A married couple chooses to ask their guests for a very special wedding gift

Marriage is an important moment for all betrothed couples: it is the day in which you decide to spend the rest of your life with the person you love and for this reason, you want the ceremony to be perfect in every respect.

Ensuring involves spending a lot of money, but many are willing to do this to make the day an unforgettable one. However, one newlywed couple chose to celebrate their union in a rather unusual way, and also involving the guests in their "project". Here is their story:

via Campanhadobem

When Renato Marques and Taina Pessoa - both citizens of Brazil - recently decided to get married, the two started planning a conventional wedding: a church ceremony, guests, the reception, the honeymoon, the wedding attire, and so on. But over time, they became aware of how much they would have to spend for this. As a result, they decided to scale back the event and spend their money in a different way.

Taina and Renato have used their wedding savings to support a humanitarian project: the construction of a school in the village of Matuba, in Mozambique.

Their goal was to raise $40,000 dollars to build a school that could accommodate 300 children. The idea came to them after having been on a volunteer mission for the humanitarian organization, Fraternità Senza Frontiere (FSF). During their voluntary mission in Africa, the two were deeply impressed by what they had seen in Matuba.

“Our perspective on life has changed,” Renato said. "It was a real culture shock. Local people are grateful for the few things they have. I saw elderly people who had never slept in a bed before. Yet everyone sings, dances, shares, respects other and have hope. They are beacons of hope," he added.

The delapidated condition of the building used as a school for the inhabitants of Matuba shocked the couple: "The walls were made of plywood, the furniture was all broken, there wasn't even a bathroom or electricity,” they recalled. From this experience, their idea was born to use their wedding budget to help the inhabitants of Matuba, as well as launch a fundraising campaign to inspire others to do the same.

"Our hearts couldn't rejoice in celebrating an expensive wedding when we knew that for that same amount, we could change the fate of hundreds of children," Taina commented. Eventually, the couple got married in an intimate and modest ceremony.

The bride and groom drew up a wedding gift list, but asked the guests to donate the money they would have spent on them to their Matuba project. In this way, guests also contributed to the noble cause. The initiative has aroused great enthusiasm among people online - so much so that, even after the wedding, the couple has continued to receive donations from people who have chosen to contribute to their project.

In a world where lavish weddings are the norm, this couple's initiative stands out as an extraordinary show of kindness and generousity.