Wedding Bliss


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Europe » Germany » North Rhine-Westphalia » Sundern
June 16th 2012
Published: June 22nd 2012
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The weather today was cold and rainy. Despite that, it was such a wonderful day. Juli and Christian got married. They were wed at the church in Allendorf at 11am. The service was a fairly typical catholic service. In many ways, the wedding was much like those in the US. If I were to detail the whole day, this would be a very long entry, so I'll mostly just detail the differences. When we walked into the church, I was surprised not to see Christain, the groom standing at the alter. I just figured he must just be standing out of my sight. But nope, he wasn't up in front. When the wedding march sounded on the organ, Juli and Christian walked up the aisle together. Typically here, the fatehr does not give the bride away. There were also no bridesmaids or groomsmen. The couple each picks a person to witness the wedding. These two people are also charged with guiding Juli and Christian in their marriage in years to come. (kind of like godparents for the married couple). Unlike in the US, there were no candles lit or sand poured together (symolising two becoming one). When they exchanged vows and rings, the rings were placed on their right hands instead of the left, like in the States. At one part during the service, the priest referred to Christian as Matthias. Ooops... you could see everyone leaning over to the person next to them, checking to see if they had heard correctly and softly snickering at the mistake. Luckily, it was a mistake made only once and became a repeadet joke at the reception. =)

After the church service, a select group (around 100) was invited to the Schützenhalle (sort of like a town hall). In a smaller room, we enjoyed drinks and lunch. After the meal and some time to just visit and enjoy each others company while the bride and groom snuck out to take advantage of a break in the rain to take some pictures, the games began. In Germany, groups of wedding guests come up with games for the married couple to play at the reception. It was quite entertaining. =) The first game was a hilarious "Did they do it or not?" This group of friends filmed various situations and stopped right before the event took place. Juli and Christian had to then guess if it happened or didn't happen. For example, one of the times one of the men stood next to one of the ladies in the group who held a cake in her hand. The question was, did she push his face in the cake or not. After their guess, the film continued to show the answer. Yep, he got a cake in the face. =) If Juli and Christian guessed incorrectly, they received a telephone book. In one of those telephone books one number was circled. At home they would have to find that number to receive their gift. =)

The next game that was played was a fishing game. (The groom's last name is Fischer, fisherman). Earlier, while the couple were out taking pictures, paper cut outs of fish, clams, etc. were passed around to the guests. We were to then write something we would do for the couple (i.e. have them over for a BBQ, wash their car, take them out to the movies, etc.) Juli and Christian then had to put on their fishing gear (hat and poncho, Christian also had rain pants he had to wear) and they were ready to begin fishing. They took turns and were blindfolded while the other person verbally guided them. With a stick and a string attached they had to fish out 12 of the paper cut outs as well as paper bottles. On the bottles was either money or a task for them to complete (like sing a German fish song). After 12 of the fish, clams, etc. were fished out. They were randomly assigned months. So, for each month of their first year of marriage, friends and family will be having them over for BBQs, game nights, taking them on a bar tour, etc. At my table with Sonja and her husband Claudio, Evy and her boyfriend Evgeni, Marina and I, we had written on 4 cut outs and put all of our names on each. Two of them were fished out: a bar tour in Köln in January and a trip to Phantasialand (an amusement park) next July. So, another trip to Germany in my future next year??? Possibly. =) It was a very fun game. =)

At around 7 more guests arrived for the evening festivities and we made our way into the main part of the hall. It was so much fun. There were a number of friends from my old class that were there. Some I hadn't seen since my exchange year 10 years ago! It was so much fun. The dance floor was opened up with a waltz by the bride and groom. Their parents joined them shortly after the dance started and the siblings shortly there after. There was no father daughter nor mother son dance. The party went on until the wee hours of the morning and lots of fun was had by all. Around 2am Marina and I called it a night even thought the party went on till around 5am. It was a beautiful wedding. =)

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