Portugal #3 - Congratilations Mr & Mrs T ... & Lily

[debris4spike]

A few photoos from the wedding here.

It was a lovely day, but very  long & hot!  The 3 of us got to the Church at about 11.30, and I left before them, as I only stayed until 2am!!!  Apparently the Portuguese have a "day" organised ... complete with dancers, caterers etc ... and we had 4 meals in that time.  I have an odd allergy, and Ana had told the cateres that I couldn't have dairy (which is not correct, but an easy explanation) and just as the 3rd course of the main meal was being served another cater suddenly came up to our table and yelled "Stop.  Deborah"  It turned out that what they were serving ad a butter sauce ... but talk about everyone looking at me!  Two of the other 9 know me well enough, but the others just stared!  Anyway, as I have said that I will post the phot out of order as this was our table ... 5 of the 10 work at the hospital, 2 have done, and the others are Martins life-long friend & Ana's friend from Uni & her brother.




Anyway ... lets get to some serive photos.

The Church suprised me as it was modern ...


And here are the 2 bridesmaids who both work at the hospital, and to say they don't like each other is a bit of an understatement!  Ironically, Elena used to live next door to me!


The service started with them arriving, then Lily, the Godfather & an Aunt


Then the Bride & her Mum & Dad





The Priest was lovely with a long welcome in Portuguese, then a Bible reading in English by Martin's step-father.  They then had their wedding vows in English.  Then they did Lily's Christening.  Some in the same location, but some at the font with just the 3 of them, the 2 Godparents & the priest ... that suprised me as I thought part of the service was to promised to support the family.  Anyway, this is them coming back from that part of the service -


Then we had a hymn sung by a trio in Portuguese ... I was standing next to Miguel an ex-work collegue who translated the chorus for me.  Then there was a sermon that the Priest did in Portuguese, then repeated the whole thing in English ... I was very impressed, and he seemed to have a nice relaxed atmosphere about him, as well.
They then went and signed the register while we exited the Church, ready to welcome them -


They then chatted to people and that is where I took this photo ... before being driven to the reception venue.

While waiting for things to start I snapped this photo of Ceri & Juliet as a reminder of how hot it was -



The Bride & Groom had some more official photos like this one -


Before cutting Lily's cake -



We then had the main meal (as I said ealier), and after the 6 courses (I mean we didn't need much as we had already had plates of hors d'oeuvres, so obviously only needed a snack!).  Anyway, after that the caters all did a dance routine, before dragging up the wedding party to re-do it ... amazing fun.



After that we headed outside for assorted games, and dances, and chats -






At about 10.30 we went back into the reception hall for another meal, although only 3 courses this time ... then outside so they could cut the cake -


With all the fireworks there were some more photos taken -



Then back inside for their first dance, and by now it was midnight -


And then, of course, another meal!  This one was buffte so I got some fruit, which was a welcome reprieve.

One thing I hadn't mentioned was that there were 150 guests, as half of Ana's family couldn't make it, and half of Martin's family wouldn't come (apparently there are a lot of family feuds going on ... so sad).  And, to top it all, it was a free bar from start to finish.  So my final question is "Have Ana & Martin started saving for Lily's wedding, yet?"