I finally got some pictures of THE WEDDING. That would be my son’s wedding we went to in December in Germany. German weddings are interesting in that they go on all day and all night. They start in the morning when the bride and groom have to go to the local court house and get married by the State. I thought that would be just a small official signing of papers and swearing oaths and that would be that. No … I would have been wrong if I’d thought that. The ceremony at the court house was every bit as long as the religious ceremony they had later in the day. On top of that, EVERYONE came to the court house ceremony as well.

The bride and groom sat at the front of the office and the official sat behind his desk. Everyone else sat in the room and spilled over into the hallway. We waited while the bride and groom signed papers - a lot of papers. When the ceremony started the official gave a very long talk on the meaning of marriage, etc. They had hired a translator for our benefit, which was very thoughtful of them, so everything was said in German and in English.

After that ceremony there was a gathering in the landing at the bottom of the stairs and then it was off in their chauffeured, decorated car with all of us following them in our respective cars, honking the horns and in general calling attention to them. We drove all over Beyreuth honking. Even in the cold weather, people came out on their balconies to wave and other cars honked as they passed us. It was actually fun.

After the ride through all the streets in town, it was off to the castle for the wedding. This was actually the hunting lodge of the woman in the painting above the fireplace in the photos. We had toured their castle a few days before. That’s how I knew that. They didn’t like it out at their castle so their built a bunch of places in Beyreuth so they could be in the city. They also built the Beyreuth Opera House where Wagner sometimes performed. But that’s off the subject. It looked like a castle to this American girl. We don’t have castles like that here.

Before they got into the castle, they had to cut through this heart. There were several of these hearts that stopped them along the way and each time they had to cut out the heart to go on. Josh apparently cut faster than Michi. By the time they were at the second heart, he just cut all the way around before she had cut her half very far.

One of the funniest events they did was to have a doll that Josh had to diaper before they could go into the castle. Michi tried to help him, but they wouldn’t let her. Being a good Southern boy, after some failed attempts to figure it out, he took out some duck tape and taped the diaper on. I was so proud!!!

After the diapering and heart cutting and other very cold activities, we headed into the castle. We had a brunch. Then socialized. Then had another ceremony that was very similar to the first one only there was music and it was conducted by a minister. Then we had cake - and I don’t mean a little cake - there was a table with about a dozen cakes. Then we ate a zillion course meal. Then the ‘music man’ showed up and there was music and dancing into the wee hours of the morning. A fantastic time was had by all. It really was wonderful.

Here are a few more pictures from the day ….

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