The Americas · Spanish
Argentine Wedding Toasts: Cheers, Speeches, and Customs
Dinner at midnight, a costume carnival at three, and breakfast on the way home.
Raise a glass
Salud
sah-LOOD · Health
To the couple
¡Vivan los novios!
VEE-van los NOH-vyos · Long live the bride and groom
Who speaks, and when
- No tradition of long speeches. Parents or the padrinos may toast at dinner, briefly.
- The couple thanks the guests, and friends sometimes play a video or run a short game.
- Everyone calls '¡Vivan los novios!' and the music does the rest.
How long
A toast is a sentence. The reception starts late, dinner is served near midnight, and the party runs until breakfast.
What you’ll see
- El carnaval carioca: at around three in the morning, hats, masks, feather boas, and glow sticks are handed out and the party restarts in costume.
- A late-night snack and then a breakfast of medialunas, croissants, as the sun comes up.
- The cake may have ribbons baked in, one with a ring, pulled by the single women.
- Asado, the barbecue, may be the meal, served late.
- The couple's grand entrance to the reception is choreographed and often funny.
If you’re the guest from somewhere else
- Eat something before. Dinner is at midnight.
- When the carnaval props come out, put them on. Everyone does.
- 'Salud' and '¡Vivan los novios!' are all you need.
A toast you could give
Short, warm, specific to the couple, and ending on the phrase. Swap in your own names and your own detail; the shape is what matters.
Valentina stayed up with me until five in the morning the night before my exam, and she did not even have one. Santiago, she will stay up for you. Salud, y ¡vivan los novios!
Speaking at a Argentine wedding?
Whatever the tradition, the speech that lands has the same bones: one story, a turn, a word to the partner, a toast. The guides have it for every role, and the free check reads your draft and tells you how it lands.