexico city. Thank you so much for listening. Thank you for subscribing and keep listening, tell us what you want. And on that note, Jamal, take us into it.

4 (1m 29s):
Keep in mind. We’re no experts. When it comes to Mexican weddings, we simply want to share with you our experience that we have had at them, because it was wild and fun. And we love sharing our wild adventures with you. And keep in mind when we say survive the Mexican wedding, we don’t mean it in a negative connotation. There’s just so many cultural differences than what we’re used to compared to weddings here in the United States. And we want to share those cultural differences with you. Yeah.

3 (1m 56s):
Yeah. I love weddings. I’ve actually been to two weddings in Mexico. One was the Mexico city wedding with you guys. Another one was in Lago stay Mareno, which is a couple hours outside of Guadalajara for another friend’s wedding, Ricky and Patty. And they are crazy. They are not like American weddings, but I would arguably say they are a lot more fun.

2 (2m 15s):
Absolutely. In fact, we were the last ones pretty much standing on the dance floor at the end of the night.

1 (2m 20s):
So if you guys have a chance to go to a wedding in Mexico or any other country, you should absolutely take it because it is such a fun experience and such a great way to indulge in their culture.

2 (2m 31s):
So to start us off, let’s talk about the differences from the typical American wedding.

3 (2m 37s):
First one is the timing of weddings in Mexico. Typically in the us, they may start morning, afternoon, but in Mexico they don’t start until the evening, usually like five or six ish. And then they go very late. The one we were at Mexico city was it too, did it end it?

2 (2m 54s):
Well, they said 2:00 AM, but they finally started kicking us out at around two. So really it’s until they finally kick you out.

3 (3m 2s):
And then the other one I went to didn’t end until 4:00 AM

2 (3m 5s):
Typical.

1 (3m 8s):
That’s another thing to know is you don’t show up to the venue with gifts or presents typically at the weddings, you do give cash or they’ll have like a website set up for you so that you can give cash for like honeymoon or other expenses.

4 (3m 22s):
And another thing is that the waiters may expect a tip or pro pina. Ah, Thank you. That’s what little Spanish I know I want to bust out for you guys. I do know pro tip. So, but nonetheless, a lot of the waiters do expect it. It’s not anything that’s mandatory. They may kind of hassle you for it a little bit, but don’t necessarily feel obligated to do so. And if anything, give it to them at the end, if you feel their services necessitated it. If they were really on their drinks and

3 (3m 52s):
They usually

4 (3m 52s):
Are low in. Yeah. I mean, but don’t feel pressured to if you don’t want to, but just be known that they may very well do it.

2 (3m 59s):
I’ve actually heard a tip from a Mexican national who said that maybe you should consider giving the propane at the beginning of the wedding and they will never let your glass go dry. And I was like, well, that’s interesting because I feel like they still don’t let your glass go dry. And that’s why they expected at the end. And he said, if you think it’s that great of service that you tipped at the end, believe me Zina. Imagine at the beginning, it’s even better. So choose wisely.

1 (4m 22s):
So we’re going to talk to you about how to prepare for the Mexican wedding and then

3 (4m 26s):
You should prepare. You

1 (4m 28s):
Should. So we’re going to first talk about some things that you should bring to the wedding with you. And I am definitely the planner, the preparer. So my purse is stocked and it stocked with Tums, Pepto, Bismal antibiotics. And we have not gone to a Mexican wedding yet where water has been served. So bring your water. Yeah.

3 (4m 48s):
Spring water, maybe even some caffeine pills to get you through the evening.

4 (4m 52s):
The booze isn’t enough for you to keep going through the night count

3 (4m 55s):
For other people,

4 (4m 56s):
For other people that are for the amateurs out there.

2 (4m 59s):
You guys it’s really interesting because we just had a huge giggle fit before we recorded. Because someone put on our shownotes change of underwear and no one is fessing up to who put it there. It was Brittany.

1 (5m 13s):
I thought it was,

2 (5m 14s):
We have no idea. So as we go through this episode, perhaps we’ll figure out why this made it on the show.

4 (5m 20s):
We have our first hack of our accounts, I guess I went

2 (5m 25s):
So anyways, so now we’re telling you what to bring. And as we go through this episode, we’re going to touch base on these things and why they’re important once we get to that part. So just keep in mind, Tums, antibiotics, Pepto water, perhaps

1 (5m 40s):
A change of underwear. We’ll

2 (5m 41s):
See if we need that. We don’t know yet, but the other things essential. Okay. So since you’re bringing those in your purse, now we’re going to talk about what you should wear to the wedding

3 (5m 51s):
And you should absolutely dress to the nines. The one wedding that we all went to together, we some casual recommendations on what to wear, but we all wore dresses. Of course. Right? Right. The previous wedding that I went to in Mexico was a formal attire. But even though this wedding we went to in Mexico city, wasn’t designated formal people were still dressed very nicely, very,

1 (6m 15s):
Very

3 (6m 15s):
Nice. So long dresses, maxi dresses, or a lot of women will wear Shaws to cover up their shoulders elegantly.

1 (6m 23s):
And we all were heels, but be prepared to have flats or flip flops or sandals for the dance floor because it’s going to get wild on the damn floor.

2 (6m 32s):
And the things that I really appreciate just about foreign weddings is I feel like the few weddings that I’ve gone to here in the United States, people don’t dress as nicely. And so it’s really nice to go to an event where people really dressed to the nines. Even like when I look on my Instagram and back at Lebanon, you know, I see weddings there, people are just so fucking fancy. I love it. I love it.

1 (6m 53s):
Fun fact, Jamal did not know what dressed to the nines meant until we outlined this

4 (6m 58s):
Episode, that expression.

2 (7m 0s):
But you know, you brought up a good point because I was telling you how well, you know, you want to look like a tin and Jamal’s all been, why aren’t you dressing to the tens? So I don’t know, but that’s all right.

