June 28 – Day 2
On Saturday morning we awoke, still tired from the trip, but excited about the wedding. We had some breakfast, then took a short walk in the small town so that we knew where we were going later during the day. We hadn’t realized how small the “Alt Stadt” where all the day’s activities were being held was, so the walk was short. It felt so strange, nonetheless, to be in this environment.
I’m not sure why things seemed so surreal. I think part of it had to do with how much I’d romanticized Europe, having never been there before. I’d spent the entire day before focusing on constant motion in order to reach a destination, feeling over-stimulated and attempting to not look like a total fool in a place I’d never been. All that kept me from recognizing the wonder and confusion I was experiencing. Feeling the cobbles under my feet as I walked the town, I found myself wondering how much of what I was seeing was artifice. I felt like I was meeting a celebrity in the grocery store checkout line after seeing pictures of her for 20 years.
It may also have been the jet lag.
At 11 AM, we made our way to the City Hall for the civil ceremony. All the wedding guests crowded into a hot room, some seated in benches, some standing and craning for pictures while our friends sat at a table with a mirthless officiator. The ceremony was not long, maybe 20 minutes, and was very formal though the bride and groom were somewhat casually dressed. One of the interesting things about watching something like this take place in a completely different language is that it allows you to more closely observe the different ways people communicate. You become more finely attuned to body language or facial expressions, those subtle movements that normally slip into your consciousness under the radar when you concentrate on the words.
After the wedding, everyone made their way to a small area outside for glasses of celebratory champagne and to watch the bride and groom perform what is apparently a wedding tradition. There was a sawhorse set up, with a hardwood log perched atop it. With a two-handed saw, they were to cut the log in half, to symbolize how they would work together in their marriage. It was impressive how quickly they managed to do it!
A second, church wedding was held later in the evening. The church, like the rest of the town, was originally built in the middle ages. There was lovely woodwork on elevated pulpits and the paint looked as if it had been there a while. The floor was marble, and restoration on it had been completed the day before.
Like the civil ceremony before it, it was interesting to listen to something as familiar as a wedding in German. I found I was able to more or less understand what was going on. It didn’t hurt that the bride and groom has placed some programs in English around the church so that we could have a sense of what was going on.
When the ceremony was finished, we all made our way to the hotel in town for a meal, some drinking and dancing. Someone was kind enough to teach me the Viennese waltz, which apparently if done correctly, should leave one dizzy. Everyone had a great time and the party didn’t wrap up until 4AM. The sky had begun to brighten by the time I went to bed.
