noivos

Went to my first Brazilian wedding last night. It's not really all that different. The bride doesn't ride in on an elephant. They don't fire rifles into the air. No monkeys involved in anyway despite what you may have read. All night, though, everyone kept saying "It's much better than American weddings, neh?" Maybe they think at every American wedding you have to take a number at City Hall like we did. Or else, it's always like in the movies when one of the bride or groom decides to cancel at the last minute.

One difference in Brazil is the bride always arrives an hour late. Which is why Brazilians always miss the ceremony at our super punctual American weddings and wonder what happened. But the ceremony itself looked very familiar. It's true the priest could have been invoking winged fairies during the ceremony which would have been different, but I couldn't ask him "Repete devagar, por favor" so I'm guessing it was pretty standard text.


Besides the wedding party being arranged in much less martial, boy-girl order (and being allowed to dress themselves instead of wearing bride or groom team uniforms), the most noticeable difference I could see was that children seem to play a strangely intimate, intermediary role.


As far as I could tell, those kids just wanted a better view. They weren't bearing rings or flowers or turning the pages for the priest. Just leaning on the altar imagining themselves getting married. Or joining the church.

The other thing you'll have noticed is the prime positions allowed the paparazzi. The children were at least rapt with attention - the stage was crawling with cameras. By my count there were five photographers and videographers scampering around the altar, but they were bobbing and weaving so fast it was hard to be sure. Posterity takes priority clearly.

Where Brazilians really improve on matrimonial tradition of course is after the ceremony. The party is miles better than we can even conjure. And once the ceremony's over, the party is on. There's no highly choreographed order to the proceedings. No reception line. No seating plan (which you have to figure means far fewer fights between mother and daughter). No Wedding Planner. There's just food spread everywhere. Cocktails being passed on trays like at a casino. And the dancing starts immediately.

And that of course is why Brazilian weddings are better. There's no bad music and there's no bad dancers. I'm sure there are both - bad music and bad dancers - at Brazilian weddings. But it's like the minor and major leagues - the worst Brazilian wedding music and worst Brazilian wedding dancers are assuredly better than the best American wedding music and American wedding dancers. I was the September call-up, just happy for a brief stay in the Show... Another excellent reason to have a Brazilian wife... and a Brazilian wedding...