The ceremony was in Wiesloch, Germany and my mother flew to Germany for the occasion. We had been several times to the judge's office, (or whatever his title is) and he had agreed that when it came to the questions part he would ask in English to me since at the time I still didn't know enough German to understand everything. But I guess he forgot. He first asked Theo, and then he started talking to me. I had no idea what he was saying so I was basically waiting for him to stop talking to say YES (or JA). After that we went to the photographer. I don't know if any of you have ever seen German wedding pictures, they are TERRIBLE! They look like the bride is a model posing for Cosmo and the man is posing for GQ. We (Theo) told the photographer that we wanted ¨natural¨ looking pictures for which he was insulted. (He did a very nice job after all).
After that came the party, which was held at Theo's parents place
(about 130 km south of here). Theo's sister, cousins and the girl friends
of the brothers had fixed up the patio with paper flowers and balloons. We
got there about 3:00 pm and most of the guests were already there and
the rest came right after. Traditionally when someone is getting married
people (neighbors and family) bake a cake. So we had at least 20 cakes of
different kinds, shapes and flavours, plus the traditional wedding cake
which was 3 storeys high. So at 4:00 pm some of the guest disappeared
and came marching with cakes. Coffee was brought and everyone sat at a
very long table (for about 35 people) to have cake and coffee. The Germans
believe that THAT is the way to start a wedding.
After that there was lots of wine and of course good German beer.
Two friends of Arno (Theo's youngest brother) volunteered to be waiters
(in exchange for all the beer they could consume), and they did a wonderful
job keeping all the glasses full. At 7:00 pm came the food. The caters
brought a wonderful looking buffet with a lot of the traditional German
foods: Pork, beef, fish, salads, etc. One of Theo's uncles (who is into bees)
gave a funny speech about the relation between bees, honey and marriage.
Everyone ate and after that there was more beer, more wine and of course
more cake!.
We were finally allowed to go to sleep around 3:00 am, but the party was not over. Traditionally the guests of the party are family and close friends. So the day after is for the neighbours and people who helped (with the arranging or baking cakes). So the next day about 20 people showed up to have beer, wine, left over food, brezels (pretzels) and of course cake.
We stayed one more night in Theo's village, and the next day we
were happy to go home and finally get some rest.
On the next several visits to Theo's family, we again ate left over
wedding cakes!