The Party

We were so very grateful for all of our friends and family that travelled from near and far to come to our wedding. We also understand the complexity of travel, and can appreciate those that were there 'in spirit'.

In short, it was a great party that we will never forget. It was hard to believe that those 13+ hours at Diergardt's went by so fast.


We really confused the waitstaff at Diergardt's when we decided to cut the cake with the American tradition, namely starting with the 2nd layer and saving the first layer for our 1st anniversary. In German tradition, the 1st layer is eaten first.

The wedding table, (l. to r.), Tante Ali, Rainer, Father Bill and Candy Houghton, Grandmother Lydia, and my dad Robert.

During the party, there is a 'segment' where games are played and poems can be read. Our friends and family came up with some great games. This one, above, we had a cooking contest: i had to cook a German dish (with stovetop), and Eva had to make an American dish (Hamburger) with a microwave. At the end, there was a panel of judges to determine who was the best cook.

Of course, the outcome was fixed and Eva won.

Not too sure what Joel is thinking about, but I love the pic.
Eva's parents.
Eva's mom and Lea.
Katja and Mareike.

The 'Ischen' posing for the camera.
As earlier mentioned, my dad doesn't smile for pictures. This is the second known picture of my dad smiling. This almost doesn't count because we didn't tell him we were taking the picture.

Needless to say, my parents also had a great time, and it was great to see them dancing, laughing, and having a great time.

Unfortunately, there was some bad news that followed our wedding Tanta Inge had been ill for quite some time and was in quite some pain even during the wedding.

However, in what I would call typical of the family that I married into, she and Uncle Charlie celebrated with the best of them, had a great time, and were always smiling. Uncle Charlie even apologized for leaving so early (somewhere between 1 and 2am nonetheless).

I believe this is the last picture of Tanta Inge before she passed away 7 weeks later, and one of my favorites.

My mother, my grandmother, and Candy Houghton. For me and Eva, it was a special honor to have my grandmother at our wedding. Growing up, my grandmother and I had spent countless hours talking about all sorts of things, and she had a very unique way of really understanding your position and giving advice without 'preaching'.

My grandmother Lydia was off and on sick the months prior to the wedding and thankfully was healthy enough to make the long flight. The family very much rallied behind her trip and supported here every step of the way.

I'm particularly thankful for the extended family and friends for making her feel so welcome.

I think it is a true mark of her 'being' that she was able to make such an impression on so many people at our wedding in such a short time. So many people came to us during the wedding and the party and just said that my grandmother was 'so cool!'.

My grandmother passed away a few months after the wedding.

Eva and Jo (not to be confused with any of the American guests). Yes, Jo is Canadian.

Kerstin, Heinz, Rene, and Tanja.

The bridesmades posing for the camera.

Suzi is really a master of all disguises. Earlier, you saw her with her Jennifer Anniston look. Here, Suzi is incognito as a Turkish peasant.

Moritz making sure that no one was without something to drink.

(Technically, this picture happened before the wedding during the 'rehersal dessert'), but I thought it fit best here.

Klopfentanz. I have to put on house slippers, put on a sleeping cap, have a block of wood tied to my ankle, and have a pipe in hand. Eva has a baby and an apron. This is one of the traditional wedding dances of the region.

I don't know who took this picture, but we appreciate it tremendously! Captured during the 'throwing of the bouquet', the bouquet is actually still in the air.

Also note the stark contrast of girls that are fully prepared with their hands up and those girls that have their hands down.

Every good wedding and party must come to an end. Christina had the idea to light some candles and to have everyone get in a circle, hand in hand.

It was a great end to a great wedding and an awesome party - something that we will never forget. There are too many good memories to post them all - they will have to remain in our hearts. We thank everyone again for sharing this great event with us.

'Bridge over Troubled Water' was played as we were all hand in hand, together, in this candlelit room, and is a very near and dear song for both of us.

The Church Wedding

We had found a cute little church near Hattingen in which to get married, and it fit perfectly our criteria: small, old, cute, and welcoming. The parish was very accepting of our unique situation: A German Catholic marring an American Episcopalian in Germany in a Protestant church, where we were bringing our own American Episcopalian priest and not using the local pastor of the church.

Needless to say, it was a complexity in the organization.


Here are my groomsmen in our 'Abby Road' pose.


Joel, Hunter, and Romaniello as 'The Alternates'. They were willing to step up as groomsmen should there be a groomsmen injury in the few minutes before the wedding.

The bridesmaids, the groomsmen, and the direct family, from above in the church.

Our grandparents.
The 'moms and dads' picture.

The groomsmen, the bridesmaids, and us. The picture worked out well in the stairway of the church, but Babsi looks way too much like a linebacker here. Due to the tight space, the picture is somehow distorted.

Babsi and BW during the readings.

Proud Papa escorting his daughter down the line.

My father during one of his readings.

Standesamt (The Civil Ceremony)

Germans can get married twice: Standesamt and Church. The Standesamt wedding is required whereby the church wedding is optional. In the eyes of the German state, we were married at our Standesamt ceremony.

It was cold, but very sunny...almost too sunny.

