High Profile Meetings

I have been waiting to do this post for a while, simply because we had a bunch of meetings with various VIPS (Officiant, Venue, Bands) and I wanted to be able to tell the WHOLE story. So here it comes!

MEETING # 1: OFFICIANT

It was high time to meet with our officiant. We had actually been trying to plan a meeting since December, but things kept popping up. So finally we just made an appointment for last weekend. The morning of the meeting, Mr. Schnitzel and I sat Sunday-cozy on the couch and I hauled out all the papers that we had been given at our first officiant meeting, along with the song list I had been compiling since then. We literally hadn’t looked at any of this stuff yet (OOPS) but I was confident that we would sift through it. So we went through the ceremony schedule, dotted down our questions, and listened to lots and lots of music.

(ok, this is what really happened. I read the ceremony schedule and he paid attention for the first 15 minutes. Then he turned on the TV. I started to play potential music selections and babble on about when we could play this and that and wouldn’t it be romantic if we played this blah blah and starting getting the “uhhuh” and “mmhmm”. Fairly soon, I found myself alone with my laptop. Well, not REALLY alone, but Mr. Schnitzel had completely arrived in TV land and wasn’t coming back anytime soon. So I started to whine and he refocused and declared that we were NOT prepared for the meeting. I assured him that it would be worth it anyways, and he sulked. This really wasn’t a fight, just a bit of grumpiness on his part)


Right, so fast forward to Oliver’s arrival. He is a really nice man. Also a really LARGE man. He will loom importance in front of all our guests, let me tell you. Anyways, we invited him in and served coffee, etc. Our house was spic and span due to the rapid cleaning we had done 30 minutes before he arrived. Mr. Schnitzel actually suggested hiding the beer crates on the balcony, and I laughed. “cmon! he’s not even religious: he’s a philosopher! philosphers like beer!!!”. so we talked about the ceremony, the music, the processional, the speeches, the readings… etc etc. We talked about a LOT. Here’s some of what we decided:

we hope our ceremony will look something like this

 • The processional will be “traditional American” – now my job is to figure out what that means. We’re thinking: parents are brought in first, cept for my dad. Then, Best man and Groom enter front. Bridesmaids and Groomsmen in pairs down the aisle, VIPS last (MOHs). Flower girl prances in scattering petals. Then, cue bridey music, my dad walks me up the aisle. We meet at the front and turn to face everyone (this is a BIG thing for me – I want to FACE everyone!!! none of this german backs to you nonsense).

• Bridesmaids and Groomsmen will be standing around us, btw.

• Then, the welcome speech will begin (by Oliver), with parts in all three languages (polish, german, English) He will tell our story (there will be a translation in the program).

• Next, readings in Polish, German and English by friends and family. A total of 3 (one for each language) with interludes of guitar music by my dad (and with a little luck, fiddle music by my uncle!)

• Then comes the biggie! The speech, which we must “inspire” by choosing a quote that we like about love or marriage etc… This will also be translated in our program

• then come the vows. We will be saying them in BOTH languages (engl. and germany), alternating sentences. First a nice dedication statement, self written, to each other. then exchange of rings (rings will be carried by MOH & Best Man).

• Next comes the “symbolic” part.. some sort of ceremony (sand/tree/candle… we have to decide)

• TADA!! Married! Happy music, proceed back down the aisle with happy fanfare and something being tossed, shake a thousand hands and hug and be happy, walk up the hill to the prosecco toast!

WOOOHOOO
to be continued with: meeting # 2, THE VENUE (duh duh duh)