How can we incorporate our American/englishness into our reception

http://blogs1.marthastewart.com/weddings/2008/02/best-of-both-wo.html

I always thought I knew exactly what I wanted my wedding colours to be and they changed the day DH and got engaged. We wanted to incorporate the blending of two cultures without all the flag stuff too so we decided our wedding colours were going to be white, blue and red. We deliberately said it this way so people wouldn't think red, white and blue oh how patriotic! The families were quite amazed at how it all turned out without an ounce of it looking as you said, a rally of some sort or all patriotic. As your DH is into trains, mine is into ships.  We had our reception on the banks of the Missisippi and I had a little nautical motif on our blue napkins. We made sure we had quite a blend of music from both sides.  At the reception we had one of those picture frames that has a space for about 10-12 pictures. On the top row were pictures of DH at different stages in his life (of course all in England) and on the bottom row were pictures of me at about the same time in my life. The last pictures were of us together. Example there might have been a picture of DH on a pony on an English saddle, so there was a picture of me on a horse in a cowgirl hat and Western saddle. He was in Boy Scouts, I was in Girl Scouts, he played cricket, I played softball, etc.  People really enjoyed these pictures. Especially since some of them have never been out of the country.

we got married in the states.

my gram wanted to be the wedding planner--fine by me. i handed over the reins & she went with a cinderella/prince charming kind of theme (ie/ dh had swept me off my feet and was whisking me away to his "castle"). this was very subtle, mind you--nothing as garish or tacky as it sounds, just some little plastic carriages in among the flower arrangements & scattered on the tables. people liked it.

for my table favours, i bought up loads of old teacups on ebay & filled each one with a chocolate, a tealight & a tea bag, then wrapped them in tulle. liked the tea theme.

we had an american buffet (reception was at the local vfw--fried chicken, mostaccioli, that kind of stuff) but all of our starters were from my favourite indian restaurant. we served samosas, pakoras, poppadoms & chutneys. so many people had never even tried indian, and they went nuts for it!

Nothing more British than curry.

I always thought I knew exactly what I wanted my wedding colours to be and they changed the day DH and got engaged. We wanted to incorporate the blending of two cultures without all the flag stuff too so we decided our wedding colours were going to be white, blue and red. We deliberately said it this way so people wouldn't think red, white and blue oh how patriotic! The families were quite amazed at how it all turned out without an ounce of it looking as you said, a rally of some sort or all patriotic. As your DH is into trains, mine is into ships.  We had our reception on the banks of the Missisippi and I had a little nautical motif on our blue napkins. We made sure we had quite a blend of music from both sides.  At the reception we had one of those picture frames that has a space for about 10-12 pictures. On the top row were pictures of DH at different stages in his life (of course all in England) and on the bottom row were pictures of me at about the same time in my life. The last pictures were of us together. Example there might have been a picture of DH on a pony on an English saddle, so there was a picture of me on a horse in a cowgirl hat and Western saddle. He was in Boy Scouts, I was in Girl Scouts, he played cricket, I played softball, etc.  People really enjoyed these pictures. Especially since some of them have never been out of the country.

Our colours are now blue, white and a hint of red, the only flag stuff i will be using is this to put around the  cake lol.  http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=370022296017&ssPageName=STRK:MEWN:IT&ih=024
we are having a very plain white cake, with this ribbon around.

I think we are going to use food more to include our different cultures.
And of course the wedding colours. Thing we have decided to do is a trivia quiz about ourselves and where we grew up, a little light hearted. with a few prizes for guests.

I was going to show you a pic of our cake here but I sat here for 15 minutes trying to figure out how to do that so I gave up and put it in the gallery. The only flag we incorporated was on our cake too. There were 2 tiny cocktail sized flags behind the bride and groom on the wedding topper. We were very pleased with how our cake turned out!

Your cake looked lovely.

I love the shade of blue you used too.

My Mom made wedding favors that had two tea bags one was apple pie flavored tea and the other was a pg tea bg and on the tag she put "Tea for Two" and put red, white and blue ribbon on them.  They were very cute.   Our colors were mostly black and white but we had red, white, and blue in as many places as possible.

you can now get personalized hershey's kisses - the little white paper can have what you want on it, so why not get your wedding date on there? Same with m&ms, you can get what you want on those with personalized colors.

I put the UK yankee logo on my placecards, that was really all I did apart from some british pop/dance songs at the ceremony. The mix of people from England and America made it the most unique

I think I remember hearing that they won't ship those personalized M & Ms overseas though (I know when I was planning a lot of the women on Hitched.co.uk wanted them).

I put the UK yankee logo on my placecards, that was really all I did apart from some british pop/dance songs at the ceremony. The mix of people from England and America made it the most unique

I doubt any of hubby's family will fly over, thats why i want to incorporate the two cultures more.

My fiance and I were discussing wedding plans and I mentioned cutting the cake, feeding each other a bite, etc. and he said he's never seen that done, it must be an American custom.  Really?  I'd like to include something "American" in the festivities, maybe this could be the thing?

My English fiance hadn't heard of that either, so maybe it is an American thing.  In which case it would be fun to do at a UK reception!

We didn't do anything really US/UK..but for the table names we used black matboard frames (that you get at craft stores) and used the places we'd been together as a couple both in the UK and in the US. I did them in powerpoint I think in the end and printed them off on glossy paper in black and white with a little description of the place.

They turned out really nice and we got some of those wooden plate holders to place them on the tables. My MIL like them so much she has them on the wall in her hallway and tells everyone about them when they come in

For favours we did personalized bride and groom coffee packets with heart shaped spoons (got them on ebay) and favour boxes with hershey's kisses.

I am glad I found this thread...my fiance and I are looking at incorporating both our cultures into the wedding. We have already had a red white and blue engagement party and had both the British and the American Flag...
But for the reception I was thinking of naming the tables after cities and towns here in Pennsylvania and cities and towns in Devon...I found out that at most British weddings it is tradition for the Father of the Bride, the Best Man, and the Groom to make speeches. I have never heard of all of them making speeches...but my fiance is excited to make his speech so we are keeping that. We are going to pick out some British artists for music. I love the idea someone gave of the hershey kisses and the cadbury's chocolate...I am thinking about giving welcome bags to the out of town guests with some local favorites like tastykakes, hershey bars, and herrs potatoe chips...and then I will include some british things. Like scones, and maybe british candy and tea...

I will keep checking this thread for further ideas...I am glad I ran across it