The Marriage Figaro, I mean Maeve and Wolfram

Hello patient followers of my strange musings. I just recently got the main theme to the Marriage of Figaro out of my head after hearing the rehearsal for an outdoor concert at Gendarmenmarkt over the weekend. It has been an unbelievably busy couple of weeks for all of us in the von Heynitz household. Although Maeve and Wolfram were already married last Fall in a small private ceremony in Berlin with their two children present, they publicly confirmed their nuptials the first weekend of July in a ceremony at the Schloss von Heynitz. Located in the village of, you guessed it, Heynitz (about 45 minutes outside of Dresden), the castle was originally a fortified tower, which was eventually added onto and transformed into a more comfortable residence. This is true of most castles; and the image of a fortification with high stone walls, a portcullis, and a moat, is representative of only the most formidable of fortifications from that time and would have been prohibitively expensive for anyone save kings and the wealthiest of nobles. Most were essentially stone houses with a heavy door, windows that could be secured, and a fortified tower which could be used as a refuge in case of sudden attack by another noble, or disgruntled villagers. When we were going over the order of events for the wedding, I couldn't help but joke, asking at what point the villagers would come on bent knee to pledge their everlasting loyalty to Wolfram and his progeny, which he thankfully found to be amusing--at least I was not thrown in the dungeon. 

Schloss von Heynitz, you can still make out what was once
a tower on the right hand side of the building.

Monday of the big week, I had the pleasure of meeting much of Maeve's family, as we had her mother as well as ten aunts and uncles over for dinner. Her family is originally from Limerick, in SW Ireland, but are now spread across the Emerald Isle. They are a wonderful group of people who reminded me of my own family--joking and teasing one another in a loving and playful manner. They toasted my mother for raising me well, and when I revealed that my father's mother was from Ireland, they let out a resounding cheer saying things like, "we knew you were alright." I also think I heard the word "grand" more times that night than I have collectively before in my life, it seems to be a favorite word of the Irish. That first night I found them to be difficult to understand at times, and they would occasionally drop a Gaelic word into conversation that would throw me for a loop, but by the time the weekend came I could understand them all quite well, and found even I was dropping into an Irish accent at times. I now have many places to stay for free in Ireland "when and not if" I come. Wolfram also seemed to really enjoy their company; the big family experience is somewhat foreign to him because he does not have much extended family due to the devastating effects of The War.

After going to Heynitz to ensure that everything was prepared for the big day, we spent Friday night in a 5 star hotel in Dresden, Hotel Taschenbergpalais Kempinski. It is a beautiful building in the heart of the city, located across from the Dresden castle and Zwinger, famous for their elegant architecture. Rainy weather prevented me from getting any good pictures of the buildings, but they can be easily Googled. Oddly enough, it had a bar tastefully decorated in the theme of the Old West, named after 19th-century German author Karl May, who wrote adventure stories mostly set in the American West that inspired the German's fascination with the subject. In fact, many Western films were made in both West and East Germany during the 60' and 70's, enjoying great popularity. Europeans seem to interpret these stories through a medieval lens, equating cowboys to knights, which is not entirely inaccurate as the Middle Ages were also a time of migration and settlement across Europe. 

Saturday we headed to Heynitz on an unfortunately dreary day, especially considering that the weekend was flanked by warm and sunny weather, but rain is supposed to be a good omen, is it not? Or at least that's what they've been telling disappointed brides for centuries. Everyone gathered in the chapel of Schloss von Heynitz while we were preparing in an upper room. It was my job to dress the children, keep them clean, and to try to ensure they were in the best of moods to avoid any meltdowns during the ceremony. Caiomhe was in a little white dress with flowers and Daire in a pair of lederhosen belonging to his father. When wearing them Daire is almost indistinguishable from pictures of his father as a child. I also found myself inadvertently responsible for tending to the nervous bride in the time before her big moment, ensuring her all would go well and that everyone would marvel at how beautiful she was. Maeve handled everything with grace and composure. "Wedding" in German is "die Hochzeit" which literally translates to "the high time" which to me has the ring of a western-style showdown at high noon. 

