Family Wedding in Rio . . . what an experience!

Jerry and I had the opportunity to attend the wedding of Ryan Parker and Camila Pereira da Souza. Ryan is the son of Webb Parker my (Vernon`s) cousin. They met when Camila came to the US to work at a ski resort near Lake Tahoe. We received permission to take three days off to travel to Rio de Janeiro. It was a wonderful chance to be with family and to experience a real piece of Brazilian culture.

The man pushing this wheel chair is the partner of the bride`s father, both are MDs. The lady in the wheel chair is the great-grand mother of the bride. She is 97 years old and although she is unable to walk her mind is still sharp. I had a long conversation with her and was fascinated with her memories of the "old days" in Brazil.

All of these photos were taken inside the "Nossa Senhora do Monte do Carmo" Catholic Church in downtown Rio. This church is next to another large Catholic church and I'm talking just a few inches apart. Both were hosting weddings at the same time. We entered the wrong church when we first arrive and didn't even know that there were two different churches there. Both cathedrals were hosting weddings at the same time and we could hear the music through the thick stone walls from time to time.


This is the best man and the brother of the groom along with his wife. He and Danny spent some time together when he came to spend a week or so together when both were young boys. They are about the same age. Everyone who participated in the wedding made the long walk down the aisle and each group seemed to have special music according to the role they were playing as members of the wedding party.
These cute little girls are related to the bride. The little boy is Jack Thomas or JT . He is Kevin's (brother of the groom) oldest and is four years old.Here is the bride and her father are slowly making their way down the long red carpet. Most of the people there were either friends or relatives of the bride's family. Her father, Jose and Camila acknowledged people on both sides as they slowly made their way to the altar.We were amazed at the pageantry, the trumpets and trombones and violins and singers.The actual wedding ceremony was both in English and Portuguese and lasted about an hour and a half. Because of the heavy traffic in Rio the groom and his family and friends which came from the hotel in two vans were late. In stead of starting at 8:00 P.M the ceremony did not start until 9:30 P.M.. There were thousands white flowers everywhere mostly roses, lilies and baby's breath. There were hugh bouquets surrounding the altar, on both sides of the aisle and hanging high up the walls of the cathedral in large ornate vases. After their vows were made a shower of white rose peddles fell from the top of the dome, which was about sixty feet above the altar.After the ceremony was completed, American jazz music filled the cathedral as the couple walked down the aisle to the large doors that opened onto the busy streets of Rio. If you look closely you can see the singer standing in the box half way up the wall. The trumpeters were standing on the benches and everyone was waving to the beat of the music while smiling and cheering for the happy couple. The whole wedding party moved across town to a reception center where another extravaganza commenced. By now it was 11:30 P.M. and we were both tired. We did not take the pictures we wished we had to show you in pictures the amazing celebration. Wine, champagne, horderves, and literally hundreds of different kinds of hand made candies of the most ornate kind greeted us as we entered the reception center. There was a large cadre of waiters serving liquor, soft drinks, juices of every kind and a wide variety of fancy horderves. This lasted for some time before the guests were treated to an elegant dinner There must have been about 400 or more people there. During the whole time lively dancing was taking place on the dance floor. The partying intensified after the dinner when a carnaval style samba band arrived to beat out the same kind of rhythm the Brazilians dance to during their Carnaval Parades. We were some of the first to leave at about 3:30 A.M. The Brazilians loved the dancing and music, but Jerry and I could hardly keep our eyes open.

We came away glad that we had gone, but also grateful for the Gospel, our family and the principle of getting to bed and arising early each day. (We were unable to sleep in. Old habits are hard to break)