"I DO" - Brazilian Style

Friday found us at our first Brazilian wedding. Laura works at the temple on Saturdays. Hmmm, I don't know anything about Felipe - except that he's a good guy. Anyway, we enjoyed learning about their Mormon wedding traditions.

 Here are a dozen things I learned:

1. A couple must first have a civil wedding before being sealed in the temple. Generally this takes place the day before. 

2. It is important to know that in Brazil many people see weddings as big events. It is difficult to see people solemnizing the wedding with only a few relatives and friends. Brazilians love parties to invite everyone they know to celebrate their union.

3. Here you do not mail your invitations! It's a big faux paux to mail your invitation to someone and the person can be very offended!

4. The women and girls dress up in their "Prom" dresses for the wedding. Yes, I was definitely underdressed! Who knew?! The guys look pretty good as well. 

5. It doesn't matter how much money you may have to celebrate the marriage, they will always make a party.

6. An important point for foreign people to know is that Brazilians are usually late to everything. It is cultural and acceptable to be late for many things in Brazil, including weddings. This actually worked in our favor because we couldn't leave for the wedding until our shift at the temple ended. So when we arrived at the church a good 30 minutes late it was OK. We still waited another 15 minutes for the bride!

7. After the ceremony the wedding party makes its way to the stage and has wedding pictures taken while the guests listen to loud music and try to talk above it. 

8. When the Bride and Groom return, the food is served - we had a buffet of Brazilian finger foods. 

9. Probably the first thing you notice when entering the cultural hall is a large table filled with assorted sweets. Actually it looks like mountains of assorted sweets - doce de leite, chocolate, or anything else yummy and sweet. Truly, works of art!

10. Besides receiving wedding presents/cards/money, a game is played toward the end of the evening. The bride puts her shoe on a tray and while everyone bangs on tables and pans, and chants, the guests are asked to put money in the shoe (for the honeymoon).

11. A Brazilian sweet is handed out to all guests once they leave the reception as a symbol of good luck and prosperity for the newly Wedded couple.

12. The next day is the complete opposite - sweet and beautiful and  eternal - as they are sealed in the House of the Lord. 

Bela and the Fera also fell in love and were married this week. We watched it in 4D. The chairs shook, the wind blew, and just about anything else annoying occurred during the movie. Perhaps you need to be 12 and under to truly enjoy this experience. Anyway, we loved the movie.