The hills are alive with our italian photographer...er....

We had a really nice meeting with our photographer last week - I wanted Mr. Schnitzel to definitely meet him and discuss some finer points of timing, etc. I had forgotten, though, what a nice guy he is! Fun all around…

We had a cappuccino at a local bakery while I fired off questions (well, I say "fired off" because it appeared I was the only one WITH questions. Mr. S just wanted to know "how many pictures do you take on average")

Mostly, we talked about doing portrait shots before the ceremony. I definitely don't want to miss any portion of our celebration (my dad can certainly vouch for this stubborn component of my personality - I was the one who wanted to sit in the stadium alone in the rain to watch the game my team was losing 47-0 until the end - rascal). So, clearly, we will have to do these shots before. Which I am totally fine with - more wedding fun!

The plan is to get dressed and pretty (the photog will of course document this process, too. In fact, I can't wait to see my ladies getting their hair done by the german-speaking-only hairdresser. YAY) and meet up with the boys (oohs and ahhhs all around) to drive to the "Buchenberg".

You see, the town is called "Buchenberg" but so is the big giant hill in the middle of it. I dare venture that the town is, in fact, named after said hill! "Berg" means, in German, "mountain" or "hill" or other raised mound of earth. This is a pretty big hill - I hope I can climb it without getting my dress all dusty and dirty. But, as my MOH pointed out, I will have 5 ladies AND and man of honor to lift my dress!

The boys will be there too, of course, which should be nice since the ladies and the guys may not have much time to hang out (or even meet) beforehand. We will then frolic and do "the hills are alive" with an amazing (hopefully CRYSTAL CLEAR) mountain backdrop. YAY.  So my dreams of the ceremony up there aren't coming true, but at least we will have the idyllic photos to prove it.

Photographer choice #1

So I met with Andrea Basile, a potential photographer, on Tuesday. I have to say we almost completely dismissed him because his price quote was SO low and his website was not particularly professional. But I left him on my excel table and when Mr. Schnitzel and I sat down to discuss photographers we looked at everyone's sample photos without looking at the prices and we actually liked his the best! So we scheduled a meeting and actually, his work is fantastic. Andrea is Italian and started out as a stock photo photographer, but after meeting his German wife on a photography trip to Argentina, the two of them decided to get married and moved to Germany! She begged him to find a job that didn't send him all over the world, so he got into the world of wedding photography.

Andrea's photos have a natural touch with professional flair, and he is just such a friendly, down to earth guy that I was tempted to say yes on the spot! But, for the sake of comparison, we are meeting with our second choice photographer next week. If we are happy with either of them, we will make a decision then.

I particularly like this wedding that he shot: he says he took these photos of the couple as they were walking from the church to the reception site, with all their guests. The photos are portraits, but they are so natural because they are walking and enjoying ? and of course the rustic look of the Italian streets doesn't hurt!What do you think?

Photographer meeting

I am meeting with another option for a photographer tomorrow: Andrea Basile, who is actually Italian (neat!) and whose photos we really like. I seem to be attracted to vendors who maybe don't have the most polished web presence but seem to be really talented at what they do. Maybe it's that "help the underdog" syndrome in me. We also picked Oliver partially because his website wasn't as "froo froo" as the others.

Andrea seems to have a very good quality camera and a nice photographic eye. I am excited to see a larger selection of his wedding photography tomorrow when we get together.

On another note, Wednesday is my birthday! (hooray, last non-married birthday!) and then Oktoberfest begins on Saturday! so I may be a little less bloggy in the upcoming weeks. Our plan is to have our friends who are visiting for Oktoberfest take some Engagement shots of Mr. Schnitzel and I at Oktoberfest in our Bavarian outfits ? if we like these enough, they will become Save the Date material, which we hope to print and send by the end of Oktober. For our Edelweiß-Bavarian wedding, it should be perfect!

Choosing the Big Wigs

We got a quote back from our preferred photographer and are strongly leaning towards taking her up on it. Kristen Speed is an American photographer living in Munich Germany. She shot my colleague's wedding and a got a strong recommendation from her, plus I like her style and the idea that she would be able to mix and mingle with the guests in ease. We are scouting out dates to do an engagement/couple shoot with her at the end of September, which should give us an even better idea of her style and give her a chance to get to know our personality as a couple. I'm very excited, and if you breeze her website you'll see that she seems to do a great job of capturing people, which is my biggest goal of the day.

The other "big wig" decision has been our officiant, because we would like to have a ceremony that is more festive than a German civil ceremony and we want to integrate some special, cross-cultural elements into the planning. Oliver looks like the perfect fit, especially considering that he just got back from doing a wedding in Tanzania at the foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro! Sounds like he is used to non-traditional ceremonies, and I can't wait to meet him and hear all his ideas.

I will be very happy to have these bigger decisions wrapped up early in the game because I know how fast good photographers and officiants book up – there are only so many Saturdays in the summer! I am hoping that this will free us up to make the little decisions with patience and also give me time to (ehem) write my Thesis! Just to think… a year from now I will be married and have my Masters!

In terms of planning…

There have been a few "advances" this week, most notably finding a photographer who I am interested in (still waiting for a price quote) and finding an officiant (aka free marrier) to do our non civil ceremony. They are tentative steps, but concrete ones, nonetheless. The next "big" planning step will be to meet with our venue next weekend to discuss big details, like potential meal plans, the possibility of doing the ceremony outside etc etc. I have to say, I am having a lot of fun.

Also, I toured a bunch of jewelers on my lunch break last week to scope out rings. I am not particularly enthused with the style of ring that is so popular at the moment in Germany, a sort of palladium grey plain thing with sharp edges… it's a bit too modern for me… and I am looking for something with a bit of embellishment to go with my beautiful sleek engagement ring . I found this pair that I like a lot:

I did find our great place with a guy who took the time to show me rings in all different metals in different cuts and weights. We decided that I will bring the boy back for a meeting together because, as the salesman claims "he can only make ring recommendations when he sees the couple in person". Just my brand of kooky :)

Another thing I would like to get done this week is to go to the Standesamt (civil marriage office) and find out what crazy forms and documents I will need to marry in Germany! I have heard rumors about a six month old-at-the-latest birth certificate (what's that about? I thought birth certificates were supposed to be…uh…from your birth!) so I am anxious to get started on that one.

Other "thoughts" that I have been letting float around are 1) décor/flowers (I have been saving an awful lots of photos, like this one ) 2) favor ideas and 3) possible ceremony configurations. All in all it's still "fuzzy" but that's the fun part.. scouting out all the ideas!!!