As a wedding photographer in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)

On Tuesday, May 28, 2013, I received an email from Aike – an old “internet acquaintance” from the Rhine-Main area. I was amazed when I read his name, because I hadn’t heard of him for at least six or seven years!

Aike is an excellent travel and landscape photographer whose photos I always enjoyed admiring in my early photographic days. In the middle of the “noughties” we regularly exchanged emails on the subject of photography and also met once at Frankfurt Airport in November 2005 when I flew from there to Palau (Micronesia) with Sabrina – because Aike was kind enough to lend me a mobile data storage device on which I could store my travel photos in Palau.

So far, so good. We didn’t hear from each other again for years – until the aforementioned email at the end of May 2013. In it, Aike told me that he had met the lovely Rossana from Brazil, the “woman of his life”, during a vacation in Namibia! They were planning to get married in Rio de Janeiro at the beginning of September 2014 and wanted to know if I would be interested in taking the wedding pictures! 😀

Of course I wanted to – but unfortunately I already had several weddings within Germany on my calendar in September 2014! Fortunately, Rossana and Aike decided on a wedding date in mid-October and nothing stood in the way of our joint “adventure in Rio”… 😀

Rossana is from Rio de Janeiro and, together with Aike, had chosen probably the most beautiful wedding location you can find in Rio. The wedding took place right on the beach with a direct view of Sugar Loaf Mountain and was followed by an exuberant celebration.

It was really interesting to see how different a Brazilian wedding is from a German one. Dinner took place more “on the side”, with everyone being able to take whatever they felt like throughout the evening. For this reason, the dance floor was already packed from 7 p.m. throughout the evening! In the other half of the hall, I was busy taking dozens of small group photos – in the middle of the room between the tables. At weddings in Germany, a suitable, neutral background is usually meticulously selected before the small group photos are taken. At this Brazilian wedding it was completely different: Here it was more about recognizing everyone… 😉

Every time a new constellation was formed, the South American joie de vivre was evident: Everyone was grinning broadly and laughing – and at the next table, people were visibly looking forward to their own turn to hug the bride and groom and have a small group photo taken! And the photographer was also hugged and cuddled by many a guest! 😀

The terrific live band really put the pedal to the metal and the cocktail bar, where I later enjoyed perhaps the most delicious caipis of my life, was well frequented. The party ended far too early at 10:30 pm. Well, unfortunately that’s the custom at Brazilian weddings, as I was told. I was therefore under “pleasantly high tension” the whole evening and only allowed myself two short breaks of a few minutes – one to enjoy at least one of the many excellent courses of the dinner and another to get some fresh air outside and enjoy the view of the moonlit sugar loaf.

I could tell you a lot more about this exciting and highly interesting wedding in Rio and, of course, about the city itself – but I’d rather let the pictures speak for themselves. Most of them in color and only very few in black and white – because that would not do justice to this spirited and colorful South American wedding. Have fun looking at the pictures! 😀