Santa is coming...

**** Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!! ****

We've got elfed :-)

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1299872869

The Third Wedding!

So we've already discussed the plan for celebrating in Germany... here are a few updates:

The contract has been signed for the Party in the Castle on the 12th of July, 2007. So that is a sure thing. The official registrar's office wedding on the 4th will be final when we sign up for the day, which we can first do six months before the day we want. So look for a post on the 4th of January! Also certain but not yet final is the church ceremony on the 12th; we have yet to pick out the church we want, which we might work on while my mom is here (Dec. 2-10). The details of the Polterabend have yet to be arranged.

Previously hinted at, but now official, is the Big American John and Mareike Wedding Bash. It will take place on the 19th of July at the Knights of Columbus Hall in West Allis. So now we've a third day of ceremony/dinner/party to plan, and we have to work out the details at a distance of 4000 miles (7000 km)! I'll make a list now: invitations, food, drink, seating plan, music, cake, flowers... anything else? Shouldn't be so bad. We'll have the marraige blessed by my parents' neighbor, and then eat and dance and throw flowers and a garter, etc... Keeping it to (my) family and close friends back in America, I think we're shooting for 150. Unfortunately, there's no one at the moment from Germany who's scheduled to make the trip. We'll see if that changes, but if not, everybody's going to have to learn German for the night so that Mareike doesn't feel completely out of place at her own wedding. Clinking glasses to make us kiss? No, you'll have to come up to the microphone and recite a bit of Schiller or Goethe. Sorry, but those are the rules :-)

Waschbärweibchen gesucht

Mr. Raccoon, unser Mitbewohner, hat heute seine größte Sorge geäußert: Er hat noch keine Begleitung für die Hochzeit. Und er hat mich gebeten, ein Weibchen für ihn zufinden, die sein date sein will. Wer also mit einer Mrs. Raccoon zuhause wohnt, die veilleicht auch ein kleines bisschen einsam ist und Lust hat ihn zu begleiten, melde sich bitte bei uns. :-)

Trauzeugin gesucht und gefunden!!

Die Planung geht weiter. Aber vor lauter Arbeiten kommen wir nicht dazu in die Details zu gehen. Aber immerhin hab ich jetzt eine Trauzeugin gefunden, und sie hat mir bestätigt, dass sie das Amt übernehmen möchte: Kristina, eine gute Freundin!!! :-) Sie ist voller Tatendrang, hat tolle Ideen, ist kreativ dazu und "mein Kleid wird sie auch hoch halten, wenn ich Pippi machen muss". (Zitat Kristina!!) Hahaha, dann kann ja nix mehr schief gehen... Sie ist übrigens auch für die Hochzeitszeitung zuständig... Nur zur Information, falls jemand schon tolle Ideen hat... immer zu ihr damit!!! Mit einer Trauzeugin, die jetzt schon mehr plant als ich wird die Sache perfekt! Für die Feier in Amerika kann sie aber leider nicht mitkommen :-( Schade, es wäre schön gewesen, wenn sie als meine Trauzeugin überall mit dabei sein kann.
Aber Johns Schwester, Liz, wird nun meine rechte Hand an der (Nach-)Feier in Amerika sein. (diese Feier -für alle daheimgebliebenen- ist übrigens am 19. Juli 2008) Es kann nämlich auch leider niemand von meiner Familie oder Freunden mitkommen, das heißt ich bin dort die einzigste aus Deutschland und hätte eigentlich gerne "deutsche Unterstützung" gehabt. Aber was nicht geht, geht nicht. Aber damit ich auf jeden Fall jemanden habe, die mir an dem Abend hilft bei was auch immer, wird Liz diese Rolle übernehmen. Das tut gut zu wissen!!! Sie freut sich sehr drauf und ich mich auch... Wer hält denn sonst mein Kleid hoch beim Pippi machen??? ;-)

Es wird noch eine 2. Trauzeugin geben, aber das werde ich erst bekanntgeben wenn es offiziell ist, sie weiß nämlich noch nix von ihrem Glück ;-)

John ist auch dabei seine Trauzeugen zu wählen. Er wird euch das dann selbst berichten...

...And in English

This is an excerpt from the Kaiserstuhl-Tuniberg Vacation and Travel Guide:

The lay of Burkheim had already been settled by the Bronze and Urn-field Ages, and the name of the city first appears in the written record in 762 AD. King Charles IV gave the city rights in 1348. The middle town, which gets its exciting feel from its harmonic and closed-off appearance, is under protection as a historical landmark, and is enclosed by the baroque city gate (renovated in the 18th century) and dominated by the castle ruins [where we'll be celebrating! ~JL]... The middle town is closed off by the Church of St. Pankratius, first mentioned in the 10th and 11th centuries and renovated to the baroque style in 1742... The paintings on the walls and ceiling (completed in 1500 and 1540, respectively) surely belong to the most meaningful in the Kaiserstuhl. The baroque high altar with hand-finished tabernacle, built by the Freiburg mason Anton Xaver Hauser, was constructed in 1740. [This would make a good place for the church ceremony, no? ~JL] The castle ruins tower above Burkheim... Lazarus von Schwendi built his palace upon the castle foundations in 1561. The French burned the Renaissance-style building to the ground in 1672. [Thanks a million, France! ~JL]

If you're already a fan of Google Earth, you can find the Burkheim castle ruins at 48°06'00.38"N,7°35'46.35"E

Es wird in Burkheim gefeiert!

