Two weeks ago, I flew 25 hours to Munich, Germany, (Marienplatz above) to witness and celebrate Teresa's civil and religious wedding ceremonies to Christoph. The flight actually wasn't too bad. I didn't even listen to all the episodes of "This American Life" that I had on my iShuffle, that coincidentally, I won on my last trip to see Teresa in Switzerland. Teresa is an American and a friend from college.  Christoph is a German.  German and possibly Swiss law require that a civil ceremony be performed separately from the optional religious ceremony.

The morning of the civil ceremony, Teresa dressed up in her finest Dirndl, and we all hopped a train into Munich. There we went to one of the Augustiner Beer Halls for a brunch of Weisswurst, pretzels and beer.

After a tasty meal, we drove back to Gunding (Christoph's home town) where they were married in German by the Mayor. After the ceremony, we toasted the happy couple with champagne and headed to a nearby golf course for a gourmet, intimate meal. Most of the guests at this ceremony were Christoph's relatives and most wore traditional Dirndl's and Lederhosen like the happy couple.

For any car buffs out there, this is some fancy BMW Christoph's brother, an engineer for BMW, rented to chauffer them around in on their wedding day. Pictures from Switzerland, site of the religious ceremony, coming soon.