I’ve been thinking on it. Remember last week when I said I wasn’t a wedding photographer? Well, I’m thinking maybe I could just be an international wedding photographer. You know, I’ll only shoot weddings that take me away to a beautiful country I’ve never visited before. Heck, I’ll probably settle for another state in the US. That’s it–I’ll be a destination wedding photographer only. I like the sound of that!
I have so much to say about my quick trip to Germany that I don’t really know where to start. I wish I would have journaled during the trip. I’m the WORST at journaling, but I’m sure I’ve already forgotten some of the observations I made, things I saw, or funny things that happened.
I intended to take a ton of photos of Germany in general–outside of the wedding itself. All I can say is, I didn’t. I took a few, but honestly, I was enjoying just soaking it all up without having a camera up to my face. John Mayer sums it up nicely in his song “3×5″…
“Didn’t have a camera by my side this time, hoping I would see the world through both my eyes”
I’m a little disappointed that I don’t have more to show from my trip, but hopefully it will just give me reasons to visit again. Anyway, on to the trip!
Upon arriving at the Frankfurt Airport and meeting the groom, Scott, we rented a car and hit the road for the small town of Staden where our hotel was located. I was exhausted because I was too excited to sleep on the plane, so I let Jason take the driver’s seat. (I’m usually adament about being the driver, no matter who I’m with or where we’re going–it’s the control freak in me, and because I can get car sick otherwise.) I was also a bit afraid of driving on the infamous autobahn. Although I’m a fan of speed (just got another speeding ticket 2 weeks ago), I’m NOT a fan of reckless driving. The fastest posted speed limit I saw on the autobahn was 120 km, but if the sign is turned off, it’s a free-for-all! Some cars sped by so fast, you’d miss them if you blinked. Those were the reckless ones.
The photo above is of German farmlands. It was very overcast the whole time we were there with the sun peeking out maybe 2-3 times. While driving through the countryside we saw one field full of swans! It was weird that we hardly saw any wildlife there. Jason saw some deer in the fields, but there were no squirrels and I didn’t see any birds at all except for the swans and one entire field filled with strange looking geese. Even Jason and Scott (both hunters) didn’t know what kind of geese they were.
We arrived at our gorgeous hotel and Scott got us all checked in and settled. It was about 9 am and the first thing on our agenda was sleep. Just before lunch time we woke up and got showered so we could head out into the town for something to eat and some exploring. Although I’d brought adapters (or converters) and thought I’d checked everything to make sure it could handle the European voltage, I guess I forgot to check my ultra powerful hairdryer. Yep, I blew a fuse. I didn’t get burned or electrocuted when I plugged it in, but I had a big black “poof” mark on my hand. Jason got the hotel handyman, Peter, who was so sweet. He brought me a new hairdryer to use and said if I decided to blow another fuse, he’d just come back and fix it for me! 
I was thinking the blown fuse might be a bad omen. Fortunately, that was the worst thing that happened the whole trip! This is our gorgeous hotel, which was a castle with a moat!
This picture above show the view out of one of our windows. In the mornings I could hear flapping and splashing. It was the ducks in the moat water. It was a nice way to wake up.
This is the inside of our room. Notice the huge down comforters. It was like sleeping with a huge pillow on top of you–no sheets either. (My friends who are familiar with my “sleep issues” will be happy to hear that there was no sleepwalking or spiders/people/flying objects to be seen! Jason said I snored though.)
These were the stairs up to our room…need I say more?!
It took us awhile to find a place to eat. We couldn’t read German and we were in a very small rural town without a whole lot of choices. We finally found a little restaurant and were happy to learn that our waiter spoke English and would be able to interpret the menu which was entirely in German. Basically, I had our waiter order for me. I just told him the things I didn’t like and let him surprise me! It was funny though when I asked for water…
Me: I’d like water, please.
Waiter: With gas?
Me: Um, with ice? (I’d been told you had to ask for ice, as Germans do not serve ice with any drinks)
Waiter: With gas.
Me: Um, with a glass?
Waiter: With GAS! (exclamation point because I’m sure he’s frustrated with me now even though he was smiling)
Me: Oh, with gas! No, no gas, flat please!
Carbonated water is the norm there. You have to specificially ask for regular, flat water. Here’s my first German meal–Rumpsteak with fried potatoes. It was delicious and I’m mad at myself for even trying to diet before going–what a waste! (those are carmalized onions on top)
After lunch we headed into Friedberg and Bad Nauheim–both quite a bit larger and so gorgeous! I wish we’d have spent more time in Bad Nauheim and I REALLY wish I would have taken out my camera, but it was about 3:30 or 4 when we got there and it was getting very dim outside. This is the town where Elvis was stationed and they are still quite devoted to him there.
When we got back to the hotel that night we were exhausted and excited to try to watch some Grey’s Anatomy online, but unfortunately you aren’t able to view streaming American television shows online if you’re in another country.
The next day Scott picked us up early to head to the reception site and church to map out the wedding day. The is the church Scott and Sonja got married in.
Do you think the door looks small? Jason had to duck to get in! Scott and Sonja got married in Sonja’s hometown of Heuchelheim where the Schultheiss family has lived since the middle ages. Her childhood home is just down the street and is over 200 years old. This church is 588 years old!
That afternoon we traveled to the American military post at Weisbaden to check it out. We’re leaning heavily on trying to make Germany our next home so we wanted to see what the post was like. After missing the turn for the autobahn and taking us straight into downtown Frankfurt traffic, we finally headed back and had dinner with all of Scott’s American guests at a pizza place in Florstadt.
The next day was the wedding, which I’ll save for another day. I haven’t even had a chance to really look over the 1300+ images I took. The one thing I do want to say about the wedding though is that it was one of the most love-filled, emotional weddings I’ve ever been to. I had to wipe the tears from my left eye as my right was trying to focus on the camera viewfinder! And the reception…well, let’s just say that the German people know how to party! I believe that Jason and I were the first to leave at 2:15 am!
Thanks for hanging in there for this LONG post. The trip was simply amazing and I’m so glad I didn’t say “no” out of fear of traveling abroad and shooting this wedding. One last thing I need to say is an enormous thank you to my “hot assistant”. I seriously could not have managed the traveling and the wedding without my husband, Jason.
And speaking of my “ladies man” husband, here we are at the end of the night on the dance floor. I was dutifully documenting the evening….my husband on the other hand, was dutifully pleasing the ladies on the dance floor. It was really hilarious and they were loving him! One of the girls grabbed my camera and forced me to get my picture taken…
I’m looking scary, I know. Give me a break–it was 2 am and I’d been at it ALL day! I said to Jason on the way out the door, “Man, I look beat!” He looked at me and said, “Nah. Well…maybe your hair.” Lovely.
Have a great weekend and please leave me a comment if you have something to add about Germany…or you just loved the novel I wrote!
((. I love the Germany pics you put on your blog so far!
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!
( Nov 27th, 2008 4:25 am)