4 (7m 9s):
I guess I’ve just never heard that expression because people just tell me flat out all the time, you just look really good. So the, no one says, oh, you dressed to the nines today. They just tell me, I look great.

2 (7m 19s):
The next time you look good. I’m going to tell you

1 (7m 21s):
I’m ready for it. What should you wear?

4 (7m 23s):
Well, again, depends on, but if we’re dressing to the nines, see I could throw in the term. I know what it

2 (7m 29s):
Means. And

4 (7m 31s):
Yeah, I know, I know I’m getting wild in this episode, but definitely, but you definitely want to, again, dress to impress. So a nice pair of slacks button up. Definitely. If you do have a suit jacket, you want to bring that. I didn’t, because the one that we went to for our friend, Nicole, she said, it’s going to be a little bit more casual, but still, even though it’s deemed as casual, it’s a lot more fancy. So I could have had a jacket and fit in just fine, but I didn’t feel necessarily at a place without it. But for the ones Kim had gone to for Ricky’s wedding, I’m assuming real fancy schmancy. All men had jackets,

3 (8m 8s):
Button downs, Mexican men in general dress, very nicely, usually with button downs and nice pants and boots. So think about that. And then it’s an event. So yes, very nicely dressed.

2 (8m 20s):
I regret not bringing flats. I didn’t realize how much dancing there would be. And yeah, I had high heels and eventually I had to take them off just because my feet were hurting so badly. So,

4 (8m 33s):
And just to touch on how much dancing there actually is, the squad knows this. Maybe not all of our listeners, but I’m not a dancer. I don’t like dancing. I don’t want to get on the dance floor. I’m usually shy. And at this wedding, believe me, I got out there on the dance floor, reluctantly at first, but once I was on there, it was really, really fun. So, but the guy I know at the of that is if you don’t think you’re going to be dancing, you’d be very wrong. You’re going to fall to peer pressure, but in a good way to be out there and have fun and join the party. Yeah.

2 (9m 4s):
Yeah. And then probably around 1:00 AM someone dropped a glass on the dance floor. And since I was barefoot at that time, I got super sad because I’m like, ah, shit. Now I can’t be dancing on the dance floor because they don’t want to cut my feet, but eventually

4 (9m 16s):
Didn’t care anymore.

2 (9m 18s):
I’m on the dance floor of my bedroom.

4 (9m 19s):
But that’s again, why to bring the flats. If you can’t necessarily dress in heels, girls bring some flats for later.

1 (9m 26s):
So we’ve told you what to pack in your bag and what to lay out to where now we’re going to tell you how to prepare for the ceremony by eating beforehand.

3 (9m 34s):
How many tacos did we eat before the wedding?

2 (9m 37s):
This is a fun story.

3 (9m 39s):
We stayed at a hotel that had like room service tacos, and they were cheap. They were like 75 cents per taco.

4 (9m 47s):
Really great prices

3 (9m 48s):
And great tacos,

2 (9m 49s):
But they’re tiny.

4 (9m 50s):
Well, of course they’re Mexican street tacos, if you will, you know, and I’m not big or anything like that, but tiny size.

2 (9m 56s):
And the reason why I say that is because I went downstairs to order it with Jamal. And we decided that, oh, you know, we need to eat something. Cause we really hadn’t eaten that day. And we wanted to eat something before the wedding. So we thought, oh, four tacos per person should be good because again, they’re small. So I ordered 16 tacos and the guy For each, the guy behind the desk, I know that he knows that we’re like four people. Cause he’s, he’s seen us and we’d spoken with him. He just looks at me so shocked. And he says in this moment, because it’s such a big order. Like you aren’t ordering for a head like you want 16 tacos now, how the hell are we going to do 16 tacos now for you? And I was just like, See

4 (10m 38s):
As funny as the story is, that is, and if we didn’t convey it well enough, it was funny when it was down there for me and Zach, because he just seemed so shocked again, he knew that there was four of us, but it was only me and Zaina down there. So I think he thought we were each going to eat eight.

2 (10m 52s):
I know because Ramallah to me, he’s all. Does he realize that there’s four of us? I know he knows that there’s four of us, but these 16 aren’t for me, are you?

4 (10m 59s):
Yeah, but the point of eating beforehand was also due to the fact that we knew of the cultural difference, which is the actual ceremony itself takes a really, really long time. And then after the ceremony, there’s a little cocktail hour, if you will, before you even sit down for the food. So if the wedding starting at five o’clock, you’re probably not eating until 9, 9 30. Yeah.

3 (11m 23s):
And I had gone to Ricky and Patty’s wedding before the Mexico city wedding. So I was already aware of this and I warned them. I was like, guys, we have to eat before we go. And was I right?

2 (11m 37s):
But you know, not only did we have the tacos, we’ve already been to Mexico city several times. So we didn’t go out and explore that day. But we did walk around the neighborhood and you know what? We found a Costco. So we hit it up and Jamal went ape shit crazy because they had little mini donuts.

1 (11m 54s):
Not only do they have many donuts, they had a mini donut making machine and

3 (11m 59s):
A window to watch it.

4 (12m 1s):
Their bakery over there had a donut shop. If you will, pretty much that they’re selling. And I was just blown away. I was like, what the hell? Why don’t we have something like this here in the states, I’d buy donuts like this all the fucking time. So we got the donuts. And then beyond that, we were snacking on donuts. And let me tell you, when we came back from the wedding and we had been drinking, those donuts came in pretty clutch in the evening. I won’t lie.

2 (12m 24s):
I think it was like 50 doughnuts for like two 50. Yeah,

1 (12m 27s):
That’s amazing.

2 (12m 28s):
So anyways, we had donuts and we had tacos

3 (12m 31s):
Besides eating. You should also drink water before you go really hydrate because you’re going to be drinking a lot of alcohol at the wedding. And at least the two weddings in Mexico that I’ve been to, there’s not water available, which is crazy, but you’ll survive. But just hydrate

4 (12m 45s):
Before you said that about Ricky and Patty’s wedding,

3 (12m 48s):
You guys didn’t believe me.

