The ceremony took place in Minden, at the Prussian Museum ... that's right, in a MUSEUM! It was a lovely setting, and the "Standesbeamtin" (kind of a German justice-of-the-peace) did a fine job.

Tamara was often "distracted"....

outdoor photo session

Emely next to her greatgrandma, Anneliese....

Melitta and her greatgranddaugter, Tamara

And then the signing of the papers by the couple and their witnesses.... the two grandmothers! The lady preciding over the event commented on the fact that it was the first time to have 90 year olds as witniesses and she found it a very nice gesture.

pictures with the mom's, including me, I'll post when I get some copies.... my camera battery was running low and I'm not on any pictures taken with MY camera.

After the photo session indoors, we again went outside where friends and family members of Sven had some surprises waiting. They held up a sheet with a red heart that the two were to cut out, then Sven picked up Regina and walked through the cutout heart with her (substitute for a "threshold", lol).

Then they had heart shaped balloons with cards on them. They couple and the kids wrote down wishes on the cards and set them free.

Then off we went to the reception........