How to Quinceanera

The easiest way to arrange a quinceanera party is give the job to professionals, such as Fiesta Planners of Pasadena.

This company will book the hall, rent a limousine, arrange the dinner, get the cake, hire the musicians, help with the invitations and engage a photographer and videographer. Fiesta Planners has its own hall, called Memories, its own chef and kitchen, or they will stage the party elsewhere.

Costs range from $2,000 to $10,000, but the typical bill is $4,500 to $5,500. “It all depends on your taste and budget,” says Yvonne Gratianne, office manager. A $2,000 party could be a modest event for 200 in a home, or a lavish party if only 50 guests are invited. At the top end, the party might take place in a country club for an elite group of invitees with an expensive menu and lots of fresh flowers.

The food is not necessarily Latino. Simple chicken dishes or roast beef are also requested. Yvonne Palomino, sales manager, says one of the most requested dishes is chicken cooked in wine with a creamy wine and mushroom sauce. Mexican favorites are steak picado , birria and barbacoa. The cake is usually white, trimmed with pastel colors, but darker colors like burgundy have been requested. The toast will be made with champagne or cider. “Mostly cider because the people are young,” Gratianne says.

Mariachis may be hired to play for two hours during dinner, and a deejay provides dance music, which quiets down to a waltz, the quinceanera’s first official dance. This she starts with her father and ends with members of her court.

Fiesta Planners will handle every aspect of the celebration except the Mass. And Mass does not always precede the party. “Not everybody is religious,” Gratianne observes.

* Fiesta Planners and Memories banquet hall, 921 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena. (800) 783-4378.

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Parents schedule the quinceanera Mass with their church pastor. During the ceremony, the young girl is presented to her Lord, giving thanks for the gift of life, and to the Christian community in which she now takes her place as a young adult.

A special prayer is read, and the quinceanera leaves her bouquet at the statue of the Virgin Mary, an old custom that indicates respect for virginity.

Tradition was to present the quinceanera with a rosary or a religious medal to wear modestly under her clothing. Now it’s more popular to present a necklace, which does not necessarily have a religious theme and may even be quite showy.

Father Pedro Villarroya, director of the Office of Hispanic Ministry of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, says that each diocese has quinceanera guidelines, and churches may require the participants to attend classes before the ceremony.

“Some make this a social event. They forget what the quinceanera is really about, and spend so much money,” he says regretfully.

A quinceanera Mass is not without cost, however. At St. Matthias Catholic Church in Huntington Park, where Jacqueline Oviedo’s quinceanera Mass was celebrated, the charge is $250 or $300. The lower fee is for Mass at 9 or 10 a.m. From 11 a.m. on, the charge is $300. This covers organist, flowers and one rehearsal.

The date must be reserved with a 50% deposit six to eight months in advance. If the Mass is canceled more than three months before the event, $100 will be refunded. After that, there is no refund. The parents and their daughter are required to meet with the priest when the reservation is made, and they must attend class, along with the godparents, three months before the Mass.

Dainty missals--religious guides for the quinceanera to take to Mass--come in white or pastel shades of pink and blue. On the cover, they say, “ Mis Quince Anos “ or “ Recuerdo de Mis Quince Anos. “

Lara’s Bridal shop in Huntington Park, where Jacqueline Oviedo ordered her dress, carries the missals and also quinceanera Bibles. One missal, printed in Spain, closes with a delicate, golden latch.

The shop displays photos of a quinceanera in a voluminous pink dress, her attendants also in pink, which is a favorite color for this milestone. Pink satin shoes appear in a line-up of dressy footwear. One cabinet holds a pink box containing champagne glasses for a toast. Next to it are a cake knife and server, their handles smothered with tiny pink roses. In another cupboard are boxed sets containing such essentials as a guest book and photo album, pen and rosary. In one set, the pen is topped with an enormous white feather.

During the afternoon, the shop is quiet. Later, it will be crowded as girls come in with their parents after school or work to try on the gowns.

* Lara’s Bridal, 6109 Pacific Blvd., Huntington Park, 213-589-2236, and 412 West 4th St . , Santa Ana, 714-541-5304 .

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Packets of invitations for quinceanera celebrations are on display at a bookstore, Libreria y Discoteca Latina No. 3, across the street from Lara’s. “ Tarjetas de felicitacion “--congratulatory cards for the celebrant--are there too.

But for a wide selection of designs and personalized invitations, it is necessary to go to a print shop. AAAlert Printers on Broadway in downtown Los Angeles has a book of sample cards in Spanish from Westcraft Studios of Baldwin Park. Many of the designs feature a girl in a pink dress. One also shows the 14 attendants dressed in white descending like angels from the top of the card.

Embossed fans are a popular motif, and a couple of cards are shaped like fans. Custom is to include in the invitation the names of the attendants and the padrinos who have contributed to the celebration. The parents can choose whatever wording they like for the invitation itself. They also decide on the color of the print and, for some of the invitations, can select an envelope lined in pink.

The average cost for a quinceanera invitation is $1, and the enclosed reception card costs an additional 50 cents to 65 cents, says shop owner Doris Chessler.

* Libreria y Discoteca Latina No. 3, 6316 Pacific Blvd., Huntington Park; (213) 581-4248.

* AAAlert Printers, 202 S. Broadway, Los Angeles; (213) 622-3386.

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La Reyna Bakery in Huntington Park posts a sign advertising “15 anos “ cakes. Inside, you can leaf through books of cake photos, some showing the quinceaneras who ordered them. Like an old-time Hollywood musical fantasy, one cake supports four flights of stairs, each flight lined with couples representing the quinceanera’s attendants. A single young woman stands at the top. The cake is frosted in white overlaid with pink trim and decorated with lacy fans. The price is $325--slightly less if the fans are omitted.

Dolls to top quinceanera cakes line a shelf behind the counter along with bridal cake figures. And a sign advertises “ servicio de carros exoticos “ -- fancy limousines to transport brides or quinceaneras.

You would expect to find quinceanera cakes in Latino neighborhoods, but one of the most spectacular showed up in Chinatown. Queen’s Bakery fills a window with its elaborate pink and white display cake. The central four-layer cake is flanked on either side by three-, two- and one-layer cakes. They’re linked with six flights of stairs. On the left, girls in pink dresses parade down the stairs. On the right are young men in evening dress. The quinceanera, in a gown with pink lace skirt, crowns the top; white swans perch gracefully on the layers, and at the bottom is a fountain. This elaborate composition of white cake with lemon, rum or vanilla filling goes for $525 and serves 500 guests.

* La Reyna Bakery, 6132 Pacific Blvd., No. 1, Huntington Park; 213-583-6872.

* Queen’s Bakery, Inc., 809 N. Broadway, in Chinatown, Los Angeles; (213) 622-9749; also 301 W. Valley Blvd., No. 116, San Gabriel; (818) 281-8886.