4 (12m 50s):
I was like, there’s gotta be some sort of water, but nonetheless, we brought our water bottles. We drank a lot beforehand. And if I recall correctly, the venue that Nicole and Roberto’s wedding was at, there was a convenience store around. And I think looking back on it now, and again, it was almost a brownout night. It wasn’t a blackout, it was a brown out black. I think I actually left to go get like a liter of water or something and bring it back to

2 (13m 17s):
Because w the way that I remember it was, we saw the Oxo. Yeah. And I thought that we couldn’t get to it. We couldn’t figure out where it was, but we could see it in the distance.

4 (13m 28s):
I got to it. I remember actually going, now that we’re talking about it, I’m pretty sure I did, because I can’t go a night without drinking, without having water for every drink I have. I have to have water, keeps me from getting into hangover. It keeps me from being cranky the next day. So I’m pretty sure I’m confident. I went out to go get

2 (13m 44s):
It. Hashtag life over 30. Yes.

3 (13m 48s):
Speaking of life, over 30, you should also get some sleep to prepare for this wedding since you’re not going to be going to bed until it ends. And it usually doesn’t end till somewhere between two to four or 5:00 AM. So yeah. Catch up on some sleep ahead of time. So you don’t do what I did and get two hours of sleep and then jump on a plane and yeah, trust me. You want no part of that.

1 (14m 8s):
So, like we mentioned before, the ceremony is very long. So we’re going to jump right into it in Mexico. The religion is typically Catholic. And so most people are married in Catholic churches or incorporate religion into their weddings if they are practicing. And the service is typically about an hour long,

3 (14m 26s):
Very long.

2 (14m 27s):
I didn’t realize how long it was going to be. But my favorite part, well, not really my favorite part. I thought it was a beautiful service. But if you remember from the Cuba episode, at one point, I fought that , which means luggage, mint team. And throughout the entire trip, we were saying that , which I thought we were saying, we’re a team, but really it’s a suitcase. So when Nicole and Roberto were doing their vows, I heard them say so almost . And I got so excited because I’ve tried to use that sentence before and failed, and I heard them use it properly. And I remember asking Kim, did you hear that? Did you hear that? They said almost in to Keeble.

4 (15m 4s):
Cause the Coupa was team not occupy. Right?

2 (15m 6s):
There you go. Three words on this podcast

3 (15m 12s):
And their wedding, actually, their ceremony was not in a church. They did it outdoors, but they did have it in Spanish and English. So then it, you know, added on time for the translation, but it was really beautiful that they did it in both languages.

1 (15m 25s):
So one other thing to know is we said it does take a long time. It’s actually so long that at the wedding we went to for Nicole and river roto, they were sitting down while they were exchanging vows.

3 (15m 36s):
Same with Ricky and Patty

1 (15m 37s):
Versus here in the United States. Most people are standing at the altar.

3 (15m 40s):
Yeah. And they usually are standing up there with their bridal party. But Ricky and Patty, and I think a lot of times for weddings in Mexico or even Catholic weddings, they don’t have the same bridal party set up. Everyone is in the audience and it’s just the couple and the officiant. All right. So after the ceremony, they’re married, kiss the bride, blah, blah, blah. Then the party starts.

1 (16m 3s):
Yeah. Well, before the party started, we threw flower pedals at Nicole, Roberto. Right. Did they do that at the wedding? You went to no.

2 (16m 11s):
Oh, I didn’t throw it. I pelted them when they walked. No, I’m just kidding. I’m just kidding. But yeah, they did pass out flower pedals before the ceremony so we could throw it when they walk down.

3 (16m 21s):
It was really pretty. But what Ricky and Patsy did, they came out of the church and then in a huge group, all of us walked from the ceremony to the reception area with the mariachi band. Ooh

1 (16m 32s):
Fun.

4 (16m 32s):
Yeah. Yes.

2 (16m 35s):
Well, mariachis, I mean, they’re really popular at weddings to my understanding. And we’re going to get into that a little bit later, but that’s interesting how they had the mariachis sooner rather than later. Yes,

3 (16m 46s):
It was great. It was an escort and then it escorts you right into cocktail hour.

2 (16m 50s):
Boy, it really makes you reminisce on episode one when we didn’t want to pay the $5 for the mariachi band at Sochi Milko. And you’re like, gosh, what a steal? It would have been, it would have been, cause I’m sure people are paying more than $5 a song at a wedding. I’m sure

1 (17m 4s):
I love cocktail hour at Nicola and Roberto’s wedding. I remember walking from where we had the ceremony into a different courtyard because their venue had different courtyards at it. And there were tables lined up with tons of different types of cocktails. And I remember just like going up and just grabbing like two at a time, take us

2 (17m 23s):
Through the spread.

1 (17m 25s):
Well, I know that for sure. There was a mango, I think it was a margarita and it was so delicious. I also had a strawberry, I wouldn’t say it was this daiquiri. It was like a strawberry Milky, maybe some vodka in it that was delicious to pina

3 (17m 42s):
Coladas.

1 (17m 43s):
Pina coladas.

2 (17m 44s):
Oh, I love pina coladas, but you know what? Okay. So this was in 2019 and I’ve took an oath of sobriety for 2019 and the hardest points of the year for me to keep the sobriety was at this wedding. I was just like, oh my gosh. And so when you say pina coladas, my mouth waters and the other point. Okay. So then the pina coladas was really hard for me. At one point, you guys all did shots of tequila with Roberto and Nicole. That was really hard for me, but Nicole, she’s so thoughtful. She gave me like a little shot glass full of water so I can feel included. And then I don’t know if you guys remember this, but at one point Roberto was throwing tequila down your guy’s throat.

2 (18m 25s):
I remember

3 (18m 25s):
I don’t.

2 (18m 28s):
And that was really, really hard for me when I saw everyone bending over and just like taking it down the throat and I’m like, oh, okay.

