brazilian wedding traditions?

KrissLS

Hi,
I am not latina but my fiance is from Brazil. I wanted to incorporate some of his culture into our wedding. Is anyone familiar with any Brazilian traditions?
The only thing I can think of is maybe having our reception catered by our favorite restaurant which is Cuban-but apparently very similar to the food his mom makes at home.

erikadteixeira

My parents are from Brazil but we aren't doing a lot of Brazilian traditions because for the most part the traditions are the same. We are having cookies called "Bem Casados" as one of our favors. I've never actually eaten them before but my mom is going to make them. Bem casado means well married. It's a tradition for the guests to make a wish for the couple when they take their first bite of the cookies. If you google bem casados you will find a lot of websites with good info. I hope this helps!!!!!!

KrissLS

That sounds like a great idea! Thank you!

curimk

Whooo Hoooo, I am marrying a Brasilian tooo! So I must ask, Você fala português?
I am learning! I too have wondered the same things about tradition and guys just seem to not be very helpful!!! Anywoo, I was told that the first dance is always to a certain kind of song, I will call my Brasilian friend and ask her and get back to you on that! How exciting! You are the first one I have come accross that is an American (like me) marrying a Brasilian..

I love my Brasilian man, every girl should have one lol
Beijos
Kate

KrissLS

Eu falo un poco! LOL i am still learning I just know a few phrases. I can usually understand more than I can say. Every holiday (when I am around people speaking only portugues) I promise I am going to spend more time studying! Our computer is "set" in portugues so I'm picking somethings up that way.  I agree I love my brazilian man! I am glad there is someone else on here, we can compare notes! Beijos! 

TalytaB

I came from Brasil and am marrying a cuban. In a traditional brazilian wedding they don't have bridesmaids they have madrinas and padrinos. Each side of the bride and groom has typically four or five couples acting as the bridesmaid. Let's say your uncle and aunt or your best friend and brother as one of the pairs. And the groom will do the same. You can have more or less pairs if you want, it's your wedding. For the dessert table I'm having tons of Brazilian chocolates. Good luck!

TalytaB

Uh the whole, brazilians being afraid to marry in August or on the 13th, is just his family...don't get it confused with all brazilians...His family is called superstitious.

raggedeannie

Hi ladies! I'm marrying a Brazilian as well.  We are incorporating just a few Brazilian traditions:
 - bilingual invitations (not really a tradition but at least mixing the two cultures)
- I am having bridesmaids on my side and he is having padrinhos (his parents and aunts and uncles) - the women on his side have agreed to stay in the color scheme even though in Brazil they would try their hardest NOT to match!
- bem casados as favors - I found a store here in the US who makes them to order and will ship anywhere!
- Brazilian doces - brigadeiros, beijinhos, etc.
- He suggested a waltz for the first dance but I'm not sure if we will go with that or not
- some of the readings at Mass will be in Portuguese

Any suggestions on how to handle the speeches? His dad/family do not speak English at all!!!

KrissLS

I think i am going to do bem casadas and brigadeiros etc. His family will make the doces but I can't find anyone around here (CT) to do bem casadas.

I am also going to see if someone would want to do a reading in portuguese.
We decided NOT to do speeches- for a combination of the language barrier and a very shy bridal party.

raggedeannie

Kriss -- Check out http://www.fairycakesnpixiebites.com/ for the bem casados.  Fernanda just sent me a sample last week from Seattle all the way to Washington, DC, and they were great!

bongetta

does anyone know where I can find bem casados in NYC?

ccorrea82

Check out bemcasadosbycristina.com. They deliver to NY. I had them recently at a wedding in Miami and it was great!!! 

RivelAmy

Oi meninas!

I'm also an American marrying a Brazilian...thanks so much for the ideas of blending his culture with mine! I love your list raggedannie. Another idea that I came up with was instead of giving the tables numbers, I am going to name them and write the names of the tables in Portuguese. All of the names will be wedding related, such as "love", "trust", "happiness", etc. That way there is a touch of Portuguese on the big day!

LuluP82

I think the biggest difference for the ceremony is the bridal party, for sure. Although it's getting a bit more common for there to be a mix (for example, my cousin recently got married and she had a few girls picked alone, like me, and a few couples...I was just paired with one of the guys on the groom's side to walk in, but we stood on opposite sides). No BM dresses Although, at my other cousin's wedding, the bride did specify VERY specific color schemes for the madrinhas, and the padrinhos had to wear a specific tie, too. So again, I think it's changing a bit.

For the reception, you girls mentioned a bunch of good ones with the docinhos. I had a table at my wedding with them, and that was appreciated by everyone, and that's always been my favorite part.

The readings in Portuguese are a good idea, too. We didn't do it because we had wayyy too many langagues mixed in. The invitations are also different...you generally have both parents on top (bride on left and groom on right) announcing the marriage of the children.

Celinho

Oi gatinhas!  I'm in the same boat (with the exception of being a Canadian).  My Brazilian fiancee are currently in Brazil but will be having our official wedding in Canada.  I was also struggling with ideas on how to combine cultures and customs and really appreciated all your great suggestions!  We'll have some guests who dont speak English so  we want them to feel as comfortable and welcome as possible!

Along with the bem casados and Portuguese ceremony readings, some ideas we came up with were:

- creating a wedding website as a little teaching tool for our guests both in English and Portuguese to explain about ourselves as a couple, our backgrounds, countries, and some simple Portuguese and English words/phrases so they can practice pre-wedding in hopes that they'll be able  interact a bit more at the festivities!

- cocktail hour before the reception starts will feature a caipirinha bar!! We're enlisting the help of one of our Brazilian friends to bartend, complete with a variety of fruits,  vodka and of course cachaca

- we decided to keep speeches to a minimum and will be splitting ours in both languages, I'm going to speak in Portuguese and he in English.  Its going to be an undertaking (especially for me) but with practice i think it will be both impressive and sentimental

Hope those help!  Please keep updating this post with new ideas - they're so helpful!

SarahWins

Oi gatinhas! Meu noivo também e do Brasil! I was wondering if anybody knows if there is a difference in the way that invitations are worded there? I tried to ask his mother but her English is only slightly better than my Portugués so the question was lost in translation, and my fiancé doesn't know at all because he's never been to a wedding in either country. Muita obrigada! Beijos!

quasebrasileira

Oi meninas,

American marrying a Brazilian. Some things we're planning:

- docinhos e bem casados as favors

- churrasco and chimarrão for the reception too (he's from the south)

- vows in both Portuguese and English (I will say them in Portuguese and he will say them in English)

to Sarahwins, I've only seen two Brazilian wedding invitations (and they were Protestant) but they were worded basically the same.

Also, I've noticed that Americans do engagement photos around 6 months out but Brazilians do a photo shoot a few weeks before the wedding and use the pictures as a slideshow for the reception. Usually the bride takes a picture in a white casual dress for one of the pictures.

We aren't sure that we will have enough Brazilians here to do the tie-cutting tradition at the reception...

Boa sorte meninas! E felicidades!!!