Day Four: The Wedding
I was up early so I could get in my 9 mile Long Run. Yes, marathon training waits for no wedding. It was cold and rained almost the whole time. I didn’t have any distance marked out, so I just went by time. I figured 10-minute miles because of the hills and the higher altitude, so I ran for 90 minutes. I just sort of toured through the town and out towards the outskirts a little bit. Every time I thought I was going to get brave and head along a road for a certain amount of time, I’d chicken out when I felt myself getting too far from “civilization”. I just couldn’t run too far into the deep, dark forest.
On my travels, I saw a giant hare, a black squirrel, a golden finch, and a red-headed sort of bird that flittered away before I could really identify it. In the end, I was very glad that my run was over and I told Peter that I had gotten “the hypothermia”. In fact, I was so cold that when the run was finished, I went into the town store and bought the warmest top I could find – an extra-large dark blue fleece that had a couple of embroidered flowers and the odd phrase “The Spirit of Sence” on it. (A quality that Peter was quick to point out that I did not possess.)
The wedding was at 2 pm, so we had time for breakfast and a nap before we had to get ready. The wedding was held in a registry office room in the building that holds the tourist information office and a shop. It was a nice room – not at all formal or bureaucratic. In fact, it felt more like a ski lodge than a government facility.
The ceremony was in German and then translated into English. The officiant gave a nice little counseling session on what is required for a good marriage and then did the marrying bit. I’ve never been to a registry office wedding before, so I was interested to see the differences from a church wedding. The big differences (besides the obvious non-religious nature) were the mentions of things like craving and desire (which I could never imagine a priest acknowledging) and the simplicity of the vows (pretty much just a simple yes – no promises of honoring and obeying).
Colm and Heidi left the ceremony in a horse-drawn carriage and the rest of us go to use what Colm called “the comedy transport”. The Bimmelbahn looked like a little novelty train but it ran on the ground like a golf cart or a bus. It sort of reminded me of the zoo train at the Cleveland Zoo, only smaller and quainter.
We had a nice tour of the area and eventually were taken up the steep mountainside to the reception site. We climbed the observation tower to admire the view and just hung out waiting for Heidi and Colm to arrive. There was some speculation about whether or not the horses could make it up the hill, but they were made of strong stuff and pulled the happy couple to the reception without trouble.
After some pictures, Heidi and Colm walked up to a log on a stand and put on some gardening gloves. I’d seen the log and I thought maybe the proprietor of the restaurant sawed off chunks for an outdoor fire or something. It turns out that the log was part of a German wedding tradition – it’s meant to be the first bit of work that the bride and groom do together. We watched Heidi and Colm work together to hack up the log and it looked to my inexperienced eye like they did a pretty good job.
The reception was very homey and sweet. There were only about 25 people there and the owners of the restaurant felt like they were part of the party. They were very kind and friendly and cooked some mean dishes. An extensive salad bar started out the dinner. The main theme of the dinner would have to be garlic. The appetizer choices included garlic bread and garlic soup, a dinner choice was garlic steak and for dessert, you could even have garlic ice cream. Peter went for the “straight garlic card” while I had garlic bread, breaded cauliflower medallion and chocolate ice cream with cherries for dessert.
The party went way into the night, with music and drinking and dancing. OK, not so much dancing for me (none, in fact), but the music and drinking were good. Everyone had a great time and even though I’d originally planned to leave early because I was tired, I found that I really didn’t want to leave.
At 1 am, we trundled into the Bimmelbahn (I was a bit worse for wear but still having a good time) and had a very cold ride down the mountain and back to Oberbärenburg, dropping off guests at various spots along the way.
On my travels, I saw a giant hare, a black squirrel, a golden finch, and a red-headed sort of bird that flittered away before I could really identify it. In the end, I was very glad that my run was over and I told Peter that I had gotten “the hypothermia”. In fact, I was so cold that when the run was finished, I went into the town store and bought the warmest top I could find – an extra-large dark blue fleece that had a couple of embroidered flowers and the odd phrase “The Spirit of Sence” on it. (A quality that Peter was quick to point out that I did not possess.)
The wedding was at 2 pm, so we had time for breakfast and a nap before we had to get ready. The wedding was held in a registry office room in the building that holds the tourist information office and a shop. It was a nice room – not at all formal or bureaucratic. In fact, it felt more like a ski lodge than a government facility.
The ceremony was in German and then translated into English. The officiant gave a nice little counseling session on what is required for a good marriage and then did the marrying bit. I’ve never been to a registry office wedding before, so I was interested to see the differences from a church wedding. The big differences (besides the obvious non-religious nature) were the mentions of things like craving and desire (which I could never imagine a priest acknowledging) and the simplicity of the vows (pretty much just a simple yes – no promises of honoring and obeying).
Colm and Heidi left the ceremony in a horse-drawn carriage and the rest of us go to use what Colm called “the comedy transport”. The Bimmelbahn looked like a little novelty train but it ran on the ground like a golf cart or a bus. It sort of reminded me of the zoo train at the Cleveland Zoo, only smaller and quainter.
We had a nice tour of the area and eventually were taken up the steep mountainside to the reception site. We climbed the observation tower to admire the view and just hung out waiting for Heidi and Colm to arrive. There was some speculation about whether or not the horses could make it up the hill, but they were made of strong stuff and pulled the happy couple to the reception without trouble.
After some pictures, Heidi and Colm walked up to a log on a stand and put on some gardening gloves. I’d seen the log and I thought maybe the proprietor of the restaurant sawed off chunks for an outdoor fire or something. It turns out that the log was part of a German wedding tradition – it’s meant to be the first bit of work that the bride and groom do together. We watched Heidi and Colm work together to hack up the log and it looked to my inexperienced eye like they did a pretty good job.
The reception was very homey and sweet. There were only about 25 people there and the owners of the restaurant felt like they were part of the party. They were very kind and friendly and cooked some mean dishes. An extensive salad bar started out the dinner. The main theme of the dinner would have to be garlic. The appetizer choices included garlic bread and garlic soup, a dinner choice was garlic steak and for dessert, you could even have garlic ice cream. Peter went for the “straight garlic card” while I had garlic bread, breaded cauliflower medallion and chocolate ice cream with cherries for dessert.
The party went way into the night, with music and drinking and dancing. OK, not so much dancing for me (none, in fact), but the music and drinking were good. Everyone had a great time and even though I’d originally planned to leave early because I was tired, I found that I really didn’t want to leave.
At 1 am, we trundled into the Bimmelbahn (I was a bit worse for wear but still having a good time) and had a very cold ride down the mountain and back to Oberbärenburg, dropping off guests at various spots along the way.
posted by -Ann at
9:37 AM
1 Comments:
Have any pictures? Sounds like a very pretty place ot have a wedding party.
I love the concept of the log 'ceremony'.
By
Lyss, at 12:47 AM
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