Wedding

Since neither of us wanted a big celebration but preferred to slip away after the wedding to the airport (honeymoon), that’s exactly what we did! Our wedding ceremony was a short gathering of people who are important to us, to be a part of our wedding.

The most wonderful day in one’s life. That’s how the wedding is referred to. We definitely had our version of it. Even if we were at first, once again, confronted with lack of understanding.

When we started to plan our wedding, we had to decide how we would like to design the festivity. I always thought, and was told, that every woman wants to have a huge wedding party, fortunately I found out that this doesn’t apply to my wife. She too wanted a small, modest and above all stress-free wedding. Every important person, for us, had to be there and the ambience should definitely be unrestrained. We didn’t want a stiff, formal party where everyone had to appear in black tie or evening gown. We wanted everyone to show up wearing what they liked and felt comfortable in. Accordingly, our group was very colorful.

But first I want to describe the planning, after I’ve also described the proposal’s preparation on the Maldives very extensively.

So, after it was settled that we’re going to get married, we also had to set a date. For Jennifer it stood out of question that we're going to be married in summer, the question then remained was will we get married 6 months or 1,5 years after our engagement. Jennifer then set on the 6 months. So, we started with the most boring and tedious part of the planning: The paperwork. Jennifer took care of this again and informed herself when there were free appointments at the registry office in the summer. That's how the appointment was settled on August 10, 2016. Since I have a Turkish passport, we had more paperwork to take care of than if two Germans are getting married in Germany. But Jennifer had no problems organizing everything, she had even prearranged her new ID and passport with the new name precociously.

TIP: In Frankfurt, you can apply up to 6 weeks in advance for the papers and pick them up at the office on the desired date.

Well, I could take care of other things then, such as my suit, small gifts for our guests, logistics, etc. Again, I ordered everything online. However, I advise against buying the wedding suit online. I can only recommend to anyone in Frankfurt, to go to Saray. You have a great selection of patterns and you’ll get your suit tailored at a reasonable price. Also, the service is great! Unfortunately, I went a little too late to the store, so it was too short-termed for tailoring me a suit. But I was offered models that could be changed within that time frame, unfortunately they didn’t have my desired model in stock and the existing weren’t to my taste. Of course, we also went to other gentlemen’s outfitters, but I probably had the wrong hair color for them, since I was being ignored the whole time. So, the online purchase came, which, of course, still had to be adjusted.

I then thought about what we could give our guests as a small reminder and decided on small champagne bottles, which have our names, wedding date and a little acknowledgement on the label. My buddy and best man arranged that the champagne bottles were safely transported to the registry office for the guests – he even kept them cold.

Whether a small or a big celebration, the wedding dress is and will probably remain for every woman the most important item for her wedding. So, here's a little guest post by Jennifer where she describes her wedding dress purchase:

Hi! Wedding dress search... Yep, this is definitely an issue for itself.

So, as a first info: to go on the dress search 2 months before the wedding ceremony is very late. I was in exactly 5 stores and had a lot of luck in the last one that I found my dress there. In most stores they gave me pretty shocked looks when I said the wedding would be in two months. So ladies, arrange more time.

My friend and I started the tour in Saray. I can only recommend this shop to every woman in Frankurt, you not only get a super great service, but a new, tailored dress including some accessories such as headdress, bolero/stole, hand pillows and bags etc. You only need to buy the shoes separately. At the time, I had received a cost estimate of under €1,000 for everything. Therefore, Saray was the first choice until I accidentally found my dream dress. But more on that later. After Saray I still wanted to look at other offers and so the tour went on.

We then went to the "House of the Bride" and "Lilly wedding dresses" which I don’t recommend, as the saleswomen there were neither polite nor helpful.

"Siödam Couture" was our next stop, a very nice boutique, which is also run very professionally. However, you need an appointment here, so the saleslady unfortunately couldn’t take care of us for a long time. Nevertheless, she showed us some dresses so that I could decide if I wanted to make an appointment or not. I didn’t make an appointment due to lack of time.

