Real Wedding: Neha + Bruno - 2 Days, 2 Wedding Celebrations and a Unique Love Story

On the first day, the bride and groom had a Catholic ceremony, where Father Abilio was responsible for the Catholic Mass and String Quartert was the group that accompanied him. After that, the newlyweds offered their guests the opportunity to stick with the tradition and had a lady available to perform the Mehndi.

Do you know what Mehndi is? Mehndi or Mehandi is the name of the plant itself in India, from which the paste is made. It is also the name of the art, which is also better known by the name of Henna, of Persian origin. There are few records on the origin of this tradition, although there are some older historical artefacts that refer to Mehandi in 6000 BC in the regions where today are Turkey, Syria and the Greek Isles.

And what does it have to do with weddings? Mehndi is traditionally used in marriage ceremonies in India and is associated with transcendence and transformation. For the bride, painting their hands together with invited friends and family is a very special ritual, where they enjoy spending hours together and talking about their honeymoon, for example. After getting married and as long as the tattoo lasts, the bride is not required to do any domestic duties in her new home, only if she actually wants to. Interestingly, Indian brides usually “hide” their future husband’s initials between the intricate details of the tattoo and on their wedding night, he has to try and find them.

The guests who came to the wedding, held at Penha Longa, were delighted with the catering, and eating to the sound of music by the company Jukebox! Vera García was in charge of the bride’s outfit changes, make-up and hairstyle! The ambiance was the work of the wedding planners PWP together with  Martins Alves, who had the help of Neha herself and Mr. Anuj from India and London to translate some of the Indian details.

On the second day, when the bride and groom opted for the same suppliers, the Hindu wedding and the more westernised party took place. Neha made a point of getting dressed in the suite, so that she could see Barat passing with Bruno on the horse, still in Penha Longa. To get around, Neha and Bruno they had a Sitratur carriage. This detail is particularly significant because it represented the groom taking the bride to her new home!

The party, where they had cocktail and dinner was in the monastery, again set by PWP and Martins Alves and animated by Jukebox.

VipWeddings recorded everything and summarised the two great days in this incredible wedding video that left us speechless!