Christian and I got married in August 2000 and not just once, but twice!! Why so, you might ask yourself? Because of different rules and laws to getting married in Germany and Iceland. In Germany you have to marry at a registration office and only after that, you can marry in a church, if you want. It´s not enough to just get married in a church, as it is in Iceland. We asked around here in Germany whether a marriage made in Iceland would be accepted or not. That was possible, but we would have had to go to the registration office afterwards to rule everything. But we could also do it differently, that is, at first in a registration office here in Germany and then in a church in Iceland. So we decided to do it like that, that also enabled our families to attend our wedding in some way, even if the couldn´t come to the other country. That way, we got to enjoy our wedding day two times, in Germany on August 4th, 2000 and then on August 12th 2000 in the Kópavogskirkja (a very beautiful church) home in Iceland. August 12th will in the future be the day which we celebrate as our wedding day, because getting married in a church in front of God and men was really the important part for us and not necessarily being registered as married with the german State... :))
Our marriage in Sittensen, Christian´s hometown, on August 4th, was lovely. The man who married us was terrific and didn´t only marry us but also gave us good advice about how to keep a marriage fresh and alive... Respect each other, give each other space, love and help each other.... We´ve got wonderful memories from that little ceremony. (Except I was so nervous, my new signature with "Reith" looked terrible...) Our witnesses were Christian´s brother, Thomas and one of my best friends, Alexandra (who was really excited about being a witness at a wedding :)) ) Christian´s family and many good friends of ours were there. After the "ceremony" we had a wonderful little party at Christian´s parents´ house, we´de rented a tent, which was just the right size for our little group of about 30 people. The weather was wonderful and we really enjoyed our day.
Our "real" wedding day was wonderful!! We really did get the weather we ordered, because even if it was raining cats and dogs at noon as I came home with my mother and grandmother from the hairdressers, we had wonderful weather, sunshine and blue sky as we were leaving for church about 1:30 p.m. The Kópavogur church is a dream, we both knew excactly what church we wanted to get married in as soon as we walked in there to have a look last summer!!The ceremony itself was wonderful, my 3 little brothers were there for me instead of bridesmaids and they did a wonderful job!! Bernharður carried the rings and took his job very seriously! The 3 of them and my father looked very handsome in their Icelandic national suits! We were all very nervous as we walked down the floor, but it all went well and I reached Christian and his father, who were waiting for us at the altar without tripping or doing something silly... ;)) Our priester, a woman called Guðný Hallgrímsdóttir was absolutely great!! So warm and caring!! We couldn´t have had a better one. The ceremony went well, even if we both had a very bad cold and I had lost my voice, so you could hardly hear my "I do"!! Directly after the ceremony was over and everyone had spoken out their good wishes for us, we went to a photographer´s. We were driven there in a limosine by a good friend of my father. That was his wedding present for us... we were driven everywhere that day by him in that wonderful limosine!! It almost felt like being in the movies and I really felt so spoiled!! We came back about an hour later and went directly to the place our wedding party was held and where our guests were waiting. It was a wonderful, though small, party. We had about 60 guests. The whole weddingday was a dream come true and we enjoyed every second of it!! In the evening, as the party was over, we were driven to the Radisson SAS Hotel, where my grandparents and my fathers siblings had given us a night in the bridal suite. It was so terrific, a wonderful hotel!! All of those things made our day even more unforgettable and we´d like to say thank you to all the people who made it that way!!