Brazilian Beach Wedding - Angelica & Chris Part 11

Angelica and Chris wanted a wedding that reflected their personalities which meant: the beach, sun, tropical food and good music. Their chosen theme a rustic beach wedding in a beautiful village on the coast of Brazil. To be exact, the wedding took place on the warms sands of Tartaruga (Turtle) Beach in Buzios, a small city on the coast outside Rio de Janeiro.

Their theme was natural, feel good, uplifting - beige and yellow which complemented the natural surroundings of the beach (just the right amount without going overboard). OOOh...look at their cake! I absolutely love it!!

DIY bride Angelica planned and purchased every single detail of the decor which by the way is absolutely stunning!! Every little detail was planned and coordinated to perfection. She designed and produced the invitations, menus, wedding website and favors. While some brides are stressing over other details she also planned and customized every single detail of catering and wedding decor. She decided to hire a professional decorator to execute the decor plan on the actual wedding day so she could take-in and really enjoy herself.

The catering included only traditional Brazilian seafood dishes, beautifully arranged in giant

shells, pumpkin cups or earth bowls and the decorations with ample candles and and nautical lanterns, beautiful rustic wood-crafted furniture and a lot of white fabric.

Besides a DJ, they also hired a real school of samba with all its dancers to surprise the guests with a one-hour show. And my personal favorite part of the wedding was the personalized Hawaiian flip-flops they gave to their female guests who could take off their high heels after hours of dancing. See the great photo below. For those of you who didn't catch it, she used the same design that was incorporated on their wedding invite.

Brazilian wedding traditions

As Brazil is a Catholic country with a great influence of Afro religions that were brought to the country during slave times, some special wedding rituals have become part of Brazilian culture. Therefore, on the morning of the wedding day, at the beach where the couple would later be married, the bride and groom followed the ritual of Yemaja, the Sea Goddess. It’s a cultural religious tradition to first ask the blessing of the Sea Goddess to have happiness and fertility in the marriage.

The ritual consists of jumping seven waves before entering the water and then asking the goddess for a blessing before diving in. “According to the cultural belief, the saltwater cleanses our body of bad thoughts and negative energy, preparing us for the wedding to come,” Angelica explains.

During wedding, they also distributed colorful wristbands called fitinha do Bonfim, traditional lucky religious bracelets originally of northeastern Afro-Brazilian culture that are believed to give the person the right to ask for three wishes. As for this DIY bride: her wish for an absolutely amazing wedding on a beach came through: Great job Angelica! Congratulations to you both - thank you for sharing all these gorgeous details with us.