I was a nervous wreck before the wedding. While my German was sufficient and improving each day, I had to prove to the Standesamt that I could speak and understand German. If this was not the case, we would have to have (and pay for) a translator. So, the nerves of getting married was shadowed by my fear that before the ceremony, they would decide that my German was not good enough and force us to get a translator, which would literally cancel the wedding by means of a delay in the Standesamt wedding.

As a side note, there were some papers that we both signed. I did not read these nor do I know what the content was. Eva jokes, at least I hope she's joking, that it signs everything over to her in the event of a divorce.

Us and Eva's parents.
The complete gang, including my grandmother on the front row.

Both families together.

My parents and grandmother.

The Wedding - the week prior

The next few posts will be wedding related. It was really hard to pare down the almost 3000 pictures that we have of the wedding (many were sent to us by you). I'm sure I'll miss a few key pictures, but I hope I've got the essentials. We were fortunate to have many friends and family come from great distances to our wedding. Luckily for us, many of our American friends came a few days early, and we took a mini vacation together.


A pic of us on a short picture break on the way to Munich.

Here's the gang at the Hofbräuhaus in Munich. From left to right: Rob, Eva, BW, Anita, Ize, Stacy, and Justin.

This is the last known picture of Justin smiling for the next 24 hours. Everyone did a great job: they landed in Frankfurt, we roadtripped to Munich (4+ hours), had dinner at the Hofbräuhaus. Of course, I asked the gang if they wanted a nightcap. 3 said yes.

It was one liter too many for Justin. He got one of his signature hangovers the next day, and he didn't make it to Neuschwanstein the next day with us. Eva, to this day, hasn't forgiven me.

The guy on the left is BW's 'friend' Tony. Long story...but those of you that were there will remember.

A picture of Ize, myself, and BW with Neuschwanstein in the background. If it looks familiar, it is the castle that Walt Disney used to model his 'Magic Kingdom'.

Oktoberfest 2003

Completely by chance, my return to Germany after a business trip to the States was via Munich and during Oktoberfest. I convinced Eva to pick me up at the airport, and to come with me to Oktoberfest.

After being awake for almost 30 hours (I can't sleep on planes), I had my first beer around 10am. It was my only beer.


Despite complete exhaustion ;-) I suffered through the liter of beer and managed to smile. This trip was also wedding related: shortly thereafter, we bought the Oktoberfest Steins for my groomsmen.

Shortly after that, it started raining (picture carrying 6 steins, in a cardboard box, in pouring rain).

Straßburg visit - September 2003

In September 2003, we visited Suzi for the weekend in Straßburg - technically France, but very German. Below is a picture of Eva and Jennifer Anniston (er...Suzi posing like Jennifer Anniston).


For those of you that were at our wedding, the picture below was on the Wedding CD that each of you got. It is on one of the Straßburg overlooks and remains one of our favorite pictures. It was a great day and a great visit.


One of the days we were there, we went on a long hike, and there was a winery at the top. It was very cool hiking through all of the vineyards and even better having wine at the top. Below, Suzi after a few glasses of wine. The 'pizza' on the table is a speciality of the region.




Here's the view from the winery. It was a georgeous day!

Eva basking in the sun.

Weekend with the Inlaws in Bayrischzell

As our Christmas gift to Eva's parents the year before (2002), we went to the German Alps for a weekend to do some hiking and relaxing. Below, the view from the top of the mountain (the building is a biergarten!)

A cute pic of the valley where we spent the night.
On the long hike down, there were a lot of 'free-grazing' cattle. There were no fences, and you could literally get right up next to them. All the cows have bells, so on the hike down, you constantly heard these bells klinging and klanking.

My inlaws posing for one of the valley pictures.

Eva and I in front of the same valley and lake.

Don't ever give me flowers again!

This is the reaction I get when I give surprise Eva with flowers.

The truth is: I don't give Eva enough flowers.

(I really love this blog stuff...as the writer, I don't have to give the real story as to why Eva was so repulsed by the flowers, but it probably had something to do with her pic being taken in her 'relax' clothes with her hair being undone.)

Mirja and Thomas visit

Mirja and Thomas came down from Hamburg for the weekend to visit. Here is us at Entla's Keller having a beverage.

Unfortunately, no Sculpture Garden pictures.

Dad's surprise 60th

We really threw my dad a curve when we showed up in Las Vegas for his 60th birthday party. For weeks, we had been telling him that we'd love to go, but being a new employee to Siemens in Germany, I couldn't take vacation so soon (it was only my 2nd month). I'll never forget the smile on his face when he saw us.

Eva and I flew in the night before, snuck up to our hotel room, and waited until mom gave us the signal to come to the pool in the morning. Dad was beside himself when he saw us.


Above is his custom Chicago Cubs jersey. Check out that smile! Since my dad never smiles for pictures, this one is a rare Gould pic.

Eva's suntanlotion art. During this trip, Eva got to meet our priest for our wedding (he's a family friend and was in Vegas celebrating with my day) and we got to check out Tuxes (sort of). The place we went to kept on asking us 'what time' we were getting married. They were disappointed when we said 'in 2 months'.