More Wedding Brazil-ness

These little bits of wedding inspiration came from the non-business portion of my trip and are a good excuse to show-off some of my adventures.

I'll start off with some pictures of the beautiful cathedral and church in downtown Manaus. If I was getting married in a church, it would be quite lovely in either of these.
This is the Catedral de Nossa Senhora da Conceição, built in 1875. This picture does not do it justice, but I was trying to be respectful of the parishioners.



And the the church of São Sebastião, built in 1859. The interesting story of this church was relayed to me by my knowledgeable Amazon tour guide, Victor. Most of the church, and other structures pictured here, were built in Italy and other areas in Europe. They sent pieces of it on boats a little at a time. The last pieces to be sent were the towers, which were on separate boats. Well, needless to say, one boat didn't make it. So there is the church with a single tower, while the other is sitting someone in the Atlantic.




This is the Teatro Amazonas, built in 1896. This gorgeous opera house was made from marble and frescoes from Italy, wrought-iron banisters from England, crystal chandeliers and tiles from France. It was built during the rubber boom and even the 'driveway' was paved in rubber so guests did not have to hear the clomping of horse hooves. It closed down after the boom went bust and even served as a storage facility for awhile. It has had numerous restorations over the years and now fully functions for a multitude of events. It really has become the cultural center of Manaus. I was lucky enough to attend a free piano concerto one night and snapped a few pictures of the foyer.

Again, these pictures don't do this justice. I kept thinking that would make for such a lovely reception. And the evening beforehand, when I found out about the free concert, was having the most beautiful catered event inside (no camera, damn). By the way, that is actually the Minister of culture in black.



Outside the opera house and just to the side of the church is a beautiful paved park, known as the Praca São Sebastião, that would also be just gorgeous for an al fresco reception.

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I spend many evenings at a cafe next to the Praca, drinking caipariñas or cappucino (usually the former), and enjoying the breeze of the Rio Negro. Really, if you are a Brazilian in Manaus, these are the places to have at it for a wedding shindig.

All in all, it was truly a lovely trip, mixing business, culture, and some wild adventures. And with that, I will leave you with a picture of some of the wildlife...

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Back from Brazil!

Although I was in Brazil for work (and a little fun) for nearly 3 weeks, I didn't exactly have the wedding off my mind. At the conference, where I presented some of my research, I couldn't help but notice our wedding colors (minus the orange).


They even had the tables covered in our colors. I didn't get a shot of the blue ones, but rest assured, they were there.

Although this was a scientific conference, the organizers brought in a strong cultural component to all the festivities, complete with a showing of historical documentaries and a gallery of local artists. There was alot of wonderful art, including a performance artist whom painted the Virgin Mary in neon paint and then proceeded to light it on fire (but amazingly not to the detriment to the painting nor her image). I also really loved the painting below, which depicts a wedding or two in the famous and absolutely gorgeous Pantanal wetland (which I later visited). The title is Casamento no Pantanal, which literally translates to "Marriage in the Pantanal".


See, I told you I didn't get weddings off my mind. I have more Brazil-inspired wedding stuff coming soon....