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“Father of the Bride” Star Adria Arjona on How to Avoid Family Drama at Weddings

BRIDES – The actress and experienced bride gives her tips.
Anyone planning a wedding knows that family drama—around budget, opinions on décor, or asking a sibling to be in a wedding party—is likely going to come into play. That universal phenomenon was captured in a hilarious way in the Steve Martin and Diane Keaton-led classics Father of the Bride and Father of the Bride Part II back in the ’90s. Well, family drama has certainly not been divorced from the wedding experience since, so a 2022 remake with a brand-new cast was definitely in order. The latest installment of Father of the Bride, premiering today, June 16, on HBOMax, stars Adria Arjona as Sophie, the new bride-to-be, and Andy Garcia and Gloria Estefan as her parents.

After playing a character that definitely sees a fair share of family drama on a cinematic scale, as well as having her own experience of tying the knot back in 2019, actress Arjona has a wealth of advice for couples looking to navigate tricky situations when planning their own weddings. Ahead, Brides asked Arjona to share some secrets on how to improve family tensions and make your wedding a more enjoyable experience for everyone.

Getting Family Approval

Before wedding planning can even begin, it’s important for your spouse-to-be to share their plans with your closest family members and, hopefully, get their approval. In real life, Arjona’s family knew her fiancé before they got engaged and said it a celebratory experience when the couple shared the big news; that wasn’t the case for Sophie in the Father of the Bride . Not only does Sophie reveal that she is engaged in a surprise announcement to her family, but they also had never even met or learned about her fiancé, Adan, beforehand. In fact, Sophie even went against tradition and is the one who proposes.

Arjona explains to Brides, “With Sophie, it was like wait, wait, wait. Who are you engaged to? Who is this man? I had to almost sell Adan a bit. If they don’t know him, I think more than anything, comfort your parents. You want to be like, ‘Trust me. He’s a good guy, and I really feel like you’re gonna love him.'”

“Support from family is always a plus,” continues Arjona. “To me, it’s really important. But, it also depends on your family dynamic. If you don’t have the support of your loved ones, it’s hurtful, but that shouldn’t be an ultimatum. If you are so sure that you love a person and that’s the person for you, time heals it all. And, I think that if your family sees that you’re happy at the end of the day, that’s the only thing that should matter. Through the course of years and time, they will fall in love with that other person, no matter what can make you happy.”

Balancing Budget

It’s no surprise that finances can cause stress when planning a wedding. In Father of the Bride, both the fathers of the bride and groom have strong opinions about what a wedding should look like, and those feelings ultimately lead to budget arguments. Whether one side of the family is paying, both sides are paying, or the couple is paying, Arjona notes that the spouses-to-be need to dictate their wishes and desires for their dream wedding. However, defining a budget with the entire family at the beginning of the planning process is an easy way to help mitigate issues.

“You have to meet in the middle. I think that there’s a balance to it all. Especially financially, there’s always a middle ground,” explains Arjona. “I really believe that it should be a budget that should be given. The bride and the groom need to be able to decide however they want to spend that money. There’s no there’s no reason why anyone else should have an opinion.”

For Arjona’s own wedding, she was able to come up with some smart solutions that helped her come in under budget. “I’m a big fan of bargaining and and I know that I did that on my own wedding with little tricks,” shares the actress. “For example, I licensed my alcohol instead of buying my alcohol. So whatever bottle wasn’t opened, I didn’t have to pay for it. That’s a deal that I brought in with a liquor store, and we saved so much money that way.”

Arjona also suggests taking on a DIY project or two. “Renting designed plates were so expensive that I just I made ceramic plates,” she says. “Every single plate was custom designed for my wedding, and it actually ended up being cheaper than getting rentals.”

Delegating Responsibilities

It takes a village to put on a wedding. That said, passing off planning responsibilities to family members can occasionally create more stress than help. In the movie, Sophie has her sister design her wedding and bridesmaids’ dresses within a month. As you can imagine, time constraints definitely lead to some chaos. While Arjona says it’s important to delegate tasks, you should do so wisely.

“It’s your wedding day and I think people should be willing to help you. Manage your own expectations and just being realistic with the people that you’re giving a task to,” Arjona advises. “Like are you able to do this or are you not? If you pressure someone to do something, they’ll either do a bad job or they won’t do it 100 percent, and then you’ll be disappointed. I think have a really honest conversation of ‘Are you able to do this? Are you not able to do this.’ Be honest.”

Give Flexibility With Fashion

As the couple of the hour, you can dictate the fashion aesthetic of your wedding with dress codes and wedding party outfit choices, but Arjona emphasizes that you should be empathetic and flexible with designs so siblings, cousins, and friends are all happy. “I allowed my bridesmaids to pick whatever shape they wanted. I just picked the material and I also made it affordable for them,” the actress explains. “I think that shape is something that everyone should pick on their own. I think shapes are really specific to everybody’s body types. I think they all felt beautiful because at the end of the day, I wanted them to feel beautiful.”

Make Family Feel Included

Weddings are generally big family affairs, and you don’t want to make any close relatives feel left out of the festivities. In addition to giving your family invites, Arjona recommends giving honorary roles to your nearest and dearest throughout your wedding events.

“I gave everyone a place,” Arjona says of her own wedding. “My brother was my ring man and my little cousins were like my flower girls. I had my mom and my husband’s mom do Las Arras, which is a big tradition where they put a big rosary on top of you. Then, my dad walked me down the aisle. So everyone in my family had something to do within the ceremony. Then, when it came to the party, it was just all about me and my husband.”

Adria Arjona on bringing out the hero in Morbius

Be sure to read the whole interview at THE LATERALS website!