1 (18m 36s):
That’s so funny. And during this cocktail hour, there was also some, some little bites to

4 (18m 40s):
Eat some more d’oeuvres

3 (18m 43s):
Oh, d’oeuvres drinks.

2 (18m 44s):
If I knew the type of food that was going to come out later, I would have eaten more

3 (18m 49s):
Orders. I stuffed my face with those are d’oeuvres I

1 (18m 52s):
Eat more.

3 (18m 53s):
They were good. They were like little empanada type.

4 (18m 56s):
Yeah. They were delicious. I stuffed my face with them anyway, because I knew I was going to be drinking. I needed food. So it didn’t matter that dinner was going to be coming or whatever. You just got to eat if you’re going to be drinking. But beyond just the actual cocktails you ladies are talking about specialty drinks. Definitely had a lot of beer, could have straight shots if you wanted to. So everything that you need to get, the party started off right before you sit down at your seat for the reception,

2 (19m 23s):
Is there a command? Yeah. They will give it to you. Yeah.

3 (19m 26s):
On the topic of food and drinks at the wedding at cocktail hour or just throughout the reception. What’s interesting about Mexican weddings. It’s different from American weddings is they always set up a drink table. And this is where they have the tequila wine whisky mixers squirt is really big. There love,

4 (19m 45s):
Squirt

3 (19m 45s):
Mineral water as a chaser or as a mixer, but no water sodas even, but they have these drink carts. And then, you know, the wait staff goes there, but you can also go up there and get your drinks too. So that’s different from any American wedding I’ve ever been to?

1 (19m 59s):
Yeah. The drink cart was like right behind our table. I remember

3 (20m 2s):
I frequented it several times.

2 (20m 4s):
I love a good score.

1 (20m 8s):
I remember Kim and I were taking pictures throughout the night, like versus our cocktails. Then it was our glass of wine. Then we moved on to hard liquor. We were documenting our night through stories on Instagram

3 (20m 21s):
And our pictures got more and more silly. Each one we took.

4 (20m 25s):
So then after cocktail hour, you’re finally sitting down for the reception where the food comes out. And I will say this I’ve heard before from other people who have been to traditional Mexican weddings, that there’s usually not a lot of food. As a matter of fact. I mean, it comes out as a dinner, but sometimes there’s just really not a lot of it. I feel

3 (20m 46s):
That’s true. Yeah. Eating is low on the priority list out of Mexican wedding

4 (20m 50s):
Drinking high priority.

1 (20m 52s):
Yes. And so, as we mentioned earlier, bring Tums because if you’re over 30, you’re going to get that heartburn and you’re going to want the Tums to mellow that out. Yes.

2 (20m 59s):
Yes. I mean, I partied so hard even without alcohol that I still needed the Tums.

3 (21m 5s):
This is 30,

2 (21m 6s):
This is 30. So we’re going to talk about the dinner. Absolutely. We’re going to talk about the dinner, but before we do that, also just to let you know that around like midnight ish is usually typical for another meal to come out, but these are kind of like snacks. And I remember Nicole saying that around like 1:00 AM, they’re going to bring out chillin keyless. And if you don’t know what she then can, this are, it’s soaked up tortilla chips with cheese and beans on top of it. And they’re super delicious can also be served as a breakfast food. So anyways, they were going to do that at 1:00 AM. But I think that everyone was feeling pretty hungry. So Nicole, she rounded up the staff and she had them bring them out a little bit earlier. So what was on the menu for dinner guys?

1 (21m 48s):
Well, it was very interesting because although we were in Mexico, Nicole is from the United States and her and her burrito are like vegan or vegetarian,

2 (21m 58s):
Vegetarian, not vegan,

1 (21m 59s):
Vegetarian. Good for them. That’s gotta be difficult when you’re in Mexico. And to incorporate that into a wedding, I think is even more difficult. So we started the dinner with a salad and for the main entree, she had portabello mushroom burgers and the bun was the mushrooms.

2 (22m 21s):
So this was super interesting because they came out raw. And I remember the mushrooms dead. Yes. And I remember pouring Nicole was so stressed about it because they were raw. And I remember her telling me too, that she was like arguing with the caterer that these are raw. And they said, no, they’re cooked. And she’s like, what are you talking about? These are raw. And so the mushrooms were raw and then it had cheese inside.

4 (22m 42s):
It was like goat, cheese and spinach or something on the

1 (22m 45s):
Inside tomato and spinach on the inside.

3 (22m 48s):
You know, what’s funny, funny story. When that came out, I didn’t realize that it was a portabello mushroom. I thought maybe he just, the mushroom was like the Patty and I went to touch it and I like kind of screamed and jumped back because I was meaning to touch bread. And it was mushroom. I was like, People sitting across from me saw me and they’re laughing at me.

4 (23m 7s):
Cool too. Because like you were saying, she was complaining that no, no, no. This is raw because when her and Roberto did the tasting, they said they brought it out cooked. That’s how they wanted it. And then they’re serving it at the wedding raw.

2 (23m 20s):
Yeah. So that was the dinner. And then again, we had the chilling cuvees later on that night, but once people got pretty much halfway through the dinner, then we started to see the speakers come up and give the speeches. And again, this is in English, this is in Spanish. And then we also had a game to play and we had salsa dance lessons on the dance floor.

1 (23m 43s):
Yeah. We actually learned that Nicole and Roberto met salsa dancing because Roberto loved to go salsa dancing. Nicole loved to go salsa dancing. And Roberto kept taking a friend of his to go salsa dancing. And she was tired of going with him. So she’s like, I know someone who likes to salsa dance and she hooked them up. And they’ve been salsa dancing together ever since

4 (24m 2s):
Now. Married.

2 (24m 3s):
Yeah. Melissa Tessie Eunice. So yeah, so obviously that being special to them, they had someone come out and teach us how to salsa dance. Did you guys get up and do that?

4 (24m 12s):
We didn’t do the salsa dance lessons. I didn’t have enough alcohol yet to get out onto the dance floor.

