The wedding was on Saturday night (12-12-09). After all the preparations and a whole day of being pampered for Grace, it was time for her to walk down the aisle and become Mrs. Serpa! The weather here has not been the beautiful sunny summer weather we were hoping for and right before the wedding started, it became very windy and rainy! Still everyone made it inside without being soaked. While we were waiting to enter, the wind kept blowing through the entryway at us but I suppose it gave us all that model-like wind-blown look. :-)
Here we are waiting to go in:
By the way, in Brazil they don't have bridesmaids/groomsmen, they have witnesses for the bride and for the groom. So they choose couples who are a special part of their lives and then they enter and stand as a couple. These are called Padrinhos. Mom and Dad were Padrinhos for Andre, and I was for Grace with her friend from PACA-Danny Ribeiro. Danny was a great new friend through the wedding. It was nice to have someone to hang on to through the service and also to have someone fun to whisper to.
I don't really have many pictures of the ceremony (except the one above that I stole from Aline!) but here are some shots of people right after:
Introducing: Mr. & Mrs. Serpa!
Aunt Nellie and Grace's Grandmother:
After the ceremony, we headed across town to the reception where we enjoyed a nice dinner with guarana and coke and yummy little appetizers and desserts.
Here is the cake: funny thing is that this one is not real...somehow they were serving another one though?
David was in charge of the sound system as well as the soundtrack for the evening. He did a good job. Taara put together the amazing slideshow of the couple with tons of great memories.
Here are the American relatives with the bride and groom:
and here are my dear cousins. All married now!
The handsome uncle and beautiful aunt of the bride:
And here's a proud papa with his girls:
Grace and Andre spent most of the evening like celebrities on a tour of their reception. They stopped at every table to greet everyone and take a picture with them. Here is our time under the spotlight with them:
In Brazil they have a tradition of selling pieces of the groom's tie to the guests at the reception. So everyone who gives money, gets a little piece as a souvenir--a bigger donation equals a bigger piece. Danny spent a lot of the evening charming the guests into giving money. They raised over 1000 Reais for the Serpa's honeymoon. Wow!
I caught the bouquets of all my cousin's wives (except Aline's because I wasn't able to be at their wedding) and so there was a lot of pressure to catch Grace's. Thankfully there wasn't much competition...I think the other girls heard of my rep for catching bouquets and stayed timidly in the back. Plus, Grace threw it right to me.
Cousins!
Another cool thing about the reception was I got to see my little "sister" Emily who came from Sao Paulo to stay with our family 5 years ago. It was great to see her and talk to her family:
The wedding began at 7:30 p.m. and I'm sure we didn't get to the reception until after 10:00. By midnight we were definitely beginning to feel a little weary. I don't think this one was posed:
Finally after hours of greeting people, the Serpas had a chance to sit and put a little food in their mouths as well as enjoy the picture slideshow.
Here are the sisters smiling that the wedding happened without any major glitches:
Uncle Solano was in a jolly mood when we got home, even though it was around 2:30 a.m. It was a joyful day.
We were so glad to be able to be a part of this wedding and pray that God will bless the marriage of Andre and Grace. They are a special couple in our lives and we love them!
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