At the end of May, Tom and I went to our first wedding over here. We met the couple (Pascal and Laetitia) through the church and though we haven't spent a lot of time with them, really enjoy their company when we do. It was fun to go to a wedding here and see the differences and similarities to weddings back home. We were told multiple times that this wasn't a typical Swiss wedding, but since it's my only frame of reference, I'll just have to go with it.Differences
1) The wedding was an all day event. We arrived at 10am and didn't leave until 8pm. We had a big lunch around noon and then different dinner stations in the evening. You had the option of bread and cheese, crepes, and chocolate fondue with fruit!
2) The wedding was in 3! languages at various times. French and German to accommodate the different native tongues of most of the guests and English during the ceremony because that is what the pastor spoke.
3) At the end they did the customary Swiss balloon release at the end of the day. Everyone wrote something on a little card with their address on the back which they tied to the balloon string. Then everyone released the balloons. The idea is that if someone finds the balloon, they will send you the card back. A few days later we got a card from Lucern - it was from the balloon Tom released - neat!
4) The ceremony was pretty traditional (from my point of view), but then after lunch there was another service of sorts. A different man preached (in French with translation into German) and then different people came up and sang or did skits or read poems for the couple.
Overall it was a fun day and we felt honored to be a part of it. Best wishes to the newlyweds!
At the wedding (which was held outside) with the Alps and Lake Geneva in the background.
On our ride home (about 40 minutes) we got to see a beautiful rainbow. It went across the whole sky and lasted the entire drive. Along with that, the sunlight was lighting up the landscape brillantly. It was gorgous - thanks, God!
Reverting to our childhoods.