How to: The perfect Michi & Fabian wedding

Here it is! The big day! 14 years after we first met in a street corner in Berlin Wannsee, we are finally getting married

Wednesday 27.07. A last phone call then it’s time to focus on the wedding. My parents arrive for a Weißwurst Breakfast. Well fed, we go Dirndl shopping for my mum. While we are not successful at Lodenfrey, Ludwig Beck offers a nice Dirndl and a fantastic service.

My parents take off to Schliersee, while Michi and I pack and buy and start to prepare the final things. Everything starts to come together but we have a million small things to prepare: Speaches, small surprises,… We watch the weather closely and discuss the weather plans with the taxi company.

Thursday 28.07. Still a lot to do. We do more shopping, bathrobes, bras for Michi,… and relax at Frank’s. Inke arrives late afternoon and we spend a great evening together making pizza and talking about the “good old days”. In parallel, we pack and realize that our one car may not be enough. Hence, we rent a second one. Various suits and dresses, a 50m2 pavilion, a “Bollerwagen” glasses, beer, champagne, decoration,…

Friday 29.07. Today is the first big day. It starts with a bang: Michi’s maid of honor writes at 6am that she will not be able to make it to our wedding as she and her daughter have Covid. However, Inke steps in and shines through our wedding. Inke and I pick up the second car from Sixt (Audi A6) and start to load up. Our upstairs neighbors move out with less than what we pack for the wedding.

Then it’s time to get dressed. We throw on Dirndl and Lederhosen and are on our way. Michi and Inke take the A6, I take the BMW 3 and pick up Franzi.

We meet the Friday crowd at the parking lot of the Alpengasthof Glückauf in Hausham. It is the first time that our parents meet. And we are happy to see many old friends and family members whom we have not seen for a long time.

At ca. 15:00 we make our way to the registry office in Hausham. Silvia, our registrar welcomes us in we are nearly complete but are missing Jörg and Marcella. Silvia shows no mercy and makes everybody wait, until both arrive, slightly sweaty but exactly in time at 15:30.

We had agreed a short ceremony as Saturday is the main event. Michi and I wait outside and jointly walk in to our song “Somewhere over the rainbow” from Ella Fitzgerald. I walk, Michi’s heel gets stuck in a grate by the door. But we manage together like we always do. We sit, with Inked and Alex and listen to our song. When I ask after 2min if we should phase out the song I get an answer from Silvia: “You waited 14 years to propose, now you can wait 2min to listen to the song”.

Silvia performs a short but wonderful ceremony in which she talks about the meaning of the little word “yes” at this day. We sign the marriage certificate and she reads the protocol. We walk out to Sportfreunde Stiller “Kompliment”. We are married!

We toast to our wedding with champagne. Then Michi and I take our handcrate with the “just married” sign and tin cans attached and make our way up towards Almbad Huberspitz.

At the parking lot, we arrange the luggage and prepare for the hike. Planned 200m elevation along a gravel road for an easy 40min. The way starts nicely but turns fairly steep, quite soon. Time to drink more champagne and beer.

After a while, the road ends and turns into a little footpath. It becomes steeper and steeper. It becomes clear, we have taken the wrong turn and are on the direct mountain route instead of the gravel path. We split the bottles and carry the handcart. We feel like explorers. After 100m we reach a wider path that crosses the direct way. A sign tells us that the 40min from the parking lot are now 50min.

Also, it starts to rain. Luckily, the wide footpath leads to the Huberalm. So we change plans. The innkeeper gives us a warm welcome. We buy beer for everybody, while Michi and I get a shot and a serenade on the accordion. The mood is phantastic. There is no better way to start into OUR wedding than with such an adventure.

Luckily, the taxi lady is phantastic and arranges to pick us up at Huberalm and drive us to Huberspitz. We unload and check-in. It’s rainy but we sit in the sitting room and enjoy a rustic dinner.

But we have one more surprise up our sleeve. Only 15 years after I promised to do it, I finally completed the editing of my uncle’s wedding video. It is quite an emotional moment but they seem very happy to finally see it.

The evening is longer than expected with good talks. We finally sleep, last time in “wilder Ehe”.

Saturday 30.07. Today is the really big day. The weather is beautiful and we join family and friends for a breakfast outside. The view is beautiful and the atmosphere relaxed. We prepare the outside seating and the ‘altar’.

At ca. 11:30, I kiss Michi a last time goodbye as my girlfriend and hike into the valley, with Jörg and Alex, to pickup the other guests. This time we find the way without problems and it takes 40min indeed to hike to the Almbad.

When we return, Michi is already getting dressed. As for me, I loose a bit track of time and hop under the shower only 45min before the ceremony. But things go well, tie, suspenders, vest.

I am downstairs and ready to go 10min ahead of time. We see some dark clouds but given we had sunshine all morning, nobody believes in rain. Silvia says to me: I don’t care, as long as bride and groom sit, I keep talking But it does rain. At 15:00 Michi is sent back to her room while the common folks downstairs (incl. me) seek shelter from the rain.

A final, dark cloud passes with a heavy rain shower. But literally 1 min later the sky is blue as if nothing happened.

Here we go.

When Michi steps out onto the lawn, it takes my breath away. She is so incredibly beautiful in her perfect wedding dress.

I have a small surprise up my sleeve. As Michi walks down the aisle, Alex passes me my old Chapeau Claque Cylinder, which I wore when we first met. Looking into Michi’s eyes, I can tell that the surprise worked.

Silvia gives a beautiful speech. She reflects on how we got to know each other our joint travels and wedding ceremonies around the globe. We give our wedding vows and exchange our rings. It is very emotional.

Then my dad gives a speech. This moment is very emotional. I am incredibly moved to have my dad give the speech at our wedding ceremony. But the speech itself is my dad at its best, funny, sharp and deep, reflecting on our path to this day.

After the ceremony, we have a small reception. Alphornbläser create a fantastic alpine feeling. They ask us to join them. While I manage a single tone, which makes me incredibly proud, Michi watches and then plays away .. first mistery of our marriage where she learned to play Alphorns like that. Alex makes a few nice drone shots. Michi and I take pictures with family, best man & maid and a few pictures with just us. Time flies, we take a group picture and go to dinner.

I like to think that I give a nice dinner speech, about getting to “yes” (incl the famous note in the sock like Lehmann) and what I expect from a marriage after 14 years.

It is the most beautiful evening for us. We do not have a dance, which gives us time to talk with our friends. At 22:00 we watch the fireworks from the Schliersee Festival. We sit and chat until 4:00. We could not have imagined a more beautiful wedding.

Noteworthy to mention that I kept my promise and carried Michi over the doorstep.

Sunday 01.08. Yes! We can still do it! We wake up at 9 without being completely broken. We have another beautiful breakfast with our friends before we pack. Inke and I take the car down and repack, while the rest hikes down (and gets lost a final time…). The big relief is that Alex and Frieda take the big pavilion to Berlin. We say our goodbyes but with strong intentions to not wait 10 years to meet again.