I even had a role to play in the ceremony, as my entrance before the hundred or so attendees was the signal for the music to change and the ceremony to begin..no pressure. Wolfram first entered carrying Caoimhe, and then handed her off to me. Then Maeve entered being escorted by Daire in his little lederhosen. He seemed to grasp the situation, and conducted himself in a serious manner with as resolute an expression on his face as a two year old is capable of. He then sat down next to me in the front and maintained his composure throughout the ceremony, holding his little bouquet and sitting still. Caiomhe was slightly more animated, tearing into her bouquet like a hungry little rabbit who I was not able to prevent from eating some of the rose pedals. A few minutes later, she vomited just a little bit on my leg. It happened so quickly that at first I did not realize what had occurred, and then was in such disbelief that I pretended it did not happen. Many of the guests did notice, and told me at the reception how impressed they were by my handling of the children, and the "incident." The ceremony included reading in both English and German, and the telling of a story centered around a song. As a teenager, Maeve spent a few years in Vienna. One night after being out at a bar with some friends, she took a cab home and a song that played on the radio struck a chord with her. The next day, the only line she could clearly remember was "At the age of 37, she realized she would never ride through the streets of Paris in a sports car with the warm wind in her hair." For years, she asked friends if they had heard of the song but no one could help her. More years went by, and while working at the Irish embassy in Tel Aviv, she met Wolfram. On their third date, she commented on how she had never been to Paris, to which Wolfram responded, "didn't you ever want to ride in a sports car with the warm wind in your hair?"

Doors are a good way to determine how old
a building is. Daire is only 2 and he is nearly
half as tall as this door in an upper room of
Schloss von Heynitz.

After a short champagne reception, most of the guests went back to Dresden to change into their clothing for the main reception, while we headed to Reichstädt, to a Schloss that belongs to the cousins of Wolfram where the party would be and where we and those with children would be staying. The attire for the ceremony had been more casual, sport coats and ties for the men, dresses for the ladies. Wolfram and many of the men had on tuxedos for the reception, and more formal gowns for the ladies, Maeve's being a flowing white dress that evoked Marilyn Monroe. I myself wore a black suit, a white shirt with a button down collar, and a pink paisley tie to match Caoimhe's little pink dress. Daire had a little black suit with a white shirt, but was stylishly dressed down with no tie and a new pair of little black Chuck Taylor low-tops. Although I got a big-boy meal, I was responsible for controlling the kids table in the "hunting room" that adjoined the main ballroom. It was similar to what I imagine the barbarians' feast following the sack of Rome must have been like. I thankfully had the help of Wolfram's 13 year old niece in keeping the little bastards, I mean darlings, from killing each other or tearing the centuries old hunting trophies off the walls. Thankfully, my two little angels were the best behaved children in attendance, and did their Kurt proud. Of course, just minutes before my main course of good Irish lamb arrived, Daire pooped himself and Caiomhe was just plain pooped, so I had to bring them to bed, and tell the servers to put my plate in the oven. Equipped with a walky-talky in my coat pocket, I returned 30 minutes later to eat my dinner and watch the first dance, a Waltz. This was followed by a Ceilidh, a traditional Irish dance that appears to be the predecessor of an American hoe-down or do-si-do, which I did get a chance to take part in. The reception was great fun, they had a multinational band from Berlin that does covers of songs in a sort of bluegrass interpretation, and they did a wonderful job. The party went late into the night with people dancing and clapping. At a couple of points during the night, some of Maeve's aunts told me, "if I were forty years younger I'd just run away with yea." They sure know how to make a guy feel special. 

The next day Maeve and Wolfram hosted a brunch in Dresden where they had the chance to say goodbye to everyone, but by this time the children had had enough of parties and such, and were both very cranky, which negatively  affected the disposition of their slightly hungover and majorly exhausted Au Pair. We returned to Berlin that afternoon and Maeve and Wolfram prepared for a short honeymoon in Paris, where Maeve would finally get to ride through the streets in a sports car with the warm wind in her hair. I had the help of Maeve's wonderful mother and her partner for three of the four days, and was treated to some good home-cooking and the kind of embarrassing story telling that mothers are so adept at. The children got along much better in the absence of their parents than any of us expected, but we were all very glad when Mommy and Daddy came home, and life returned to normal. 


I am sorry that I do not have more pictures of the ceremony and reception, but I was simply too busy to take as many pictures as I would have liked, and more I will put up a few more in the next blog once we get the pictures back from the photographer. Thank you all for tuning in and again sorry for the long break since the last blog.