My friend (bride to be) is Serbian and her fiance is Indian. His Indian heritage is extremely important to him and so they have agreed to incorporate elements from both cultures into the wedding.
However, she's starting to become a little frustrated as now the wedding seems to be predominantly Indian whereas she wants a western wedding and doesn't feel like he's compromising much from his side.
For example, she wanted a small intimate wedding and he wanted a big one, and they've ended up having 250 guests (he says that is a compromise as he would've gone bigger if possible). They are also having Indian food and music (with traditional dances) - which is very different to what the bride has imagined her day to look like but is willing to let him have his way as it is important to him.
Her biggest point of frustration is that initially the groom had agreed to wear a suit but now wants to wear traditional Indian attire to the reception. She really wants him and the bridal party to just wear western clothing (suits, bridesmaid dresses) and had wanted that from the start. He's now insisting to wear his traditional clothes and says that she isn't respecting/appreciating his culture, to which she got even more frustrated seeing as she's compromised in all these other areas (the food, music, dances - all of which would be different if she had her way). She said that the wedding day just isn't looking like anything she had imagined it to be.
She had told me that she's worried that her fiance cares more about his culture and heritage than he does her wants, and feels scared to offend him if she expresses that she doesn't want something from his culture included (the clothes). She's finding it hard to express her wants as she doesn't want him to accuse her of not respecting his culture.
Having two separate weddings isn't an option for them. Child-rearing and looking after parents when older (etc) have been discussed and agreed on between them, so it's just that the wedding is causing some tension here in terms of a cross-cultural relationship.
Any advice on how to handle this and how the bride should approach the topic with her fiance?