O Casamento!!! The Wedding!!!

Last week Jay and I had the pleasure of being invited and involved with the wedding of two great friends here, Aline and Eduardo. They are an incredibly adorable couple, super sweet, and perfect for each other. In case you're paying attention, they are the ones that got legally married earlier in the week, but made it official at their reception.
Since they were already married legally, the reception was more of a celebration of their lives together and was not at a church. A wonderful friend guided the ceremony as they said their vows and exchanged rings. Even in portuguese, it was a very touching union, and it was hard to hold in the tears.

Eduardo plays violin in the philharmonic, and of course, he arranged to have friends from the orchestra play at the wedding. It's been a while since I played a wedding, and it was cool to have the best seat in the house to see the couple. Instead of facing the guests or standing side by side like in the above picture, they actually sit side by side with their backs to the guests during the 45 minutes or so of talking. This is the second wedding I've been to in Brazil, and they were both arranged like that.

All of the musicians involved in the wedding

After the ceremony was over and the wedding party filed out, we all moved to another beautiful room for dinner. The couple walked around and received their congratulations from everyone and were obviously so happy. Their joy was very contagious!

Me, tiny Aline, and Débora all smiles

They have an interesting tradition in Brazil, kind of like our Dollar Dance in the US, but much more lucrative! The groom wears a tie (like an old one from home), and he is paraded around the room by his groomsmen with a pair of scissors. The guests all pay what they wish and get to keep a small piece of the tie. From what the people sitting at out table said, it's basically obligatory to participate, and people are encouraged to give as much as they can. There were lots of $20's and $50's in the collection. It's not uncommon to make $500-800R just from selling the tie! Now that is a tradition worth bringing to the US...

Eduardo selling pieces of his tie

  

Once we finished with that business, we made our way closer to the dessert table and the dance music. A perfect combination.

Beautiful and delicious desserts-

all individually wrapped sweets

Waltzing

Samba-ing with the ladies

This was such a special night for our friends, and we were privileged to be included in their celebration.

And who doesn't love a reason to get dressed up?! ;)