2 (24m 17s):
I was just about to say, but you’re a wild party animal on the dance floor.

4 (24m 21s):
I don’t know about that, but I didn’t have enough booze in me quite yet to get out there on the dance floor. But you know, after dinner that’s when the Fiesta gets started and the real party. So that’s where everyone starts to have a little bit more drinks in them. After the speeches, everyone’s out there on the dance floor dancing and having a DJ is a really, really big thing at the wedding.

3 (24m 41s):
You know, what’s funny at Ricky’s wedding. When they came in, they walked right in and started dancing and they put on like EDM music and it was like a raging party right away. Wow. Then they sat down and had a dinner and then the party restarted again. But when that, when it started, I was like, okay, we’re not going to have dinner. It’s just straight to the party. Here we go.

2 (25m 2s):
I’m working up an appetite.

3 (25m 3s):
Like I didn’t eat before. Cause that was my first one. I didn’t know. And I was like, okay, here we go.

2 (25m 9s):
How funny they

3 (25m 10s):
Take the party seriously though, this is like the funnest part about the wedding is once you eat and now everyone’s dancing and having fun at Ricky’s wedding, they even had this person in an electronic lighted robot suit, come out on the dance floor and dance with us. They put all of our drinks in sippy cups so that you didn’t get it all over the dance floor. But people were still just like pouring drinks in each other’s mouth. Like it was wild and Nicole’s was pretty wild too. Yeah.

1 (25m 36s):
Yes, it was. I remember at one point Roberto opened up the bottle of tequila and started pouring it into our mouths. Kim, you went right under it.

4 (25m 44s):
Yeah. He came to everyone on the dance floor and he’s like tequila and he had the bottle. So everyone had to get down as he was pouring shots into everybody’s mouth. And I think it was after that point, maybe when I started to get on the dance floor

3 (25m 56s):
And there was already blacked out at that point, we

1 (25m 58s):
Were also taking shots of tequila through the night to,

2 (26m 1s):
Oh man, you guys, I wanted to do that so bad, but you know what? I absolutely. Well, I poor guy. I don’t love that you went through this, but this moment, this was at the end of the wedding. And I was over near the restrooms with Nicole chit-chatting with her and you have to go upstairs to get to the restrooms. And we were kind of at that halfway point and we look over and there is someone just puking his guts out into the bushes there at the stairs. And he looked rough and Nicole was like, whoa, you know, it wasn’t a good wedding until someone’s puking. I mean, I can’t imagine anyone having more fun than him. And at the same time, I can’t imagine anyone having more fun than me. Like it was a great time.

1 (26m 41s):
Yeah. I definitely had a really great time. I’d go back for another Mexican wedding.

3 (26m 44s):
Part of the celebration. Some couples will do the bouquet toss or the garter pole toss, but there’s one thing that they do differently. That is so cool and so fun. And what does that dance called?

4 (26m 56s):
Dances called lobby Bora Delamar, which I believe translates if my Spanish is good to see snake, the

2 (27m 3s):
Snake of the sea

4 (27m 4s):
See snake.

3 (27m 7s):
So how it works is the bride and groom stand on chairs. And then they usually have someone on either side of them holding their legs. So they don’t fall. And they’re kind of creating like a bridge with their hands. And then the woman’s about to throw her bouquet. So she gets all the single ladies out onto the dance floor, but before she throws it, all the ladies hold hands and make a snake and then snake around the room, the dance floor in and out. And then they go under the bridge with the bride and groom at Ricky’s wedding. They also poured liquor in your mouth. Every time you went under them, did they do that at Nicole and Roberto?

4 (27m 39s):
I don’t remember that,

3 (27m 41s):
But yeah, it’s real. It’s a really fun little dance. They play a song while they’re doing it and you go around and it’s just, they don’t do that in American weddings. And that was like the funnest time I’ve ever had at a wedding. That was awesome.

2 (27m 51s):
I loved it. I had no idea what was going on, but I was totally there for it.

4 (27m 54s):
The best way I can probably explain what Kim explained it well, but it’s a real common tradition at Mexican weddings for them to do that dance. You could almost equate it to, you know, when Greeks take a plate with a cloth and then they smash it under their foot. Once they’re married or yeah, we’re at Jewish weddings where they lift them in the chairs, you know, this is one thing that’s really cultural to Mexican weddings is to do lobby border Delamar

2 (28m 20s):
Yes,

3 (28m 21s):
We should really do it in the U S Kim

4 (28m 22s):
Didn’t you wait for that? Your wedding cake. Oh

3 (28m 24s):
Yeah.

2 (28m 25s):
I’ll do it.

1 (28m 25s):
Kim. Didn’t you say that at their wedding, on the alcohol bottles they had GoPros or cameras attached to them.

3 (28m 30s):
Yep. So then in the wedding video, you can just see people liquor going in their mouth. It’s hilarious.

4 (28m 35s):
That’s actually really cool.

3 (28m 38s):
Another thing that’s pretty traditional for Mexican weddings is the men will get the groom and throw him up in the air. And every time he comes down, they take an article of clothing off and they will literally like get grooms naked at Ricky’s wedding. I think he just had on his boxers at the end of it, but we’ll also with him every time they brought him down, they poured liquor in his mouth and threw them back up. And then they went around the room doing that too. And it was like, you could see some of the Americans that were there were like, oh my God, how many articles of clothing are they going to take off of it?

2 (29m 12s):
So when they took the socks, was it one sock per throw or two socks in one throat?

3 (29m 16s):
You know what? All I was sitting at the table, all I could see is Ricky just flying up with less and less clothes on. I don’t know how they did it.

2 (29m 23s):
How many even imagine how many people are like throwing is, is recalled like a big guy. Yeah.

3 (29m 29s):
Oh no, he’s small, but it was probably like five to 10 guys. And they’re all just throwing them up in the air. He’s more and more naked every time

4 (29m 38s):
He was.

3 (29m 41s):
He wasn’t there actually, because Megan was about to give birth.

