Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodriguez got married this week in a ceremony so intimate that his own mother was not invited. The football superstar's mother, Dolores Aveiro, and his siblings, Hugo, Elma, and Katia, were missing from the invite list. A leaked wedding certificate showed that a Spanish jeweller was one of four people who did attend.
Secret ceremony details
Sources say guests were only told about the wedding 30 seconds before it happened. Ronaldo and Georgina held an extremely low-key civil service at his £30 million mansion in Cascais, Portugal. All of Ronaldo's children were in attendance, as was Georgina's sister Ivana and Ronaldo's long-time friend Miguel Paixao. A Spanish couple, Jose Rodriguez Sangil, a jeweller, and Monica Goncalez Martinez, also acted as witnesses. The officiant was Maria Manuel Ferreira de Campos Folhadela de Oliveira, who travelled from Porto to Cascais for the ceremony.
Family absence and reactions
The absence of Ronaldo's mother and siblings was surprising given the family's close bond. Ronaldo has often praised his mother's support, recalling in the documentary Planeta Ronaldo: "She was a cook who worked hard all her life. The first thing I did after signing for United was to call her and say she didn’t have to work ever again." Portuguese TV presenter Cristina Ferreira said on Dois at 10: "It will cause a lot of problems because the family wasn’t present. And they shouldn’t even have known. Or if they did know, it was 30 seconds beforehand." Colleague Claudio Ramos added: "I really hope that what we said here, which had to do with the impressions we get from what exists on social media, did not actually cause sadness in the family, that things were not as they apparently seem." Over the years, Dolores has denied claims of a rift with Georgina, and she gave her blessing to the union by posting a heart on social media.
Pre-nup and venue
The day before the wedding, the couple signed a pre-nuptial agreement at a notary's office in Lisbon, keeping their assets separate. Portuguese media also reported that Georgina will not take Ronaldo's last name. The ceremony took place at their mansion in Cascais, valued at £30 million, which spans 900 square metres and has views of the Atlantic Ocean. The couple usually live in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Date significance and honeymoon
The wedding date, Tuesday 11 August, marked exactly one year after they announced their engagement on social media. Earlier, thousands of fans gathered at Funchal Cathedral in Madeira on Saturday 8 August, wrongly believing the couple would marry there. The actual couple, Fabio Ramos and Fatima Nicole Cunha Teixeira, were surprised by the crowds. The couple have returned to Saudi Arabia, where Ronaldo plays for Al Nassr, with the season due to start tomorrow.
