Ok, "Reception? might not be the right word. "Party" is probably and even better word.
Jasmin and Martin were married in a church around 3:00. We could not take pictures, but they will be available online soon. The wedding ceremony was interesting. You might think of it as a cross between a folk mass, a puppet show and a comedy showcase. After the wedding we dropped Little Tim off at his grandmother's house and stopped at Holger and Katie's home to pick up the trailer for the bathtub (all will be explained later).
We arrived at the reception around six and the festivities started soon after. The couple was introduced and the father's each gave a speech. Then the tables were each assigned a task of coming up with a cheer that they would need later. Holger came up with ours right away.
Then it was off to the buffet.I have never seen so much food at a reception. Josh and I ate till we could not stuff any more into us. Beef,chicken, pork, broccoli casserole, green beans, potatoes, croquettes, spatzle, salmon, just to name a few. There was also a separate table for desserts. The family provides the main meal while the guests bring desserts.
Well fed, time for the show to start. The mother's each had a slide show of pictures of Jasmin and Martin as the grew up. Then Jasmin and martin's friend's presented their own videos and slide shows.
A short intermission and then the friends presented some skits (here is where the bath tub comes in). This continued until midnight when the cake was cut and a second dessert buffet with cakes and cheeses and breads was served. Then dancing until around 2:30 in the morning, when we left. As far as I know, the party may still be going on. :)
Some interesting traditions: At one point the bride and groom take one shoe from each of them and sit back to back in chairs. They are then asked questions about their new life together and they must answer by lifting the appropriate shoe. questions like: "Who will handle the money" They did pretty well, but there was a lot of laughter to some of the answers.
Along one wall a series of 52 post cards were hung. Each postcard had a date on it. One for each week of the coming year. During the evening, people would take a post card. They then mail it to the couple to arrive during the assigned week. This is intended to send good wishes to the couple every week of their first year together.
At one point the tables had to compete with their cheers. There were probably ten cheers in all & each table was louder than the last. I think we did ok, but the tables with Jasmin and Martins young friends were definitely the loudest.
There are too many stories to tell in one posting, so I will add more later.
Enjoy,
Tim