4 (29m 44s):
Oh, okay. Well, so just a little tidbit on who I’m mentioning here. James is our friend. He was at the wedding. We mentioned him in our episode here talking about San Diego and then Anthony, I’m also friends with, but interestingly enough, he ended up moving next door to me and my parents when we still lived in Northern California. And he is actually Ricky’s cousin,

3 (30m 5s):
Small town

2 (30m 6s):
And realized that connection is Jamal. Doesn’t it make you wish that someone loved you enough at your wedding to throw you up and get you naked?

4 (30m 13s):
Absolutely not.

2 (30m 14s):
Oh gosh. I want that to happen at my wedding. Not for me obviously, but you know what I mean? Like that love we bought her, the Lamar

3 (30m 20s):
Lady don’t do it to the bride.

2 (30m 22s):
Yeah. I want to see them throw up. My husband

4 (30m 27s):
Marry a Mexican.

2 (30m 28s):
There you go.

3 (30m 29s):
It’s also pretty common to have another party the next day, Ricky and Patsy had like a nice taco party where it was unlimited food and drinks. Again, they had a keg, the bride’s father was doing keg stands. She had never done a keg stand before. So you know, like James and Ricky’s brother were all

4 (30m 46s):
Lifting him up.

3 (30m 47s):
Yes. And they loved it. Like the Mexicans that were there, they had never even heard of a kickstand. So they were loving it. It was hilarious

4 (30m 55s):
Bringing in American

3 (30m 58s):
Training there. Yeah.

1 (30m 60s):
Well, I think what’s very interesting about both of these weddings is each person was marrying someone from America. So there was a little bit of trade and traditions to some extent. Yes.

2 (31m 11s):
Yeah. And that’s why there was the English and Spanish at Nicole’s wedding. Cause obviously you have a handful of people who speak only English. And then you also have a handful of people who only speak Spanish. And then you have like the people who speak both, but you know, everyone wants to be included in there. Another big tradition is having the mariachi. And Kim mentioned this at the beginning that the mariachi, it looks like at Ricky and Patty’s wedding was more the beginning where at Nicole’s they came out much later and it was awesome. I mean, all of Roberto’s cousins, one by one got up and started to sing with the mariachi. Right. I mean, I remember looking over at them and whichever cousin was seen at the time had their phone up and they were looking at the lyrics and then another cousin goes up and they’re looking at their phone, the testing, the lyrics, but they were so excited and the mariachi was singing to Roberto and Nicole,

4 (31m 59s):
The mariachi was maybe the highlight for me. I thought that was really fun when it came in because the party was already going, but it really brought it to a whole nother level. And it had a deeper cultural level too. And it made it really, really fun.

2 (32m 12s):
It was super unique. I’ve never seen that, you know,

3 (32m 14s):
A lot of dancing that’s going to be at every wedding you go to, but Mexican weddings, it is just another level of dancing. We did the Congo line.

2 (32m 23s):
Oh yes, yes. You’re right. Oh my gosh. We had people twerk

3 (32m 27s):
Follow the leader, leader leader.

1 (32m 30s):
You know, what we learned about that is a leader doesn’t really go anywhere. You just kinda like go back and forth four or five steps each time,

4 (32m 36s):
You know, one song that they were playing at Nicole and wedding that I had never even heard of. But apparently all of you girls knew it was the one where it’s like, take one step to the left. Now

2 (32m 47s):
I did not know one

4 (32m 47s):
Stop to the right or whatever.

1 (32m 50s):
Yeah.

4 (32m 51s):
Never even heard of it. And yet everyone’s over here and they know the dance steps to it

3 (32m 55s):
And dance steps. Well, in the lyrics,

4 (32m 57s):
Those are self-explanatory. But there was another dance too that people were doing. And I forgot what it was, but they were like, oh no, this one’s really common. And everybody just happened to know the moves. And I’m like, what is this? Like, what am I oblivious to over here? Right.

2 (33m 11s):
I had no idea, Jamal. It’s like a movie, you know, you just look up at the dance floor and everyone’s doing a synchronized routine

3 (33m 17s):
Flash mob. The

2 (33m 18s):
Other thing, God, how cool would that be having a flash mob come at your wedding?

4 (33m 22s):
The patrons are the flash.

3 (33m 24s):
All right. That in my notes for when my future husband comes into my life.

1 (33m 28s):
So I don’t know if you guys know this or not, but we were the last gringos on the dance floor that night. Yeah.

2 (33m 33s):
Yes we were. This is going to be a long night. You guys like the dancing is out of this world, right? It’s not just kind of like junior high prom where you’re holding someone’s hips, swaying back and forth. Not really dancing. Like you were fucking dancing. It is a machine out there. And we were pretty much the last one standing and people get tired. People drank too much. People didn’t drink enough and they want to go home. But no, we were there until they kicked us out.

1 (33m 58s):
Yes we were. I remember at the very end, Kim and I were waiting at the entrance and I think we’re waiting to catch our lift or for Xena and Jamal. Cause you guys went off somewhere else. And it was just this very special moment at Nicole and Roberto’s wedding because Kim was professing her love to me as my best friend.

3 (34m 15s):
So I have a very clear memory of this one.

2 (34m 18s):
Can I ask? Cause hold on, sorry. Sorry Jamal. But remember we were sitting there by the bathrooms at, or like the entrance to the courtyards and I remember Kim going off on something and I don’t remember what it was. I just remember that.

4 (34m 32s):
Well, one thing though about after Kim had professed her love to you, Brittany, and you were telling us about that. What was really, really funny is I knew all of us had done a lot of drinking. And as a matter of fact, I just want to say how proud I am a view, Brittany, for all the drinking you did. Cause you liked to, but you don’t really go hard and you went hard that night. It was actually a sight to see. I really thought that Brittany was going to be the one who was really drunk. And so I was having conversations with Kim that night and it was really funny. Cause I could tell, obviously we were all a little bit tipsy, drunk, but I had no clue how drunk Kim was because here we are talking about it the next day she was like, I don’t remember this. I don’t remember this. I’m like, you don’t remember it.

