Ambiance Weddings Azores has scheduled more than thirty weddings from May to October.
This year’s second Hindu wedding is taking place over three days in Furnas, and the first Korean wedding at the Porto Formoso Tea Factory…


More and more people of Azorean ancestry from North America (the USA and Canada), Bermuda, and Europe, especially Ireland, Italy, the Czech Republic, Spain, and the UK, are looking to the Azores for their weddings. In the last decade, there has been a significant demand from these communities. However, there have also been Indian couples from the Hindu tradition who want to promote their weddings on the Azorean islands, and requests from Korean couples are now starting to appear.
São Miguel is the island where there have been the most marriages between foreigners, and several companies operate in this niche market. One of them is Ambiance Weddings Azores, an event organization agency specializing in Destination Weddings, based on the island.
Maria Vieira set it up a decade ago, and since then, the weddings and events work has been growing. The company’s CEO lives in the village of Água de Pau, on the same island, but her life is rooted in Bermuda and Spain. Through her marriage to Paulo Jorge Vieira, she settled in São Miguel, and they are both responsible for the company, which also has a permanent team (bottom right), as well as external collaborators during busy times.
Maria Vieira’s life is linked to organizing weddings on these magical Azorean islands, which provide fantastic settings for those who want to have their wedding in magical and idyllic surroundings. “We work more in São Miguel and Terceira,” she tells us.
In 2023, the interviewee was named to the Top 50: Most Influential Wedding Professionals and Most Influential Wedding Professional in Europe by Eventex, based on a public vote.

With work that has won several awards, organizing weddings has been a constant, as she tells us, because, as it turns out, “weddings in the Azores are increasingly popular among foreigners.”
The businesswoman guarantees that most of the weddings organized by her company are for foreigners. “Some have a connection with the archipelago, others don’t. In 2024, we held 33 weddings, all of them of foreign origin,” which far exceeded the annual average of 20 to 25 weddings. In addition to North America and Europe, Maria Viiera also points out that communities from India, China, and Brazil are beginning to weigh in on choosing the Azores for weddings.
“We organize weddings for many people of Azorean descent, but there are also cases where only the bride and groom have visited the archipelago before. In 2024, we had a wedding where 80 guests visited the Azores for the first time. There’s no doubt that our work has a multiplier effect and helps to boost tourism in the Azores.”
The businesswoman stresses that foreign couples are looking to include Azorean culture in their weddings. “That’s why we created fun moments during the event to make our culture known to the guests. We hired a folklore group that, in addition to dancing, also gave a brief explanation of the clothes worn in the past and shared some curiosities about the Azores.
We Azoreans make a point of having the traditional wedding cake, she recalls, but as a rule, “our foreign couples choose to use less conventional desserts: queijadas da Vila, for example. This is also a way of introducing Azorean gastronomy to our guests”.
One of the main attractions of the Azores as a wedding destination is its natural beauty. The fact that you can hold a ceremony in idyllic landscapes, be it the countryside, the beach, or lagoons, makes people dream of this moment.

Two of the most popular locations are Lagoa das Furnas and Lagoa das Sete Cidades. But there are other possibilities too. “Last year, we had the pleasure of organizing a Hindu wedding. It lasted four days and several celebrations and ceremonies were held in different venues. It was certainly a challenge. I had to learn more about the couple’s religion and their traditions so that everything ran smoothly and exactly as it should. Despite all the work, seeing the happiness on the couple’s faces made me realize that it was worth it.”
Maria Vieira and her team start organizing weddings at least 18 months in advance. The agenda for 2025 is well booked, and the expectation is that “the bride and groom, their families and friends will have happy days in the Azores”.
Currently, there are more than 30 weddings scheduled for this year. The novelty is the second Hindu wedding, which will take place in Furnas over three days, with the party held at various venues. There will also be a Korean wedding at the Porto Formoso Tea Factory, in the municipality of Ribeira Grande.
Maria Vieira also points out that this year, the weddings will have a larger number of guests, which will also promote the islands abroad and contribute to the economy.


Nélia Câmara is a journalist for the Diário dos Açores. Natalino Viveiros, director. The pictures are from the company’s website.

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Translated to English as a community outreach program from the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI) and the Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures Department (MCLL) as part of Bruma Publication and ADMA (Azores-Diaspora Media Alliance) at California State University, Fresno, PBBI thanks Luso Financial for sponsoring NOVIDADES.