So I’ve been to Matteo and Flavia’s wedding, and it’s been amazing. The wedding was on Saturday night. I got to Vitória the same day and spent half the afternoon by the pool on the roof of our hotel, together with the groom (meanwhile the bride was relaxing in a spa), then we dressed up and 7pm went to the place. No church, just a restaurant organized as a ceremonial room, with a small ritual table in the middle of several dinner tables. No grand-pa/mas in sight. Just the four parents and about fifteen pairs of uncle-aunts. Average age was in the 30-35 range. Men were dressed with a dark suit, while ladies had a long soirée dress. Lots of ladies. Gorgeous.
Everybody was sit down when the bride arrived and as soon as she entered the room, revealing to the crowd, we all stood up, silent, staring at her. No march, just a romantic song. No claps. Just admiration. Then the priest talked about 40 minutes, in Portuguese. I didn’t understand much, but I got that he wasn’t reading or following a pre-defined phrasebook, as Roman Catholics do. He just described what was flowing out of his heart, like somebody would do to make sure his two friends are doing the right thing and are conscious of the meaning of that act. After the ceremony, we had dinner, buffet, with some fried local specialties, sushi and beer, and finally everybody went to the floor dancing. No samba, just modern dance music, like Disco Inferno and the likes.
The next day most of us went to the bride’s father’s house for a churrasco party on the pool side. Unfortunately we Italians had to leave in the middle of the party in order not to miss our flight back to Rio.
It’s been very different than what I imagined, and I liked a lot as it was. By the way, Vitória is a lovely place.