Being in the Marvel and Star Wars universes is an accolade not many actors can tout, but when you see Adria Arjona’s resume, it all makes sense. She cut her teeth on Narcos, True Detective, and Good Omens, among other hit series, by leaving an indelible mark on fans who enjoy depth and storytelling.

Adria Arjona’s tale is just as interesting as her childhood, which allowed her to travel the world. Her father is the famous singer-songwriter, Ricardo Arjona, and Adria tagged along on his tours around the globe. The different cultures have given her a profound insight that allows the range to be any character—not just a Latin one.

Arjona’s warm-hearted nature radiates across the screen in the highly anticipated Marvel movie, Morbius. She stars opposite the titular, Dr. Morbius, played by Jared Leto, and brings forth humanity in the foreboding monster.

Most will rest on the laurels of a Marvel movie, but Adria is not done with 2022 just yet. She will be starring in Andor on Disney+, and she is set to put a Latin twist on the classic Father of the Bride. Adria Arjona is managing to stay busy, and it is easy to see why.

I had the privilege of interviewing Jack Whitehall. I just thought your relationship with him in Good Omens was so fun and natural. Was that chemistry natural from the onset?
To be honest, I think Jack is such a fun and welcoming person, and I feel like he just shows you exactly who he is, so it was easy for us. Within two minutes, we were dying laughing and just having a good time, and it was pretty natural. We talked about the relationship, talking about our lives and catching up, and then we just got on set and followed through with what we had!

Good Omens is a really fun show, and I like how involved Neil Gaiman was. Were you able to bounce ideas off of him? Because everything about the show seemed so well executed.
Yes! To both our director and Neil. I would say Neil was there for every single scene that I shot, with the exception of maybe one. It’s such an honor and a privilege to have the person who created this. I mean, obviously we didn’t have Terry Pratchett, unfortunately, but he created the world with Terry and he understood it. If I had a question, sometimes even the director would be like, “Go to Neil, that’s a Neil question.” The way Neil talks is very calm and poised, and he would give me like a 20-minute answer. With everything that I thought or was planning on doing, he would turn it around and something better would come out of it. It really was a privilege to have him on set, and until today, it’s probably one of my favorite things I’ve ever done.

It was really fun, and it was also the first role that I was ever offered. Neil sort of wrote it with me in mind, and I couldn’t comprehend that. I was like, “Wait, I need to audition, I can’t! I can’t just accept this!” I was a really big Neil Gaiman fan, so I was very scared going into it. I think I almost quit, like twice, but Neil said, “You got this. This was for you and I believe in you.” I remember after the first week, he looked at me and was like, “well, I guess, we can’t fire you now.” I was like, “I know you can’t fire me, but oh my god, I made a mistake.” I was very scared. Neil was a big pioneer for me in not putting me in a box or stereotyping me for something. He gave me material that a lot of people wouldn’t have given a Latin American actor. I thank him for that, and I learned a lot from him.

In addition to Good Omens, you were in some fantastic television shows such as Narcos and True Detective. Both of which are known for building a fantastic world. Who has the better crafts table: Netflix or HBO?
Oh, don’t ask me that! They both employ me all the time, and I can’t answer that! I think they are both incredible. They have a wide range of content and materials. I literally just worked with HBO and I love them over there. I also love the Netflix family. They have both been such good homes, and they’ve been so kind, nice, and welcoming to me that I wouldn’t be able to answer this both as a consumer and as an actor.

With your experience in both movies and miniseries, do you prefer the storytelling of one method over another?
I think they’re both great and very different. For example, I like the fact that you get to tell a story from beginning to end in an hour or two hours with movies, but I also really like exploring the method of a mini series through multiple seasons. I haven’t done that yet, as opposed to a miniseries where you only have like six or eight hours to really explore this character and tell the journey of this character. Both have their own challenges, but I always gravitate a little bit more towards movies. Miniseries and TV shows are challenging as there’s a lot to tackle, a lot to take in, and a lot of stories to tell. If it’s not the right character, you can be in trouble, so I always gravitate more towards movies. But in Andor, I love my character. I fell in love with my character, and I could tell you about it for another ten hours. I got lucky in that sense. Even if you put theater into the equation, that is completely different as well. You have the reinforcement of your audience, and you get the applause right then and there. I think they’re all different, and I like to play with all of them!

You star alongside Jared Leto as the female lead in Marvel’s Morbius. Are you prepared to be enshrined in Marvel history and lore?
I was really excited. I remember being so nervous but also so eager to work with the director, talking to Jared, and jumping in with the writers. All I wanted was to get started! I was like, “I can’t have a month of me waiting to be on set.” That was honestly horrible, because you just want to get there. Daniel did such a good job of making us forget that it was a Marvel movie. He kept reminding us that it was just a movie and that a lot of people are going to watch it, but to not focus only on that, so we could just tell the best version of the story. I really enjoyed that. There was no pressure. We supported ourselves on the script, and Jared also set the tone for us and was in character the entire time. It was hard work, but it was so incredibly rewarding when you step back and you go, “holy shit, we are in a Marvel movie, the whole world’s going to watch this.” But if you go into a Marvel movie saying this to yourself, I mean, it’s just a lot of pressure. I don’t know how people do that. April 1st. I’m ready. I can’t wait to share this with the world. I think we’ve all waited so long that I just want people to share it.

Morbius has always been an enigma in the Marvel Universe, appearing as both a villain and a hero. As Martine, do you bring out the hero or villain in Morbius?
I would say I would bring out the hero in Morbius. I think Martine is the compass of good. Morbius is battling through something that I think a lot of us forget: we battle with ourselves. Like Jekyll and Hyde, we all have a good side, and we all have a bad side. Morbius is battling through it, and I think Martine is extremely helpful, supportive, and loyal to him. She is willing to help him and really still believes that inside of all of this, a great Dr. Morbius still exists.