Casamentos

I decided to give you all a lesson on Brazilian Mormon weddings. They're different here. In the States, Latter-day Saints get married in the temple. However, it is Brazilian law that you must be married in a "cartorio" - essentially a licensing office. I have seen many a wedding take place in a dingy little office with fabric ripping off the generic blue chairs. They get all dressed up and take pictures - the whole nine yards. With a fussy office lady standing in the background looking bored.

People who want more of a party-wedding can sometimes ask for the cartorio papers to be sent to the wedding locale (but you pay extra.) You can't be sealed in the temple until the papers are complete, therefore almost all Mormon weddings take place in the chapel. They are usually sealed the next day.

This past Friday one of my very best friends, Marina, married her childhood sweetheart. They've dated since they were 16. She waited for him on his mission, and two years later they are finally sealed for eternity!

So here's our chapel, all trussed up: Doesn't the bishop look dashing?! (Note: My Man has now done several weddings and still can't get used to it. He says it feels like he's just playing at it - faking it. It doesn't feel "real"to him ...)

She cried the whole way down the aisle. So did I.

After the wedding, it is traditional to go to a "sitio"or "chacara" - a rented party place, usually with lots of space, a big house, a pool, a playground ..... Traditional food is "churrasco"- Brazilian barbecue that makes our barbecues look ... look ... okay, my loss for words indicates to me that they don't even deserve to be in the same sentence. Essentially, Brazilian barbecue is file mignon on a stick. Very. Very. Good.

So one of their wedding traditions is selling pieces of the groom's tie. A shameless, extremely hilarious way to beg.
They still throw the bouquet ....

And they dance. DUDE, Brazilians can dance. Steve and I usually just try to blend in the wall and bop to the beat hoping no one notices us. My hips just don't MOVE like theirs do ....

I tried to look up some of my favorite Brazilian songs for you to enjoy, but I couldn't find any free ones. Dang copyright laws. And all the YouTube videos of the songs are full of gyrating, bikini-clad dancers. I decided to spare your retinas and you'll just have to go without the samba. Sorry.

Still, some things about weddings are the same everywhere: