Deutsche Hochzeiten

This past month I've attended two weddings. The first was in Ronny's hometown/village, Quedlinburg, and the other here in Berlin. Each wedding began at noon and lasted all day until early the next morning. You definitely need stamina to last though these celebrations which I sadly lacked. I could only manage to dance to 80's German pop songs for so long. Before I get to the evening festivities I should mention the marriage ceremonies. The biggest difference I can tell between weddings I'm familiar with and the Deutsch version is the actual ceremony itself. The bride and groom for each wedding were married in a town hall/government office building. It was surprisingly simple; the city marriage official gave a small speech (both were in German so I can't really elaborate) and then we witnessed the bride and groom sign their official marriage papers and exchange rings. No brides maids, no grooms men, no Pachebel: Canon in D, and no vows. After the ceremony everyone congregates outside and casually takes pictures.

The wedding in Quedlinburg for Ronny's childhood friend, Diana, had a bit of a medieval theme to it as the city was founded in 950 or so. During the day we were treated to a champagne toast in an old church, old city tour, parrot show, afternoon coffee and cake, warm mulled wine (gluehwein) outside, dinner banquet and dancing. It was a full day, but I really enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere. It seemed that many guests had not seen their childhood friends in a while, so many people were catching up and reminiscing. No one lives in Quedlinburg any longer, so most traveled from larger cities throughout Germany back 'home". The wedding went late with DJ Udi and DJ Bernd mixing together old pop German hits from the 80's and 90's.

Ronny's cousin Rainer is an expert in Native American culture and works at a museum in Berlin. So, the dinner buffet and party was in the cafe of the Museum. We were treated to the groom singing a traditional "pow wow" song at the party in the evening. I was impressed. I later learned that Rainer had participated in an Native American singing contest in South Dakota several years ago and won the top prize beating out all other Native American participants. Of course, I had to come to Germany to hear an authentic Native American song! The banquet dinner was a pot luck style. The bride and groom both worked in a museum so not on a huge budget. It was great to have such an eclectic mix of food. After dinner, we all danced to mostly American hit songs. I have a feeling I embarrassed Ronny when I dragged him on the dance floor to be my partner for "Jump" by Van Halen. I was the only one who could lip sync the entire song. This was my queue that I should call it a night and we left shortly after midnight.

Overall I really enjoyed these German weddings, but I did miss the speeches that the best man and maid of honor give. Well, I wouldn't have been able to understand them anyways.