Invited to a Wedding in Brazil
Find in this article everything you should know when invited to a marriage in Brazil without being out of context. This article will be your guide to do well in any Brazilian wedding ceremony.
Having friends, business or also relatives in Brazil or in any other country sometimes requires participating of meetings and parties that represent part of a different culture. Refusing a wedding invitation is not something polite, even when it is your relative or a potential customer who invited you.
We will not describe the ceremony itself once each religion has a different way of consecrating marriage and normally, the ceremony does not change much from country to country.
It is important to let you know that in Brazil many people see weddings as big events. It is difficult to see people solemnizing the wedding with only a few relatives and friends. Brazilians love parties to invite everyone they know to celebrate their union.
Does not matter how much money Brazilians have to celebrate their marriage, they will always make a party, that can be a traditional one or even a barbecue, but they will always celebrate surrounded by family and friends.
Gifts
In Brazil there is a very common practice to give gifts the grooms. Stores, mainly household items stores, provide the called “wedding lists” to facilitate the grooms’ and guests’ lives.
Stores provide a list of items for grooms that will choose what they would like to receive as a gift from their guests. On the wedding invitation card there is a small card or an indication where the guests should buy the gifts. Arriving at the store you should give the grooms’ name to have access to their list.
Normally expensive gifts as stove and refrigerators are included in this list, but are often given to the grooms by best men and bridesmaids.
The good point of this kind of wedding lists is that you can buy the wedding gift from your home, once almost all stores have this service online.
Clothes
What to wear in a marriage depends on the period of the day it is going to happen and on the formality of the party. In most cases, parties are formal regardless on the period of the day. Assuming that you are going to a formal wedding we have selected some clothes advices:
If you are going to a wedding during the day you should wear:
- If women: knee-length dresses – never black, shiny or white
- If men: Grey coat tail
If you are going to a wedding at night you should wear:
- If women: long dress – any color but white
- If men: coat tail
Time
This is an important point to tell foreign people. Brazilians are usually late . It is cultural and acceptable to be late for many things in Brazil, including weddings. If you arrive at the marriage exactly on time you will find the florist making the last adjustments.
Remember being at least fifteen or twenty minutes late when going to the marriage, and also be prepared to wait for the bride, as she will probably be late. In Brazil as in many countries the wife should always be late.
Curious Wedding Games
It is really common to have games during weddings parties in Brazil. Be prepared to participate of them. There are many different games we could list in this article, but we have decided to list the ones that affect you directly.
Fiancé’s tie
This game is performed by the fiancé best men who get the fiancé´s tie and start selling it to people at the party. The best man cut pieces of the tie and sells it for the price people want to pay. Normally this game occurs to help those who just got married getting extra money for their honeymoon.
Wife’s shoe
This game is very similar to the “fiancé’s tie” and also has the same purpose of getting extra money for the couple’s honeymoon. This game is made by the bridesmaids who get one of the wife’s shoes, put it on a tray and ask women to put money in it.