4 (35m 12s):
So I mean, yeah,

3 (35m 13s):
Dance. We were talking about earlier with the bride and groom and a bridge the next day I was like, oh man, Nicole Herbert’s I didn’t do that. And you guys like, yeah they did.

4 (35m 21s):
And you went under them. He took part in it. Oh,

3 (35m 24s):
That’s funny.

1 (35m 25s):
And I also want to remind you guys that during this trip specifically was where the Travel Squad Podcast idea was created. It was,

2 (35m 34s):
Was we got there late on a Friday night or technically early on a Saturday morning, whatever you want to call it. And we were getting our taxi in the airport because you want to reserve your taxi, pay for it in the airport before you leave. Basically I told him that we’re four people. And then he said, oh, do you want a big car? You know? So you guys all fit. And I asked him, neuro, we can fit in the small one. Right. And he said, yeah, but it’ll be a tight squeeze. And I’m like, great. We’ll take the small one

3 (35m 59s):
Because we didn’t want to pay the extra fee for the bigger car.

2 (36m 1s):
Yes. And so in the back seat, me, Kim, Brittany sitting on top of each other, squinched Jamal’s in the front seat is when Kim came up with the idea of the podcast, like we should do a podcast. Okay.

3 (36m 14s):
And then we instantly started riffing episodes that we could do. And we had a list so big already that we were like, yep, we have to do this.

2 (36m 23s):
So just goes to show that if you have an idea, follow it through because you never know where it’s going to take you and where it will lead. And while you were professing, your love for Brittany Kim, which by the way, you also professed your love to our Uber driver that night we could tell

3 (36m 38s):
It wasn’t a very loving mood being around the wedding and all that love.

2 (36m 41s):
Yes, yes, yes. So Kim was sitting there and she’s like, we have to start the podcast guys. She’s bringing up back that. She’s bringing the idea back up. We have to start the podcast. You know why? Because we’re small car fucking people. We’re not big car. We take the small car and I don’t know what that meant, but I know what it meant. You know where you’re going with it. But it was just really funny. I

3 (37m 2s):
Liked that small car people.

2 (37m 4s):
So everyone out there we’re fucking small car people.

4 (37m 7s):
Any final thoughts on Mexican wedding and how to survive or what to expect?

2 (37m 12s):
Yes, actually we’re missing the most crucial piece, which is, this has nothing to do with surviving a wedding. Right. But more so because we love to share our wild and crazy adventures with you while we were in that, Uber going back to our hotel and Kim is busy letting the, our Uber, no Uber driver know that panel with ammo. I’m in the backseat. And my stomach is just cramping. Like crazy. I can’t like, I just don’t know what’s going on. And I’m thinking to myself, was it something that I trade bank? I just, I couldn’t figure it out. Right. So we got back to the hotel. I got a little bit sick. It’s probably four in the morning. By the time we go to bed and I am just lying in bed with my stomach cramping.

2 (37m 56s):
So bad

4 (37m 58s):
Kimmy donuts. When I got back to the

2 (37m 59s):
Hotel, you might’ve. But So we woke up two hours later to have a quick breakfast with Kim before she left, because she was continuing on to,

3 (38m 10s):
To loom. And I am so committed to travel that I was off of like almost no sleep and severely hung over.

4 (38m 18s):
Yeah. Because you have family that lives out there. So you figured while in Mexico, let me just go see them. So, so Kim left us while we stayed behind, but we were leaving that day to go back home here to San Diego ourselves.

2 (38m 29s):
So I got back into bed after Kim left and I’m just hugging myself so tightly because I just, I don’t know where these cramps in my stomach are coming from. So, you know, we ended up leaving that day. This is a Sunday. And then Monday I’m at work and like legit 24 hours later, all of a sudden I run to the restroom and it was not nice at all. So my super-conscious

3 (38m 52s):
Bathroom dock in the episode,

2 (38m 54s):
Right? Oh my gosh. Which, by the way, good point, the bathrooms at that place, you didn’t need to pay for. They were free and they were nice and they were Americanized, not Americanized, but westernized toilets. So there’s that. But anyways, I race home and get sick again. And then a few hours later, I call Brittany and Jamal in tears because I can’t stop puking my guts out. And it’s like, so violent, the way that I’m puking my guts out, like I was sick. So fucking sick. And what did you say, Jamal?

4 (39m 27s):
Well, whenever you feel something’s wrong with you, you always call nurse Brittany sitting right next to me over here. And I get the joy of her putting you on speakerphone. So I could hear about you kind of complaining because Zaina is kind of a hypochondriac. She thinks anything and everything is wrong with her. So she called,

3 (39m 44s):
She came over here today and said, she thought she might’ve had a stroke, but it wasn’t a stroke. She doesn’t think she’s dying. But wouldn’t it be funny if this one time she didn’t think she was dying, she actually was dying.

4 (39m 54s):
Yeah. This is context for everybody. Thank you for that count. Thank you for that. So anyway,

2 (39m 59s):
I’ve been feeling really dizzy lately,

1 (40m 1s):
So I’m a hospice nurse.

4 (40m 4s):
So anyway, she calls a Brittany and she’s just talking about how miserable she’s feeling like, oh, I don’t know what I’m puking. And before I was puking, I was going to the restroom and sitting down and just all this and that. And then

2 (40m 18s):
It was in tears because I just puked into the bowl that your dad gave me a Thanksgiving. Thanks,

1 (40m 24s):
Dad.

2 (40m 25s):
It’s a great bowl. I washed it every single time I puked and took it back with me to bed. Cause I didn’t have anything else to puke in my God. I wasn’t going to be hooking my toilet.

4 (40m 33s):
So anyway, you finally get off the phone with Brittany and I look to Brittany, I say, oh my God, she’s been way over dramatic. Like give me a break. Like she’s sick, she’s puking, whatever. And then I go to bed and I guess karma strikes because I wake up about 1, 1 30 in the morning and I’m like, oh fuck. I don’t feel good. And I’m like,

2 (40m 56s):
No,

1 (40m 57s):
He didn’t wake me up intentionally. But he does wake me up because he’s not a silent buffer.

