Kennedy Jr., and the Brazilian pop star Giulia Be celebrated their marriage on Saturday in Rio de Janeiro, bringing the Kennedy family to Brazil amid political tensions. The couple, who reportedly had an intimate civil ceremony in Los Angeles in March, hosted a three-day wedding celebration that began on Thursday and culminated on Saturday night with a lavish reception for several hundred guests at the Instituto Brando Barbosa, an ornate colonial mansion near Rio’s famed botanical gardens. The exact guest list has been a secret, but it included Secretary Kennedy, who attended with his wife, the actress Cheryl Hines, as well as numerous A-list Brazilian artists, influencers and designers.
Cheryl Hines, center, Conor Kennedy’s stepmother, and other guests awaited the couple at a chapel at Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro on Friday evening, ahead of a private blessing ceremony.Credit...Dado Galdieri for The New York Times The celebration comes just two weeks before Brazilian voters return to the polls to select a president, a runoff election that pits the nation’s leftist incumbent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, known as Lula, against Flávio Bolsonaro, a right-wing leader and the son of the disgraced former president Jair Bolsonaro. The elder Bolsonaro has been a close ally of President Trump, who tapped Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to join his cabinet, upsetting many Kennedy family members, stalwart Democrats who have been dismayed by Kennedy’s embrace of the anti-vaccine movement and his own policies as health secretary.
Conor Kennedy, 32, is the son of Robert and Mary Richardson Kennedy, who died by suicide in 2012. The couple became engaged in August 2024 — Be called it the “easiest yes of all time” — after dating for several years. On Friday evening, the couple received a blessing during a ceremony at Christ the Redeemer, atop Corcovado Mountain.
A religious ceremony followed on Saturday at Igreja Nossa Senhora do Carmo da Antiga Sé, a gilded church in downtown Rio dedicated to Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Once Brazil’s royal cathedral, the church has been the site of several coronations. Vogue reported on Saturday that the bride wore a backless Calvin Klein slip dress with long gloves to the blessing ceremony — a look and a label that were perhaps a nod to Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, the wife of John F.
Kennedy Jr. (The couple died in a plane crash in 1999.) On Saturday morning, a collection of Madagascar almond trees, orchids and white calla lilies was brought into the church, while a canopy with long drapes had been set up at the entrance to hide the arrivals. Onlookers still caught a glimpse of Conor Kennedy and his groomsmen in matching navy blue suits and ties, including his brother William Finbar Kennedy — who goes by Finn — and Kyra Kennedy, Conor’s sister, who reportedly introduced the couple, was also in attendance. Across the street, in the Praça XV de Novembro, Rio’s traditional Saturday flea market was bustling, with locals and tourists browsing dozens of stalls with antiques, records and clothing.
Around 2 p.m., the bride arrived with her father, the Brazilian businessman Paulo Marinho. Security guards pulled the curtains around Be’s car door like a cocoon to conceal her entrance. On Saturday, ahead of the wedding ceremony, security guards draped white curtains around the entrance of Igreja Nossa Senhora do Carmo da Antiga Sé, a gilded church in downtown Rio de Janeiro, to shield the bride from view as she arrived with her father, Paulo Marinho.Credit...Dado Galdieri for The New York Times The crowds also turned to look when a motorcade suddenly blocked traffic, bringing Kennedy Jr. and Hines into the ceremony, surrounded by Brazilian Federal Police agents and a security detail.
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