The last stop then was “Der Brautladen” (the Bridal Shop) and here I found it. ATTENTION: You also need an appointment here! I was more than lucky on that day that a customer didn’t meet her appointment and we showed up in this gap. The saleslady was very professional and helpful. She had chosen some very nice and also unique dresses for me. At first, I didn't really want a dress with a tow, as it seemed too festive for the registry office. Still, she took one out for me. When I tried on this dress, I stood in front of the mirror and thought to myself "YES!!! That's it. THIS one and no other. I found my dress."

The search was now over, so the saleslady arranged everything for the dress to be ready in time and asked us to pay up. After a warm hug we were released. I had to drive 2-3x to Egelsbach, for the fitting, since they have their studio there. The tailor is great and the service excellent. The salesladies are very nice, courteous and give themselves a lot of effort that every bride finds her dress.

So much for the dress-search from me 😉

Great, so paperwork, clothes and small gifts were thus removed from the list. Our wedding rings were still missing. Here, too, we first looked online and searched for inspiration. At some point we came across “die Trauringschmiede” (the Wedding Ring Forges), which not only has an online shop, but also many branches throughout Germany. Already informed online, we went to the store to buy the rings, which was a good decision. The salesman then had the selected rings configured for us via his computer system, so that we also got new and tailored rings here. The salesman didn’t spray with friendliness but was nevertheless very professional and went accordingly to our wishes.

As a final touch, I rented a white wedding limousine to pick us up from home. Again, we were able to do everything online without problems. We rented the limousine at excellent-limousines and had opted for the model Excalibur Phantom. The handling was uncomplicated, and the service was OK.

But now I finally come to the wedding day itself.

The day started early. Our appointment at the registry office was at 10 a.m., in other words, until then we had to be ready, including hair and makeup for Jennifer. My cousin's wife, a stylist, had offered to take over this job. We accepted gratefully, which caused my cousin to drive my wife and her best friend (who also acted as the bridesmaid) back and forth very early because we didn’t have a car.

While Jennifer had her make over, I also got ready and received moral support from my best man and another old classmate.

Done with the styling, the two ladies came back and chased us men out of the apartment, so that the dress could be put on. Luckily, the ordered limousine was already there, so we men could occupy ourselves with the car and picture-making until we drove off.

At the registry office Jennifer's family had already been waiting for us. Most of her family lives in Indonesia, so I met my father-in-law and Jennifer’s other aunt at our wedding for the first time.

Our ceremony didn’t go as you may expect it either. After I received only an "uh-huh" in response for my proposal, I had sharpened my ears this time and leaned to Jennifer when she pronounced her "yes, I do".

Laughingly, she told me the words in my ear.

The next unusual action came from my cousin. With us Turks it is said that those who step on the other’s foot before the contract is signed, will have the say-so in marriage. What did my cousin do? He went to my freshly wedded wife and whisperd in her ear "Step on his foot! Step on his foot! " ....

Of course, I played along and put my foot down, because she couldn’t reach it 😉

Despite the cool weather, we still had enough time for the champagne toast and took hundreds of pictures before it started to rain.

TIP: For all those who want to get married in Frankfurt am Main, go to the registry office Höchst. There the location is much nicer and above all quieter! Anyone who knows Frankfurt knows that there are a lot of tourists at the “Römer” who don’t necessarily have to be on the pictures.

The registrars then send the documents to the right place. So, don't just orientate yourself to the registry office that oversees your living area.

After the toast we took off and went to the municipal office. I had to pick up the pre-ordered papers for Jennifer, because she didn't want to go in there wearing her wedding dress. But that I was just as much an attraction in my wedding suit, was of no importance to her. She made herself comfortable in the limo while I was allowed to queue. After that we went home to change before we drove to the airport.

Looking back, we found that we were a real multi-cultural group. The following nationalities were represented: German, Turkish, Indonesian, Bosnian, Croatian, Ethiopian and Polish. Genetically, there were other countries, as other "hybrids" also belong to the troop: China, Vietnam and Jordan. So, we were a total of 21 people (no children included) who represented genetically 10 countries.

We conducted our special day just as we wanted. It was a small, intimate wedding, which was also kept quite short. But everything went according to plan and relatively stress-free. The location was very nice, and we could claim the majority of the site too, so we didn’t have to stand squashed in a corner of the grounds. It was a relaxed atmosphere, as most of our guests also knew each other.