Gissell Cordero
On Having a Quinceañera
Wearing a two-tone lavender dress, 15-year-old Gissell Cordero smiled as she hung out with her friends during her quinceañera party on March 11 in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Lincoln Heights. As her friends arrived one by one, they greeted her with hugs.
At first Gissell was not planning on having a quinceañera because she dislikes wearing dresses and doing her makeup or her hair.
Gissell says she was hesitant to have one because of the cost, but she changed her mind when she thought about her family. “But for me it was important so I can make my parents happy for that day because I think that they always wanted to see me like a quinceañera in my dress. So it was for them, my grandpa,” says Gissell
On Having Friends and Family be Part of the Big Day
The quinceañera took about four months to plan, which caused stress for Gissell and her mother, Brenda Soto. While planning they tried to find items at reasonable prices because Gissell’s father is the only one who works to support his family who currently reside in Lincoln Heights, Calif.
Gissell’s father has two jobs, at a jewelry company and at a fast-food restaurant. He gave Gissell and Soto about half of his paychecks to purchase items for the celebration. Soto says that she and her husband paid about $5,000 in all, including money from their tax return.
“We spent all of the [tax] money, but we did it,” says Soto, speaking in Spanish. “Thank God we didn’t have to borrow anything.”
Family and friends also helped Gissell and her parents pay for the celebration. She had about 15 padrinos, or patrons, who contributed for the dress, the bouquet, the toast, pillows and other essentials.
Dinner Trouble
Soto was very involved in the planning and made sure that everything ran smoothly that day.
Most choreographers that she contacted wanted to charge hundreds of dollars to choreograph a dance. The cheapest one they found charged $350. After watching YouTube videos, Soto taught her daughter and the damas the steps to the waltz. Soto also incorporated steps that she learned in Zumba class to choreograph the surprise dance.
Soto made the food for the party herself, after the person who was going to make the food canceled at the last minute. The day before the quinceañera, Soto had to buy all the ingredients to make the rice, salads, birria and salsas that were served. “That morning I went to sleep at 3 a.m. making the food,” she says.
From Flats to Heels
The night was filled with special moments for the family. As the song “Yo Te Esperaba” by Mexican singer Alejandra Guzman played through the speakers, Gissell and her mom hugged as they danced. The song -- whose title translates as “I Waited for You” -- is about a pregnant woman awaiting her baby.
Soto chose that song, she says, because “the minute that they told me I was pregnant she was already special to me.” For six months, Soto had tried to get pregnant, without success. She says that she and her husband were going to go to the doctor to get tests done to see whether either of them couldn’t bear children; it was then that she received the surprise that she was pregnant.
Childhood Memories
For Gissell, it was important to incorporate childhood memories into her celebration. Her favorite color growing up was purple, and that is why she picked it as her central color. Everything — from her dress to the table linens, flowers and decorations — was purple. She also chose to dance to “Dreaming of You” by Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla because that was the first song that she learned to sing to as a child.
Father-Daughter Dance
Gissell’s father wrote a letter to his daughter for her quinceañera, but fearing that he would get too emotional, he had one of the musicians read it. In Spanish, part of the letter read, “Richness is not found in money. For me, richness is having you guys [Gissell and her sister]. I thank God for everything that he has given me. And to you, my daughter, I want to tell you that the world is yours, the world is yours, and it doesn’t have limits. I love you.”