Hier ein Stück aus dem Kaiserstuhl-Tuniberg Ferien-und-Freizeitführer:

Schon zur Bronze- und zur Urnenfelderzeit war die Gemarkung von Burkheim besiedelt, 762 taucht der Name in schriftlichen Unterlagen erstmals auf. Kaiser Karl IV. erteilte 1348 das Stadtrecht. Den Reiz des Städtchens macht das harmonische und geschlossene Ortsbild der unter Denkmalschutz stehenden historischen Mittelstadt aus, eingefaßt vom barocken Stadttor, im 18. Jahrhundert erneuert, und überragt von der Schloßruine [wo gefeiert wird! ~JL]...Die Mittelstadt wird abgeschlossen von der Pfarrkirche St. Pankratius, die im 10. und 11. Jh. erwähnt und 1742 barock umgebaut wurde... Die Wandmalereien an den Wänden und an der Decke (1500 bzw. 1540) gehören sicherlich zu den bedeutendsten am Kaiserstuhl. Um 1740 entstand der barocke Hochaltar mit Tabernakelaufbau von der Hand des Freiburger Bildhauers Anton Xaver Hauser. [Sollen wir uns hier eventuell trauen? ~JL]. Über Burkheim erhebt sich die Schloßruine... [Lazarus von Schwendi] ließ ... ab 1561 auf dem Burgberg sein Schloß errichten. 1672 legten die Franzosen den prächtigen Renaissancebau in Schutt und Asche. [Thanks a million, France! ~JL]

Auf deutsch bitte...

Hallo Ihr Lieben...
Nachdem John so viel Arbeit mit der Erstellung von unserem Blog hatte, werde ich mich nun auch mal zu Wort melden... es soll ja nicht so aussehen, als würde der Blog nur von ihm kommen und nicht von uns beiden ;-)

Seid heute gibts den Countdown bis zum 4. Juli 08 auf der Homepage zu sehen... Es dauert wirklich nicht mehr lang!!!
Heute haben wir auch mit dem Vermieter vom Schloss Burkheim telefoniert und Bescheid gesagt, dass wir am 12. Juli 08 das Schloss mieten wollen! Der Vertrag ist auf dem Weg zu uns!!! Die erste Hürde - die Suche nach einer passenden Location - haben wir somit geschafft! Wir glauben, dass wir das schwierigste und nervenaufreibendste überstanden haben... obwohl, bekanntermaßen soll einen ja die Gästeliste noch mal zur Weißglut bringen... :-) Mal sehen!!!

Ich glaube ich brauche nicht zu übersetzen was John in den letzten 2 Posts geschrieben hat, die meisten müssten englisch können... Viele anderen werden sich freuen, wenn sie ab und zu die heimische Sprache lesen werden... aber damit Johns Familie und Freunde in den USA regelmäßig den Stand der Dinge lesen können und unsere Planung mitkriegen, wird das meiste auf englisch sein.

Wir freuen uns wenn uns viele auf unserer Homepage besuchen und hoffen dass Ihr viel Spaß habt beim Lesen und Fotos anschauen (Fotos folgen noch...)

Bis bald!!!

The Big Plan

Okay, it's about time for a mini-update, and we've enough to report that it's deserving of a post for anyone who's read the last one a hundred times while waiting for news. At the moment we have a rough idea of what, when and where we are planning to celebrate, so we'll walk through the event schedule one day at a time. This isn't final, but it's starting to look like a proper plan.

