Wedding, Brazilian style

This past weekend, Dave and I attended the nuptials of one of his co-workers. We arrived at the church -- Nossa Senhora do Brasil, the "it" Sao Paulo church in which to get married, rumor has it you have to book two years in advance -- at 5:15pm, 15 minutes before the wedding was scheduled to start, only to catch the bride of the preceding wedding just entering the church.

After standing outside for about 45 minutes, with an ever-expanding crowd, during which time the bride arrived in her car and was sent away to drive around the block again, we were ushered inside in order to clear the steps for the grand exit of the wedding in progress. Clumped together at the back of the church with all the others waiting for the next wedding, we were, in essence, crashing the wedding in progress, en masse. After the bride and groom and all of their family members recessed, followed by their guests who left from side doors of the church, we were finally able to take our seats. A mere five minutes later -- just enough time to smooth out the aisle runner and have a new batch of photographers and videographers take their places -- the wedding we were there for began, at around 6:15pm.

The church itself is quite grandiose, throwing together multiple elements that would, each on their own, be quite beautiful, but all together make for a gaudy mess. It's Sistine Chapel ceiling meets blue and white tiled walls, with numerous dark skinned Virgin Mary statutes thrown in for good measure. The ceremony itself was quite standard (though perhaps not the part when the song "Beauty and the Beast" was played after the vows), and fairly short, I guess they had to make way for the next bride and groom.

Note: the above photos were taken by a co-worker of Dave's, not me.