My July ‘26 in Review

And here we go again; another month has flown by. July was a particularly eventful month for me and my wife.

The first half of the month was filled with preparations for the wedding, in addition to the usual annual tax return: ordering bouquets, final confirmations with the service providers, and spontaneously booking a photographer for the civil ceremony. On July 14th, I had my last day of work before the vacation, and my family arrived.

Then, on July 15th, it was finally time: the civil ceremony took place. We deliberately decided to split the celebrations over two days to reduce the stress and to be able to enjoy the feeling of being married even more intensely.

The civil ceremony was held in a small circle in the town hall of our hometown, Braunschweig. The registrar, who only knew us from the register of residents, gave a surprisingly interactive and lovely speech. It was much less bureaucratic and unromantic than we had expected. Afterward, we went to a small restaurant with all the guests for dinner, and in the afternoon we ate cake in the garden of my in-laws’ house. It was warm, but not as bad as we had feared. My suit with Cool Wool proved to be a good choice.

A few days later, on Saturday, July 18th, was the free wedding ceremony, another highlight of our wedding. We celebrated it in an old watermill, surrounded by greenery, at the Kötjemühle in Uetze, about three-fourths of an hour north of Braunschweig. Together with 34 guests, the wedding ceremony took place outdoors in a pavilion. Our wedding officiant led the ceremony and gave a wonderful speech, and the singer sang the songs we had requested so nicely. We read our wedding vows to each other. Many happy tears were flowing. 😄

After the ceremony, there was a reception with some sparkling wine, also accompanied by singing and group photos, before it was time for dinner and the party. For dinner, we had ordered various dishes as a buffet from a Turkish caterer from Braunschweig. It was very delicious. After dinner, there was another photo shoot (after the first look just before the ceremony), before the games and speeches (again remarkable and emotional), and later also dancing (which we started with our choreographed wedding dance) began.

All in all, both days were really beautiful (my wife in her dress was, of course, the most beautiful), and everything was at least as good as we had hoped and had planned for months. Everyone involved did their best; the weather cooperated perfectly (it was supposed to rain or be hot, but it was pleasantly warm and dry), the guests had fun, and so did we. The DJ filmed the whole evening without us having to book it specifically and sent us a video that was over an hour long the very next day – a great reminder of this unforgettable day. Especially since we still have to wait a bit for the photos from the photographers.

On Sunday and Monday morning, we quickly packed our things, or rather, we just threw everything into the suitcase and forgot some things. We drove off on our honeymoon in a rental car. We went to the Oberwirt in Steinegg, near Bolzano in South Tyrol, with a view of Bolzano from above. Here we have three pools to choose from, a five-course meal every evening, and also a good proximity to many sights. I’ll write a separate post about what we saw.

The weather was perfect in the first week, hardly any rain, but not too hot either, ideal for hiking and exploring. The second week was quite hot, but it didn’t look much different in Germany, and at least there’s a cool breeze up here on the higher levels. On Sunday, it’s going back. Hopefully, the relaxation will last despite the long and probably traffic-jam-filled journey home. 😅