Portugal - The wedding of the year - Day 11

No, it's not Meghan and Harry's wedding! 
The "wedding of the year" was the code name my niece Tania gave her wedding page on Facebook - T & B Wedding of the year 2018, which she set up in December 2017.

On this page invited guests were informed of various things related to the wedding as well as guests were able to post - eg: if anyone needed accommodation or transport arranged, various Youtube funny wedding videos, polls, photos, etc.

On Sunday 8th of April 2018, we woke up to a sunny day, with a chance of rain later on in the day.
After a make up session, we put on our fancy clothes and were at my sister's house just down the road at 11.00am, so that we could nibble something and take  photos with the bride and the family.

The bridesmaids in Mint and Lilac dresses

Family before the wedding at my sister's place - my daughter in the middle and my other niece on the left were bridesmaids. (photo from the photographer)

Photo session over, we drove about 15 minutes to Quinta da Barreta,  Alcabideche, the venue where Tania and Bruno's wedding would take place at midday. 

The wedding venue - Quinta da Barreta

When the bride arrived and joined the groom under the white canopy, the Master of ceremonies called upon some of the couple's friends and family members who gave speeches or sang their praise about the young couple's love story. 
Some of the speeches were quite emotional and a lot of people had tears in their eyes including the bride and groom.

              

   

It was then time for Tania and Bruno to say their vows and exchange the wedding rings.
Just as the bride started speaking the rain drops started falling and most of the guests who didn't have umbrellas scattered to the undercover area just outside the reception hall.

Bride and Groom listening to speeches, Tania reading her vows, showing their rings

The ceremony over, people congregated on the porch to take photos with the couple.

Our daughter, my husband, the bridal couple, me and Karina's partner (photo from the photographer)

Tania, who is a teacher in Angola is very artistic and was very involved with all decorations of the wedding venue. She used bottle corks which she had guests collect for her via a request on her "wedding of the year Facebook page"  and made the table numbers, the initials for their table, hearts and the very cute cake topper. She also put together game and art packs for the kids corner, printed cards with guests names for the tables, placards with funny sayings that some kids carried, scratchies for every guest, some of them with prizes - like a kiss from the bride, a dance with the bride or groom, a dinner with the couple.... All fabulous details that made the day special and intimate. 

Signs the bride made - "Keep calm girls, I'm still available" or "Uncle don't run away, 
my aunty is beautiful".

Bamboo poles with name cards where you could clip your instant camera photo, cork 
decorations, twigs with names of tables and guests, boab treet drawn by my husband's 13 year niece.

lapel flowers, table decoration, my husband and I with my sister and brother in law

After dinner, the first dance took place and later on at around 9pm the couple cut the cake and a slice was distributed to the guests and we toasted to their happiness with a glass of sparkling-wine.                                                                                     

   

The first dance

Toasting the bridal couple in front of the cake, the cake topper made by Tania

I have to praise Quinta da Barreta, the wedding venue for such wonderful work - the service was great, the desserts buffet was amazing,  the venue was beautiful inside and outside, the toilet facilities were modern, there was a kids room with cots, a kid's corner where they had IPads and toys to play with. I didn't see the kitchen, but my sister said it was very clean and organized and that was one of the reasons they chose this venue to hold the ceremony. Five stars!!

The young crowd was still dancing away at 11pm when we decided to go home and realized that we hadn't taken a family photo where the groom was included. So I rounded the troops and one last photo was taken.

Family photo with the bridal couple (photos from the photographer) with the very last one being a fun photo :)

Wishing the wonderful couple all the happiness in the world!