On 10 July 2000 I have married Monika who had been my girl friend for many years. The wedding took place at the Restaurant "Zum Schiffchen" in Rhens on the Rhine.

This is a selection of photographs from this event. The comments are meant to be funny. If you think otherwise, tough! ;-)

Special thanks go to Andrew Walker who scanned all these pictures for me and Jo Komisarczuk (I hope I spelled the name right) for proofreading the comments and suggesting better translations. If you still find any mistakes it's me who is to blame, please tell me about it.

This page contains only thumbnails to keep the loading time low. Click on the picture to get it in its original size. People with a fast internet connection can get the full size photographs directly.

Before

These pictures are take before the ceremony. Everybody is nervous, nobody knows what is going on and they all stand around like that.

This is Rhens on the Rhine, at least the section which is worth photographing.	This is where it happened: The old town hall. It had been refurbished especially for us.	The bride's mother and younger sister. Maybe I should rather marry the sister? (btw: The sister is standing on the right hand side.)
The bride's sister and brother: 'What do you think, will she say "Yes"?'	A large crowd at the entrance. No, I have not sold tickets there!

The Ceremony

These pictures are taken during the ceremony inside the town hall. It is kind of amazing how many people dared to show up in a more formal dress than the groom. Apparently only Andrew took my invitation seriously where I explicitely stated that the dress code was informal. Thank you Andy!

The youngest guests arrive. Fortunately none of the children calls: "Dad!"	The bride gets some last minute advice from her parents: "And when you are asked whether you want him, you must say "Yes" otherwise we will never get you married."	The groom looks impatiently at his watch. 'I hope she is not going to reconsider in the last instant.'
Everybody is listening when the registrar tells a story: "Once upon a time there was a couple..."	Now it is getting serious: The groom says "Yes, I want." The bride was apparently unsure what he was going to say.	Also the bride says "Yes, I want", very much to the relief of the groom.
Now they just sign the sales contract. Both keep their surnames btw. No Mrs. Müller or Mr. Bläsing!	The bride also signs...	To keep the bride from straying the gets branded - eh - a ring.
This is the moment everybody was waiting for: The first kiss. Even the respectable witness must laugh.	This is the bride's brother. He says: "Take good care of my little sister." (Of course, otherwise she will come back to them.)

After

After the ceremony nobody really knew what to do. So we reverted to time proven rituals like throwing rice and taking group pictures.

The groom's father leaves the town hall. He looks thoughtfully, maybe he is remembering his own wedding?	The bride's father obviously has some rather unpleasant memories, he leaves the scene in a hurry.	There comes the witness. He looks a bit worried. Does he have pangs of conscience? Maybe he should have warned the groom more urgently?
But now it is too late. There he comes with his wife. Apparently unchanged, but that might still happen.	The weather was actually quite good, not counting some short rice showers. Look how the groom holds fast to his bride! That's a real claw!	Finally a beautiful photo of the bride without the groom ruining it!
"What are we doing here? Who are all these people? And why do I have such a strange thing on my finger?"	The first group photo: Bridal couple and their parents. One calls each other "mother / father / son / daughter in law" now. Peculiar words!	And another group photo, this time with the two witnesses. The item behind us is no old bath tub btw. but a medieval well.
And thus the brothers and sisters do not cry still another group photo with those.	And one last group photo, so the guests from abroad can not later deny having been there. (Great doubles! Vitaly's looks so convincing!)	'Those flowers are beautiful! Actually they are still fine, somebody else could still use them for a wedding.'
'Let me get those lice off your head before you put them into my fur.' (There is a German proverb 'Putting somebody some lice in his fur' meaning 'Make somebody liable for something'. This is unfortunately an untranslatable pun.)

The Reception

At the reception there was no dancing. I am a non-dancer and have therefore checked that there wasn't enough room for that just in case somebody got funny ideas. ;-).
But the "Zum Schiffchen" was first choice not only because of that they also have a nice view and the food is ecxellent.

This is the "(zum) Schiffchen" ("To the Small Ship"). As one can see it is currently situated on land. But Noah had also thought that once. Beautiful terrace! And the weather is even good enough to use it! (It had rained for several weeks before and it did rain again for several days afterwards.)	Hm, the terrace is smaller than it looked...	The bride's parents recover a bit from the strain. A small sip of orange juice works wonders.
The stay in France did not do this gentleman much good. Before that time he rarely drank.	There they sit now "Just Married!". Well hopefully they can still enjoy the meal! (The meal was delicious. I can recommend the "Zum Schiffchen".)	Cake is being served. No, not just any cake. It is the good butter cream cake from the day before yesterday. (The joke lies in the fact that it really was two days old because the bakery which makes it closed for holidays this very day so the only way to get my favorite cake was to buy it two days in advance and keep it refrigerated. It still was delicious.)
On the other side of the room everybody was getting stuffed too. Small wonder that this is dampening the small talk a bit.	Look at that! A perfect fit, is it not?	Later on the terrace is still quite in demand.
Yes, finally some space!