Hey, all together! Yesterday I was blessed with being engaged for singing at a very special wedding at this place

It is Mainau Island in Germany located at Lake Constance. I already wrote about it here

A wonderful place for a wedding, isn’t it? Now imagine it with the darkest sky, storm, heavy rainfall, thunder, and lightning! That was how the organist and I were welcomed when we arrived at 1:30 pm yesterday! We had to walk a bit from the parking lot to the church and we did some kind of island hopping between puddles and creeks. Although I wore a raincoat and had an umbrella I was totally wet when we finally arrived at the church. But there was nothing like warming up in there… I left my coat on and was still shaking. But it did not really matter anymore. We were there and the organ worked (at least most of it). The organist went through the pieces he had to play and then we checked the songs I was supposed to sing. The tourists below the gallery were our test audience and they seemed to like what they heard.

Here are some pics from the inside when the sun shines (the bridal couple took the pics three days before).

After an hour, we were done and went next to the church into the castle cafe. I had a tea (no coffee because of my voice) and an apple strudel with vanilla sauce. I totally enjoyed it! I was so relaxed and just excited about that wedding and singing at that place.

At 3:40 pm we went back to the church which already was overcrowded. As I learned later there were 153 guests. But I knew that the church only holds 120 people.

It was a majestic moment when the organ played (this is only a random pick from YouTube)

The first song I sang was Hallelujah in the following version but with English lyrics. For the third verse, I wrote new lyrics to fit a wedding!

After they exchanged the rings it was planned to sing A Thousand Years but what happened? We were about to start with the song when the priest just went over to the intercessions. The organist and I looked at each other thinking we are in the wrong movie. We immediately decided to skip the next song and instead perform A Thousand Years since it was THE song the couple wished for. I am so happy we did because they told us later how happy they were that we just made it happen anyway!

The song we skipped was the Ave Verum by Mozart. A shame, because I love to sing it in full classic style. But there was still the Ave Maria from Bach which was planned during the communion and I enjoyed singing it even more. It all went not only well, it went better than perfect! My voice was absolutely top and it was a joy to sing!

The bride is from Brazil and therefore, the wedding was held in two languages. That extended everything to two hours. It was the longest wedding I ever joined. But it was beautiful and touching and close to the end, the sun shone through the church windows.

It was about 6:15 pm when the organist and I left the church as the last ones. The sun was already gone again but it was dry and look what was standing in front of the castle:

I hurried when I took the picture in order to get inside to congratulate them. That’s why I did not notice the couple in front of the horses. Isn’t that cute 😍

It was an amazing wedding, a fantastic experience, and an honor that I was engaged! After I had a glass of …. juice and a talk with a few people I knew, I went back to my car. At about 7 pm I drove back home …. through pouring rain again!

In Love and Light