For those of you who normally follow my blog or Facebook page, you would know that I was away in Europe for a month on a working holiday, photographing 2 weddings and doing a bit of travelling in between. After landing on home soil it took me quite some time to orient myself again and get stuck into editing all the millions and gazillions of photo’s I took on this fantastic trip. I did however manage to get out of “holiday mode”, and set about editing the wedding of Chris and Monique, that was shot in Germany.
I know Monique through Kim (my best friend and travelling buddy on this trip). Kim and Monique are cousins and lived together for a year, and through regularly visiting Kim I got to know Nikki pretty well too. She, along with her mum and dad, immigrated to Germany about 3 years ago and this is where she met Chris, her knight in shining armour. :)
We stayed with Nikki’s parents in Aalen before going down to Heidelberg for the wedding, and we were absolutely spoilt and blessed by the Hansen’s generosity the whole time we were there! They took us around to so many wonderful tourist attractions and fed us copious amounts of yummy food and wine! Harold and Kikka- thanks so much for everything- we really appreciate it all!
I thought coming from Africa I knew how to handle the heat. But the German summer had me wishing for sunscreen and gallons of ice cold water to pour down my gullet! Oh my goodness it was so hot and humid! How Chris and Nikki survived in that heat with their wedding attire I don’t know- but I’m glad they did! ;)
German is not as easy to understand as I had hoped, and I found myself concentrating like crazy in the ceremony just to be able to know when to photograph what! When the minister said “Sie können die Braut jetzt küssen” I figured it would probably mean I have to photograph the first kiss, which it did! When I was spoken to in German, I would have no clue what was said, so my utterly confused gaze and nervous laughter made people realise that they were dealing with an Ausländer- and then they would reluctantly switch over into English. Unless they couldn’t speak English either, then we would all look utterly confused and laugh nervously together!
One thing I also learnt about German weddings is that they have A LOT of cakes! Wow! I think all together there were something like 8 or 9 different sweet cakes or tarts for the guests to enjoy!
Chris is a gentle giant with a kind and caring heart, and he absolutely dotes on Nikki. It was wonderful to see how in love Nikki is, and that she has found a man that will look after her soft and gentle heart so well. May your marriage always be a safe space where you both fall more and more in love with one another every day! May the words of your mouth, and the meditation of your heart always be encouraging and uplifting to one another! Blessings xxx