Well what can I say, the Scottish and Germans know how to party and let's face it, when you put the two together you have a recipie for an amazing night!

The wedding day of Sara and Alex began with the sun shining in the village of Grotzingen with a beautiful ceremony. They did a great job combining the backgrounds of Sara and Alex as both the German and English languages were incorporated....well, Scottish English. After their vows and sharing of the rings, there was a cocktail hour outside the church where everyone congratulated the bride and groom. At this point, they passed out postcards with pictures of Sara and Alex which were to be attached to balloons. Everyone got to write on the postcard which was addressed back to Sara and Alex. There was then a balloon release where about 99 red balloons were sent into the sky.

After everyone enjoyed some of the bubbly and munchies, we all piled into the bus which was taking us to the Movenpick hotel near the Stuttgart airport. The ballroom looked beautiful and it did not take long for everyone to settle in with a glass of wine. Before the first course was served, Alex, Gerhard and Phyllis all said a few words. Then, one of the best wedding meals I have ever eaten began...well, sort of.

SIDE NOTE (paraphrase from Ryan):

The first thing that came out was a soup which was the only course to be served at the table (the rest was buffet). A menu was present which listed all of the food to be served however; at our table, it was all in German. Dani asked a girl at the table to translate what the soup was and she described it as a broth soup with a strip of pancake and ravioli. To her delight, she also said it was vegetarian. We all dug in and right as Dani took a bite of the noodle, her face turned to a questionable stare. Dani asked another, more fluent English speaker at the table what was in the ravioli and he described it as a mixture of cheese, vegetable, and minced meat....MEAT! The chewing stopped and everyone stared at the hilarious look on Dani's face as she pondered whether to swallow the bite or spit it out as gracefully as she could. With the approval of everyone at the table, the meat came out and about a half of glass of wine went down to try and flush the taste. We are in Germany after all so a nice taste of meat was bound to happen sooner or later...it was just funny as hell when it did.

So, after my little meat tasting debacle, the rest of the meal went off without a hitch. The spread of food was AMAZING...the best I have ever seen at a wedding. It began with a buffet of starters which were tasty enough to be considered the main. Smoked fish, meat carpaccio, marinated tomates & mozza, grilled veg, and countless cheeses and salads were all part of the spread. Then the mains arrived which included veg lasagne, roast beef, pork, perch, spaetzle, beans and veggies. If that wasn't enough, on top of the 3 tied wedding cake was apple studle, Panna Cotta and fruit. What I quite enjoyed about this wedding was there was no waiting for your table number to be called. It was intimate enough that every could help themselves to the food without standing in a long cue, but there were still plenty of guests to get the party started once the meal was over.

The band was fantastic and played a great mix of international music to satisfy the ears of all the guests present. They played countless sets which kept the party going until 2 in the morning. The best set was probably the last which featured mainly German music...Ryan and I did our best to sing along. One of my favourite parts of the night however was the live show that Alex and Sara's friends put on. They told the story of Sara and Alex through a choreographed dance. It began with the men running out in toga to represent Alex's time in Greece. They were then kicked from the stage by Scottish dancing laddies. Then another group of men came out dressed as German rugby players who battled with Canadian field hockey girls in a slow motion game. 2 people then came out with giant pictures of Sara and Alex on their heads to show the proposal and then a cardboard airplane flew everyone to Hawaii (honeymoon location). Then the entire group emerged wearing grass skirts and coconut bras (men included) as the dance concluded.

Another aspect of the night' entertainment featured a game of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" which forced Sara and Alex to answer questions in order to win their wedding gifts. There were 6 questions and they were able to "phone a friend". It was really neat because Alex's cousin had set up Skype with 3 people close to Sara and Alex who could not make it to the wedding. The first was Alex's cousin in Greece, then their friends in America (who were on video with their 10 day old baby), and finally Karen Dally from Canada!

All in all it was a great night and we are going to try and bring back some German traditions to the weddings we attend in Canada (mainly the partying until 4 in the morning). We are both very grateful that we were able to attend. Thank you also to all of the McFarlane's who contributed to the photobook...Sara and Alex loved it!