BBC Online :
Nearly 2,000 Brazilian couples have got married at an indoors sports venue in Rio de Janeiro, in the biggest mass wedding in the city’s history.
The annual event, promoted by the local authorities, is aimed at helping low-income couples who cannot afford to pay for a wedding.
The authorities in Rio booked special commuter trains for the couples and their guests.
An estimated 12,000 people attended the ceremony at the Maracanazinho arena.
Couples with a monthly family income of up to $1,000 (£640) were allowed to take part.
Volunteer civil judges presided over the ceremony. Couples were also blessed by a Roman Catholic bishop and a Christian evangelical
pastor. The event has been named “Dia do Sim”, or “I Do Day”. Many of the couples had been living together for many years.
“We got up at 06:00. There are so many people and I think we will be here for a while, but I’m very happy,” Emerson Moraes, 34, told O Globo newspaper.
Moraes has been with Ana Rosangela Azevedo, 31, since 2010 and earlier this year they decided to formalise their relationship.
Nearly 2,000 Brazilian couples have got married at an indoors sports venue in Rio de Janeiro, in the biggest mass wedding in the city’s history.
The annual event, promoted by the local authorities, is aimed at helping low-income couples who cannot afford to pay for a wedding.
The authorities in Rio booked special commuter trains for the couples and their guests.
An estimated 12,000 people attended the ceremony at the Maracanazinho arena.
Couples with a monthly family income of up to $1,000 (£640) were allowed to take part.
Volunteer civil judges presided over the ceremony. Couples were also blessed by a Roman Catholic bishop and a Christian evangelical
pastor. The event has been named “Dia do Sim”, or “I Do Day”. Many of the couples had been living together for many years.
“We got up at 06:00. There are so many people and I think we will be here for a while, but I’m very happy,” Emerson Moraes, 34, told O Globo newspaper.
Moraes has been with Ana Rosangela Azevedo, 31, since 2010 and earlier this year they decided to formalise their relationship.
