Wedding Bells

Today is the day of Judith’s wedding. The morning began quite smoothly–it was a little too calm for my expectation. We had a nice breakfast, and everyone was coming and going. I helped with some of the preparations moving stuff to one car to another, doing some errands with Ulf and Tobi, and then came back for a quick lunch before we all started getting dressed.

I brought my suit with a few different shirts to choose from and Judith selected the pair she liked best. I went with silver shirt, red tie, and my suit. After getting ready, I took Ulf’s camera to start taking some shots. We headed for the church to finish any other setup necessary for the ceremony. The organist was practicing, the flowers were being arranged on the pews, and the church was so quaint. It had great achitecture and was so typically a ‘village church’. Mandy was out front at the bottom of the hill watching for the ‘bridemobile’. As they pulled up, the bells on the church started ringing. Seeing Judith get out of the car was really emotional with everyone gathering around to watch her climb up to the church. It was truly fairy tale like.

Her dress was off white with diamond studs in the veil, and a diamond studded broach in the center of the bodice. When she reached the top, Ulf had arrived to take her arm as they stood to wait for their entrance to the church. Everyone got seated, and they played the wedding march as they entered the church to walk down the aisle to the two chairs at the center of the altar area.

They sat for a while as the music played and then the ceremony began with the pastor welcoming everyone and introducing various hymns. After about 20 minutes or so, the ceremony finished with everyone going outside to take pictures of the bride and groom. We then setup all the drinks and food inside the church for a light snack. People then funneled back in and we enjoyed some nice food and drink. People then started to leave and most headed for the castle about 30 minutes away.

As we weaved through this tiny village to all the signs pointing to ‘Schloss’ (Castle), it was literally a maze through these farmhouses left and right, curvy and straight, and then finally a parking area. The first building I saw was pretty big, so I thought this might be it, but they then said it was the guest quarters. Then as we walked over a blind hill, the castle stood just below with such grand towers, wooden beams diagonally cutting through the white plaster of the walls. It looked like a castle suited for Hansel & Gretel.

Judith and Ulf were having their photos taken around the grounds, so I met with Tobi and Annika to walk around. I then checked in with my backpack and was given a large key to room 302. She said just go upstairs. What she should have said was, go up the spiral staircase all the way to the top where you’ll find an unmarked door. Go through this door, and turn directly left to where you’ll find another unmarked door to lead you up to another floor. Take a right and wind through a small dwarf hallway with tiny windows looking out at the meadow. Keep going until you find a foyer type area with another staircase going up to the top. Here you’ll find two doors, one leading to 301 and one leading to 302. I guess it was just easier to say, Go upstairs :)

After leaving my stuff and trying to find my way back, I ended up going through an emergency exit that dropped me out in the back, so I had to walk around to the front to find my way back to Tobi and Anika.We all had another coffee and cake. We then went out front for a group photo which took a while for the photographer to line everyone up in the order of height and view to make sure everyone’s face was available in the picture.

After the picture, we all went back in to have a nice buffet dinner. We had Poudarde, Pork medallions, potatoes, mushrooms, and much much more. We all sat in our placemarked spots (Which I wrote for everyone!) and enjoyed a nice dinner with good company. As the evening went on, more food came with finally a beautiful wedding cake.

The first dance done by Judith and Ulf was a waltz they had practiced. It was great. Then others started dancing as well. It was a really cool atmosphere with everyone laughing and dancing, and I was impressed with how many people knew how to dance proper dances! It put my lame ‘Tush Push’ line dance to shame. (note to self, take dancing lessons sometime).

We then went to the main dining area for the cutting of the cake after a while. The cake was 4 tiers and 3 different flavors. It was delicious. Then they brought out bread and sausages. I felt like I ate the entire day. The food kept coming, as well as the drinks.

The night continued on as families started leaving or turning in and left the ‘wild’ ones still out on the dancefloor. I got to dance with Judith and by 4am, we had our Madonna ‘Music’ song played for old time’s sake. It was really fun to have caught up with her friends and family whom I’d also seen back in 2002. Everyone was so nice. The wedding was an awesome celebration of two amazing people that I’m so excited and thankful to have in my life.