Tobias & Kisha (Marburg, Germany)
I was in Germany together with Tobias & Kisha to document their wedding. The wedding was held in the beautiful town of Marburg. Aside from being able to document a wedding in a totally new place and surroundings, this wedding has provided me with an opportunity to learn more about wedding customaries of different people and culture notably Germans and Indians. Like weddings in Singapore, German weddings have their own traditions too, some of which are really unique.
Marburg is a town with a population of just 77,000 located in Hessen, Germany. Marburg is something of a “university town” as the world’s oldest Protestant university, the Phillips-University (Universitätsstadt Marburg) is located here. I was told that there were some 20,000 students in Marburg.
Like most small towns, Marburg is best explored on foot. One of the most distinctive feature of Marburg is the abundance of half-timbered houses and cobble-stone pathways. A stroll in this little town is truly enchanting but at the same time tiring as the town is located on a hill slope. So, you’ll be doing a lot of climbing and getting good exercise in the process.
The wedding ceremony was held at St. Marjen Church
This is a very well known wedding tradition among German folks. The bride and groom have to cut a hole in the shape of a heart. The groom will cut one half and the bride would do the other. Usually, there’ll be some sort of a “competition” to see who completes their half (of the heart) first. In this instance, Tobias completed his half first, much to the dismay of Kisha.
This wedding also gave me the opportunity to learn more about Indian sari as I’ve always been fascinated with them. It took about 15-20 minutes with 3 helpers to dress Kisha up in her traditional Indian sari. I was told that a native Indian lady in India can do this under 5 minutes.
This is another German tradition. Every guests would write a message for the couple and will place them in this wooden box. The box will then be sealed and the couple can only open it 7 years from now. So, it’s something like a time capsule.
This is yet another German tradition. There are 7 items in this basket, each item representing every passing year of their marriage. There is a significance for every item. I just can’t remember them all. I can’t help but notice that Germans seem to have this thing for number “7”. 7 items. 7 years. I need to ask Tobias.
A quote from Tobias’ dad, “This wedding has shown you the positive effects of globalization”
More photos of Tobias and Kisha can be seen at…
Online Gallery: http://www.thegaleria.com/weddings/tobias_kisha/gal_blg_mar.php