Uxua may be the hippest destination wedding hideaway in Brazil.
Sure, all the jet-setters know Trancoso, the beach-side village on the northeast coast of Brazil that makes the rest of the country look a bit ordinary. But American brides and grooms haven’t quite gotten the memo, so having your wedding here will give you bragging rights for the next half-century. Especially if you base yourselves at the hippest place in town, Uxua Casa Hotel & Spa, an 11-casa hideaway owned and created by Wilber Das, former creative director of the Italian fashion label Diesel. Want more celeb endorsement? Gisele Bündchen, who knows a thing or two about Brazilian vacays, is a fan.
Uxua (pronounced U-shwah) is the kind of place you’ll want to buy out and treat as your wedding party’s own intimate enclave. Four of the casas were once fishermen’s dwellings dating from the 1500s, and the others —one of them a tree house—were created by local artists working under the direction of Das. The result: works of art as sinks, bathtubs carved from fallen tree trunks, and showerheads shaped from local woods. The compound’s lagoon-like pool, surrounded by a garden, is lined with green adventurine crystal.
The hotel does not sit right on the beach, but has a beach-front annex a few minutes’ walk away, whose bar is made from an old fishing boat. What Uxua does sit on is Trancoso’s 500-year old grassy village square, the Quadrado, site of the Igreja de Sao Joao Batista church, the second oldest church in Brazil, and available for wedding ceremonies.
For receptions and parties, Uxua’s grounds are ideal, especially if you appreciate your privacy. Just don’t plan anything too early. Nothing much happens in Trancoso until late afternoon, when everyone gets back from the beach.
You’ll need deep pockets, as rooms at Uxua start at $471 to $641 per night, depending on the season, with low season (the rain, you know) running March-July and September-November. But if you’ve got the funds, this is as low-stress as an exotic wedding gets. The hotel can help arrange everything you need, including flowers, decorations, bride and groom preparation, and photography/video, as well as the ceremony and reception and parties on the days before and after the ceremony. And if you have an overflow crowd, Uxua can help with additional accommodations within walking distance.
The food is a traditional, spicy, local cuisine that combines African, Native American, and Portuguese influences. In addition to a gym, there are enough activities, from kayaking to dancing lessons, to keep guests happily busy, and a spa that creates its own products using rainforest ingredients and drawing on the traditions of the local Indians.
As they say in Portuguese, Boa sorte e divirta-se! (Good luck and have fun!)
Uxua’s beach lounge sits on Trancosa Beach
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Want to know more about planning destination wedding travel to Brazil, or anywhere else in the world? Our travel partners at Coastline Travel Advisors, a Virtuoso agency, are ready to help.
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