A few weeks before the wedding, Alina and I went shopping for our dresses. Weddings in Germany and Brazil are much more formal, so I needed a new dress. Fortunately, prom season was over and the dresses were all on sale! I felt 15 years younger as we tried on dress after dress, looking for the right one! I probably would have gone with my typical choice of black, but Alina helped me go out on a limb and make a more bold choice! I loved getting dressed up for the wedding and it was fun to see Kevin in a suit again!
Here comes the bride. .
(next three photos courtesy of Steffen Diemer)
The Church Ceremony. Actually, by this point, Mollie and Christian were already legally married. In Germany, you can't have the church ceremony until you have the civil ceremony, so they did that privately the day before.
At one point during the wedding, we all sang the Beatles' "All You Need is Love" and it was awesome! All the guests were singing and the organist was playing the song as best she could. Everyone was laughing and smiling and it was just a really happy time! We also sang a few songs in German that I didn't know, which probably explains the look on my face as well as Kevin's!
Married. . . Mr. and Mrs. Franke!!!
Immediately after the ceremony, the bride and groom were told they had to prove to the world that they could work together. They were given work gloves and informed they would need to work together to saw through this piece of wood!
They really had to work hard! Christian was intense and Mollie really got into the action!
Together. . . they proved they could do it!
How fitting! Both Mollie and Christian work for John Deere, so it was hilarious to see the tractor pull up to the church! Their getaway "car" wasn't very fast, but it sure was fun!
(next three photos courtesy of Steffen Diemer)
The Deidesheimer Hof is the hotel where we stayed. It was also the location for the BBQ, reception and brunch the following morning. It was a very, very nice hotel!
The bride and groom and their guests! I thought this was a great idea! Kevin and I are in the front, just to the left of the bride.
Another group photo. Kevin and I are behind and a little to the left of the bride.
My sweet friend Alina. She's originally from Costa Rica, but is officially an American and has been here more of her life than not. She's so fun and positive and sweet and beautiful!
The photographer, who had seen me while Mollie was getting ready, did a double-take when we got to the wedding. He started laughing and said, "I didn't even recognize you!" We can clean up when we need to:) It just felt special getting dressed up and going on a date with my husband!
Daisy and Cristiano are two Brazilians who are permanently living in the U.S. He originally came here to work for Deere but then his wife went to school and became a dentist. They decided to stay and now they live in Denver. I had heard about them through Mollie, so it was fun to finally meet them. We have many mutual friends and we're hoping to see them on our future trips to Colorado.
Us again, getting ready for the toast
Alina and her husband Chris
(photo courtesy of Steffen Deimer)
Fabiola and Denise came from Brazil to the wedding. They both worked for Christian when he was living in Horizontina. We had a blast with them and laughed a ton! (photo by Steffen Diemer)
More of us
Each guest wrote a note to the new couple and tied the note to a helium balloon. The cards were stamped and addressed to Mollie and Christian. Whoever finds the card is supposed to write a note as well telling them where the card was found. It was a neat idea.
Harald is a German friend of our who lived in Horizontina with us. He and his wife Silvia now live just a few hours from Mollie and Christian. We were so happy to see them at the wedding!
Watching the balloons fly away. . .
Happy.
Oh my goodness, the reception was just incredible! I don't have the words or pictures or memory to describe how beautiful and detailed it was. After pictures and the toast, we all went to the basement of the hotel. Only this wasn't your typical basement! It was more like a cellar, what they called the Schlosskeller or castle vault. I felt like I was literally in the depths of an ancient castle. The food was unlike anything I've ever tasted! I couldn't describe it if I wanted to, but it was absolutely divine!
(photos by Steffen Deimer)
Wine cellar and dessert hall. . .
The food never seemed to end. Guests were served a four or five course meal (I lost track!). As if that weren't enough, we could visit the cheese table for a snack!
Dessert had a strawberry theme and the strawberries were locally grown and incredibly fresh. Strawberry cake, strawberry soup, strawberry syrup, ice cream that was being made right before me, fresh strawberries. . . it never ended!! I tasted a little bit of everything and a lot of some things!
After midnight, another "snack" was served but it was more like another meal! I'm pretty sure I didn't stop eating that whole night!
Alina and Silvia. Silvia is Harald's wife. She is so sweet! She loves Emma and wants grandchildren so badly that she asked if we could move to Germany so she could be a grandma to Emma and Adri!! She was excited to see us, but the first thing she said was, "Where's Emma?" It was great getting to see her again and to be with Mollie, Alina, and Silvia! I'm so very grateful for the experience we had in Brazil. The friendships we made there have impacted our lives in so many ways and we cherish that time greatly!
Well, because we had stayed out so late the night before, neither of us had a lot of energy for the wedding night. However, it's not very often we're able to stay out as late as we want, so I was determined to go as long as possible. At 4am, we called it a night and slowly climbed the stairs to our room. We were so thankful we didn't have far to go. It was such a happy evening. I smiled a ton. I laughed a lot. I loved watching Mollie and Christian together. I'm excited for them to finally be married and so happy they are together! I remember running many miles with Mollie in Brazil, wondering who the lucky guy would be and praying for just the right one to come along! He did. I love getting to be a tiny part of their story.
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