The Wedding

...and what an amazing day it was! Insa and Andre got married in Bielefeld's Radrennbahn, a slightly dilapidated, but no less impressive motorbike racing track built in the 1950s. At its centre is a field of sumptious grass used by a local american football team. A very unusual place for a wedding by german standards and the local press were there to witness it. Insa and Andre had exchanged vows at the registry office (the legal part) on the Thursday before the wedding. But it was also important to Insa to make their promises before God. So she twisted the arm of a pastor she knew and of the manager of the Radrennbahn and hey presto... a quirky wedding concept was born. It suited the happy couple down to the ground. Insa and Andre met in the creative world of theatre set production. As artisans, they are alternative in many ways (wardrobe, interests, political views etc) and the wedding was a fantastic expression of this. Insa wore a 1920's style dress and hairstyle, Andre wore a hand-stitched suit and trilby. But it was the manner of their "entrance" and the procession that followed, that took the biscuit (it is a german tradition for the bride and groom to enter the church together). Think James Bond, The Spy who loved me, and the scene when the Lotus emerges from the sea, and you've got it. The following 2 minute clip should give you an idea.

It was a very moving service. Claudia played keyboard as part of the music group. The pastor led with great sensitivity and spoke straight-forwardly of God's love, spoke of the joys of marriage and didn't shy away from mentioning the tougher times. Max loved the track and took to exploring it at regular intervals throughout the service. Louis schmoozed with one of the other babies present and ate grass. For me, everthing went swimmingly until the reception, when i had to lie down (with nausea) for most of the meal and went to bed early with the boys, missing the party afterwards. It was a bit of a blow to an otherwise glorious day.