July 2nd, 2008 Arrival from America of immediate family, witnesses for the Registrar's Office wedding. Last rainy day until further notice.
July 3rd, 2008 After closing time on Thursday, we will both officially be on holiday from work.
July 4th, 2008 Today will be the official Registrar's Office wedding. Immediate family and witnesses will be present, although everyone else will be waiting outside with rice, flowers, champagne, etc. This is the equivalent of going to City Hall to get your marriage license in America, although it's a much bigger deal here, so that some couples just make this the celebration and don't marry in a church. We'll still celebrate this one (why not???) and go out for a nice dinner afterwards. A good bit of Sekt is not uncalled for.
July 5th, 2008 Time to get rowdy! It's Polterabend, an event based on the tradition that "shards bring luck". Everybody will come to our apartment, where we'll have a party in our garden (or some other location, weather and people depending). Basically, the idea is to smash all the old dishes on the ground, and the new couple has to sweep it all up. Friends and family also make a bit of fun and games and tasks for the bride and groom, but we will assign a censor to decide what we can be forced to do and what crosses the line. Beer will be served. A good bit of Sekt is not uncalled for. P.S. We are not sweeping up shards more than once; if you try to re-spill the cleaned-up mess, you will be less than politely asked to leave.
July 6th-11th, 2008 Program week. We will try to come up with a list of the five most awesome things one can do while visiting us in our little corner of the world, including a nature hike on Feldberg, the tallest mountain in the Black Forest, multiple wine tastings, tours of Sekt cellars, bike rides in the Kaiserstuhl region, day trips to Basel, Baden-Baden, Staufen, Interlaken/Jungfrau Region, Titisee and Schluchsee, Colmar, Straßburg - sorry, Strasbourg, Breisach... you get the idea. There's plenty to do here.
July 12th, 2008 Church Wedding and Reception. This is the official big day. We originally wanted to do it on the 5th, but now that we've found our castle, we're willing to comprimise to get a date that's available, and we think this plan works quite well. The castle is in Burkheim in the Kaiserstuhl. Basically, Burkheim has a crazy Middle Ages-feel to it, female guests to the wedding will have to bring tennis shoes to get up to the castle before they can change into heels, the view is spectacular, the wine comes from the vines surrounding the castle, it is basically a guaranteed success. Okay, so it's actually castle ruins, not so much Neuschwanstein. But it really has something, we'll be posting pictures soon. The party will go as late as we can, if we're lucky we'll catch the sunrise over the Totenkopf... A good bit of Sekt will not be uncalled for.
July 13th, 2008 Breakfast and packing.
July 14th-27th, 2008 Everybody flies somewhere! Mareike and I will have two weeks for the honeymoon and America celebration. People who've come from America can travel on their own a bit before heading back, but we will probably already be in Greece or the Fjords or Hawai'i or on the North Sea or on the Mediterranean coast... We'll probably be seeing everybody in the week after that for the reception in West Allis. Details of that party are still to come.
July 28th or 29th or 30th, 2008 Back to work for all parties involved! It can rain again.

Our First Post

Welcome to our blog!

We passed the ten-month-to-go mark about a week ago, and just about simultaneously started our serious planning for everything. Ten months, I think, seems like a lot of time, but every week tends to go by so fast, since we're both working loads and my program starts in a few weeks. So I'm sitting here wondering about the couples that manage to put everything together inside of six months... Although in our defense (defence?), we've got the whole international aspect to deal with, so that adds a few more tasks to the list.

We'll try to keep you as up-to-date as possible with what's going on in both the wedding plans and our lives. It's safe to assume that posts in English have been done by me, and those in German are from Mareike. We'll try to make sure that everything gets said in both languages, but I'm not promising an exact translation of everything; could this also be a learning experience for anyone reading from America? There might be a tax rebate in that, I'll look into it.

So right now we're in the middle of finding the perfect venue for our wedding reception. I've set down my request that I'd like to have the party either a) in the mountains, b) on the waterside or c) in the forest. I suppose I'm a bit demanding, but consider this: If you travel from our home 30 minutes by car in any direction, you will find yourselves smack-dab in the middle of a) the mountains, b) water, AND c) the (Black, not just any) Forest. If you don't believe me, get Google Earth and look for us in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany. The best way to describe our location is as a wine-and-mineral-bath haven at the foot of the Black Forest, slightly up the hill from the Rhine River. How could we not take advantage of that in our wedding plans???

Our first choice of location turned out to have a few too many costs attached to renting the hall, so we've started looking at a number of other places. Once we get serious about a few, I'll put up a link to their website, or some pictures of the places.

As far as a timeline, we'd like to have a venue chosen fairly soon, and a band and caterer before 2008 starts. We can formally register ourselves as an "engaged couple" with the city starting six months before our "Wunschdatum" of July 4th. This means we'll go to the City Hall on January 4th (or about then) and sign up for the date before 20 other couples do. This date is also important because starting then, I have six months to obtain all the necessary documents that certify I am a legitimate American citizen who is available for marraige, e.g. I don't already have a wife and two children back in the States who I've left behind for an Amazing German Woman. Six months is also, I suppose, a good time to get invitations sent out to America, since guests will need to book accomodation and travel to Europe if they want to celebrate with us. On that note, let us know if you're serious about wanting to come over. We won't be offended if you can't make it, and we're going to plan a less formal reception back home in the States a few weeks later as part of our honeymoon, so hopefully the American turnout will be great there! And we'll get to put on our wedding attire twice! That's getting our money's worth!

So, if you're reading along, I hope you'll enjoy our updates and stories along the way. We're both new to planning a wedding, and neither of us have lots of close friends with whose planning we've helped out (there's no way to avoid ending that clause with a preposition!), so hopefully this information will be useful to many of you in the future, or useful to us if you've been through this and have any suggestions! Thanks for reading!