4 (41m 3s):
Well, I’m sorry that I don’t puke gracefully. He what he wants

2 (41m 6s):
Because I’m sure the people underneath me heard. I’m sure the people across from me heard, like it was so fucking violent when I was puking my

4 (41m 13s):
Well. So anyway, I woke up around 1, 1 30. I’m like, man, I don’t feel good at all. And then basically it takes me another 15 minutes to be like, oh no, I need to get up. I need to puke here. And so then I start puking just violently and then puking turns into going to the restroom for other things. And that’s often on 30 to 45 minutes and I don’t get any sleep. And I eventually had to call in that day cause I wasn’t feeling good. And it seems as if we all caught a little bit of

2 (41m 44s):
Montezuma’s revenge.

4 (41m 45s):
Montezuma’s revenge. If you will from,

3 (41m 48s):
Did you get sick?

1 (41m 49s):
I did have some loose stools. Yes.

3 (41m 53s):
Okay. But

1 (41m 54s):
I didn’t, I didn’t violently vomit at all. At any point,

2 (41m 59s):
I never vomited so hard in my life when there was nothing left in me. When the bile was completely left out of my body, I was still vomiting.

4 (42m 8s):
Well, luckily it hit by the time we got home and not on the plane, but the point of the story is we got, Ooh, the culprit was something from the wedding, the dinner, it happened to be the uncooked portabella.

3 (42m 21s):
Ah, so if you remember back to our Chicago episode, when I had a non freak out about mushrooms,

4 (42m 28s):
Freak out,

3 (42m 30s):
This is why I did not get sick. Cause I didn’t eat the mushrooms because machines are disgusting and I

2 (42m 36s):
Love mushroom

4 (42m 38s):
Mushrooms or questions in our defense. It was uncooked, but that’s not what it was. It was probably washed in water, not clean water. And that’s where we got the bacterial infection from.

1 (42m 49s):
But regardless of what caused it, this is why we put on our list to bring Pepto-Bismol and antibiotics. Because something like this is very typical, not just at the wedding, but anytime you eat out in a foreign country,

3 (43m 2s):
Nina, even in the U S this could happen. So it’s not like it’s a wedding thing or a Mexico thing, but it did. Does it tend to happen more often when you’re traveling?

2 (43m 10s):
And my poor cousin Walid, when he came to the United States here in San Diego, he called me probably like at around 11 o’clock at night. And I think he had bad

4 (43m 18s):
Wasters. He said it was

2 (43m 21s):
So, I mean, it can happen here in the United States. Poor guy.

4 (43m 23s):
Yeah. Just if your stomach is not used to something that’s in the water or anything anywhere, it could definitely happen. So not a criticism to the wedding. Nicole, we had a blast, but we ended up getting a little bit sick. Cause you know,

2 (43m 35s):
I, you know what you and Josh, top two weddings. Oh, Jamal, Brittany, top three. Well, you know what? Okay. You guys didn’t have a dance floor, Josh and Nicole’s dead.

4 (43m 47s):
Well, we purposely kept it small, but that’s neither here nor there.

2 (43m 49s):
So it was a great wedding regardless. I mean, you guys cut me off, but this isn’t about that.

4 (43m 53s):
Other than that, any other final thoughts then?

2 (43m 56s):
I think initially real quickly, our thought process was that Zaina got sick because she didn’t drink any alcohol. And so she didn’t have any of the alcohol to kill the bacteria and then Jamal got sick. So then Brittany was like, well, Jamal drank the least amounts out of you three. And then Brittany got sick and she’s like, okay, well I drank even more than Jamal. So I have more bacteria to kill it. And Kim drank the most, so she didn’t get sick, but it turns out that Kim didn’t eat the mushroom

3 (44m 25s):
And I was ill, but it was just a hangover.

2 (44m 28s):
So in the end, even though I was super sick, Jamal ended up being the sickest out of all of us. And it was because he ate the full mushroom,

4 (44m 37s):
The whole thing I was hungry.

2 (44m 41s):
So that pretty much wraps up that situation. And again, top three weddings of my lifetime.

3 (44m 47s):
Yeah. The Mexican weddings are so much fun. And that’s why I really wanted to do this episode because any other wedding you go to, whether it’s in Mexico or any other culture you should, if you have the chance to do it, you should absolutely take it because you are exposed to traditions and cultures in a whole different way. And they’re just so much fun. So yeah. I want to go to an India wedding. Next

4 (45m 8s):
Are really good friend. Anna has been to an Indian, what?

3 (45m 11s):
They looked like so much fun.

1 (45m 13s):
So one last question guys who brought the change of underwear to the wedding,

3 (45m 17s):
I’m judging by how sick you guys got. My suspicion is on YouTube.

4 (45m 22s):
It was Zayna because she got sick in the cab. I didn’t feel sick until we got here. It was Zaina.

2 (45m 27s):
You know what? As I was telling the story about the cab, I remember having a thought that like, oh shit, everyone’s going to think I put that on there. I don’t remember. I don’t know, but thank God. I didn’t need to change my underwear, but you know what? You never know if you will need to. So fuck it, man. Just take it.

3 (45m 42s):
Always have a backup just in case. All right guys. Thank you so much for listening to this week’s episode. I hope you enjoyed hearing about our Mexican wedding adventures and learn some tips. If you ever get an invite to one,

4 (45m 55s):
Please subscribe to the podcast, leave a review, tell us what you’d like and tune in every travel Tuesday for new episodes.

2 (46m 1s):
And if you aren’t already be sure to follow us on Instagram at Travel Squad Podcast

1 (46m 6s):
Next week, pack your bags, Andrew swimsuit, because we were taking you to hot Springs national park.

4 (46m 13s):
Yeah.

2 (46m 14s):
Hi,