Fiammetta and Ralston's Wedding (6.Sept.) --*Warning: This is a long post with many pictures*--

Let's see my humble attempt of a recap of the wedding:

Very clear.

Translation for the English and Italian speakers.

The wedding was held in German. The groom's family is from the States and most speak only English. The bride's family is from Italy and most speak only Italian/no German. Hence, the need for simultaneous interpretations. Let the good times roll!

A table of sweets waiting for the immediate reception.

Programs in German, Italian, and English.

 I hope they appreciated the programs; the groom's 2 sisters, a friend, his mother, and I were all working on those programs for HOURS. We folded them by hand, cut the material and glued it on the program with a glue gun, and even redid a few that needed to be touched up. So those program better be appreciated.

The stars of the show.

Ah, Maria and Dominik! Maria and I were roommates, once upon a time.

Groom: Ralston

Groom chilling & Best Man checking last details

Alright! Let's do this!

Bridal pair up front.

Fiamma giving her vows.

Ralston giving his vows with Ray's help.

Surprise! Groom & Best Man perform to the bride.

Putting on of the rings.

The kiss.

Surprise! Bride and friend (Shaina) sing to the groom.

Stage is cleared.

Simple floral decoration.

Yes they did.

1 last look at the sanctuary before going to the quick reception.

Mr. & Mrs. Zwicker

Hensel Family

The fruit table, from the 2nd floor.

Yours truly with the couple of the day.

Jellique, 1 the groom's sisters (& 1 of my best friends)

Janelle, the other younger sister.

Friends and Family reunion!

Bogi friends from 2009-2010 reunite! (though several are missing)

Bromance moment

Brazil, Ukraine, & US = mini United Nations!

Now, it's a drive into Simbach, Germany (about a 15 min. drive) for the main reception/dinner.
I didn't know it was tradition to honk your horn as you're driving in a caravan to the reception hall. At least those who were getting the hall ready knew when the guests were coming!

Reception hall

My place (everyone's looked like that)

Just so you'd know where your place was.

I really liked the simple (yet, not-so-simple) floral arrangement.

The program was really great. There were parts when we were all laughing very hard (thanks Ray!). The food was incredible, and the friends made it all the more memorable. At around 23:00, the party started to shut down and everyone was leaving, but catching up as much as possible before doing so. Seeing the wedding began around noon and went until 23:00/23:30, I'd say it was pretty good (granted, I got accustomed to the 30 minute weddings of Korea)!

Now, the hard part: saying goodbye.
It was a train ride to Salzburg and say a quick goodbye to my friend there (literally quick, since we spent enough time for him to walk me from the train platform to where the buses were) and take the bus #2 to the airport. Then flew to Berlin, got a bus, and arrived at Berlin Hauptbahnhof (Berlin Central Station). Then I found out I have over 1 hour before I can continue on my way back to Kolobrzeg. Well, on a lovely day with time to spare, all I needed was my camera.

Berlin Hauptbahnhof

Boat rides and lawn chairs along a canal of the Spree River.

So I like birds.

 

Just across the central train station. For all my Swiss friends.

Ah, I should get to my platform.
Back in Poland.

This looks like a combination of Korean and German trains. Really it does.

My last train to my town. That's when it left. I arrived 2 hours later.

So that was the wedding, and my journey back to my town.

Through this experience, I've seen that traveling from Poland takes longer to get anywhere than from, say, Germany--definitely more than Korea. Poland is also bigger (than Korea) and catching up to the western European countries/neighbors. So I need to think twice about traveling anywhere for the weekend and so forth.

Something else I've thought of, is how great it was to see friends again, whom I haven't seen in years. Then, in how sad it was to leave them. Then again, that led me to how beautiful it will be when we get to Heaven, never to be separated again. How interesting that our welcome into Heaven will be a "wedding feast". How much does Jesus love weddings, that HIS 1st miracle was at a wedding? HE created the 1st wedding in the Garden of Eden. You go anywhere in the world, and you'll see that weddings are joyful events. Why do you think that is?

I'll let you think about that.