The historical journey through the swimsuits and how they have progressively reduced their size, from the demure full-body suits of the early twentieth century, to the swimsuit in one piece, the arrival of the bikini in the 60s, and a certain revival of the swimsuit that is observed from time to time, has become an internet classic.
With weddings, there has also been a remarkable evolution lately. As recently as a few years ago, the most usual thing would be a big wedding in a church or a formal setting in the area of the bride and groom’s residence. In the Sixties, some young people began to see that type of wedding as too conventional and chose not to marry. However, that generated certain legal complications and some Public Administrations began to create registers for civil unions or de facto couples, in which those who did not want to formally marry, could register and acquire similar rights to marriage. Today in most European countries both systems coexist, but there is a clear downward trend in the registration in these parallel registers, perhaps because the real difference lies between formalizing or not and not so much in doing so in one register or another. Or perhaps because in recent years new and varied ways of celebrating marriages have arisen: in more original places, on the beach, in the forest, in unique environments, which have made the concept of getting married more attractive.
One of these new formulas is the so-called destination wedding. It consists of celebrating the wedding away from the place of residence of the couple and turning the wedding into a cultural experience, original and different. It is often a logistical challenge but also an opportunity to share more intensely with friends and family the preparation, the celebration and even the trip itself.
In this type of wedding, the number of attendees is usually smaller because sometimes the distance often complicates a bit the attendance of the typical Aunt Agatha and Uncle Bill. But that smaller number also creates sometimes more intense moments, a group experience, more shared, in which we all end up being more participant rather than a mere guest.
Óbidos is a popular destination for this type of wedding, especially in spring and autumn, when the charm of its medieval walls and streets combines better with the romanticism that permeates every corner of the town, as seen for example in this image by the great team of wedding photographers Aguiam.
However, in the practical line that characterizes the Nave Lagoa team, it is important to point out to anyone who considers a wedding in Portugal that this is not Las Vegas; there are no express weddings here, and you have to start the procedures several months before the happy day to ensure that at the last moment you are not missing a translation or the apostille of an essential document.
We open the forum in case anyone wants to share their positive or negative experience around this exciting topic.