Getting married in Brazil

Hi scottishnomad,

First of all you must understand that there are two types of weddings in Brazil, a civil marriage and a church wedding. The only one that has the force of law is the civil marriage which is performed by a judge and is done only with the confines of the cartório (registry). They will almost never preside over a marriage ceremony in any other location.

A church/religious wedding ceremony does not carry the force of law, it is purely a religious ceremony. In fact, in order to arrange for a church wedding you must first be married in the cartório. Pastors, ministers, priests or rabis that will perform a ceremony outside of the church can be found, but they are rare.

If you are determined to have your beach wedding, allow plenty of time to first marry in the cartório and to find someone who will conduct the beach wedding. Sounds very romantic indeed. I got married to my now ex-wife in the garden at Queen Elizabeth Park in Vancouver Canada, that was super romantic. Too bad SHE wasn't.
Good luck to you and your fiancee.

Cheers,
William James Woodward - Brazil Animator, Expat-blog

Haha, oh dear - yes - we have already  organised all of legal wedding paperwork in the cartorio. In my blog post I posted all the information to help others who are in the same situation. There is a lot of outdated information floating around the internet! The cartorio weddings are very grim and unromantic!

I also posted links to some people who will perform beach ceremonies on the places I have suggested.Most of them are non-religious as to be married by a priest etc (like you said) it must be done in a church.

Now we just need to decide where we want the nice romantic part to take place!And I hope that my fiance ends up staying the romantic that he is now!

I am already married to my Brazillian wife we were married in the US the marriage certificate from the US has been legalized to be used in Brazil in Manaus as well as my Birth cerificate and a just in case needed FBI criminal record showing absence of crime what else do I need for Manaus to use my marriage certificate here as I intend to stay and apply for permanancia please be specific if you can for Manaus in the state of Amazonas

For me that is a totally different situation from mine but maybe william can help? I am not applying for residence in Brazil.