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Family
& Friends: Claudia's and Ruben's Wedding
It
was a wonderful wedding. Of course it all started out with visits
with Luise, Omi (Juergen's mother) and the rest of the family after
we cyphoned through all our mail that our friend Christa had painstakingly
organized (mail for Juergen, mail for me, separated by category
- statements from this bank, statements from that bank, bills, correspondence,
magazines, again organized by type - sailing, photography, travel).
Christa is unbelievable. We don't know what we would do without
her.
Andrea
and Sander - the couple to be married in August, i.e., another trip
for us to the US... - stayed with us on Friday night. They arrived
quite late. We were jetlagged, but by the time they were finally
there and I served supper (just a mixed salad with shrimp and sourdough
bread), our spirits revived... We had a wonderful time with them,
since we really don't get to see them very often. On Saturday morning,
we had to rush a little as we were afraid of vacation traffic -
all an unjustified concern, so we arrived at the Village Hall of
Upper Grandview on Hudson, where Claudia and Ruben were to get married,
way too early. We had even checked into our hotel (we all decided
to stay in the hotel where Luise had arranged a breakfast for the
day after the wedding). Brad (Silvi's husband and Andrea's dad)
was already there organizing some of the guests that were also already
waiting. It was a cheerful crowd, and as it got larger, we motioned
them to enter the actual hall for the ceremony.
The
justice of the peace was a nice man who gave a very good speech
about the meaning of the ring (did you know why we generally exchange
rings on our wedding day?), about life and relationships. Joel,
a friend of Robert's (who had also come from Alaska to witness his
sister's wedding). played the piano board with some general music
as the groom's and the bride's mothers were escorted to their seats
(by their respective sons / grandsons), then came the wedding march.
Sofia
(you might remember her from last year's description) was the flower
girl, all dressed up in an eggshell colored long dress, white gloves
- she looked adorable. Of course, she padded Claudia's way into
the wedding hall with white rose petals. Sid (Claudia's dad) escorted
her in, lifted her veil very carefully and shook hands with Ruben.
Then the actual ceremony began. As I said, it was all very beautiful
and a little emotional. I saw tears in Omi's and many other people's
eyes.
Well,
here are some pictures for you to enjoy... (most were taken by Gitti, some by various friends of Claudia and Ruben's, some by Hilary Duffy, the official wedding photographer) ..
Click
on foto to expand!
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In
Front of Village Hall
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Claudia
and Ruben on porch of Village Hall
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Claudia
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Bride
and groom with Luise, Sid, Omi Bride and Groom with Ruben's
sons
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Claudia
and Ruben with the Boys
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Claudia
and Sid with the Flower Girl arriving
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Sid
giving his Speech at the Wedding Dinner
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Luise
and Kelsie at the Wedding Dinner
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Luise
with Lobsters
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Up
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