And one lovely afternoon in September, Jana got married...

... and, wow, did she look beautiful!  I should start by saying that the excitement in the weeks leading up had been nearly palpable, since everyone had been waiting for this day for over a year.  For the lucky person sharing Office 251 with Jana (aka me), it had been a year hearing about dinner courses and nametags, flowers, annoying guests who don't know how to properly RSVP, yes or no to a veil and Mystic Tanning (we went together - it smells strange but it works).  All of this, without Jana ever turning into Bridezilla!  I have no idea how she did it, and pulled off a flawless wedding, but she did.  And so after one and a half years of feverish planning and growing out her hair, Jana finally walked down the aisle.

The church wedding took place in our favorite Swiss village, Dittingen, in the old church there.  It was small but charming and sat perched upon a hill in the middle of the village, just up the road from where most likely 90% of the world's Jermanns live.  I must admit that part of me was feeling the frenzy primarily because I'd been given the honor of singing the processional song as Jana came down the aisle with her dad - quite the responsibility for someone who has a manic fear of failure.

(Kudos to Pischel-pix.ch)

But...it went!  And it went really well.  No one passed out, threw up, went flat or made an otherwise idiot of themselves.  There I was, parked in front of this nice little church in front of some 200 or so guests (a considerable portion of whom happened to be my colleagues, including my boss Barbara who took the great pic of me and Jana above and Claudia, resplendent in a water color-splashed dress that I covet).  Martin, also standing at the front of the church waiting to begin, looked very handsome in his dark brown suit.  We had a little chat as I desperately tried to put off the inevitable before it was time to begin.  And then suddenly there I was, opening my mouth and singing along, telling myself that under no circumstances was I allowed to look at Jana, which I of course did and then nearly started crying.  Before I knew it, my little part was over, just like that.  And so we finished watching the ceremony and then left for the apero.


The apero was at Martin's parents' house just down the hill, so the the guests poured out and skipped downhill just as I imagine they've been doing for centuries in Europe.  The only things missing were the musicians playing the lute and strumming a medieval guitar while young virgins with garlands in their hair jumped about on the path with ribbons as we all made our way down.


A Swiss wedding apero is a time for chatting, photos with the bridal couple and getting slightly toasted in anticipation of the wedding dinner and dance, which in this case were held at the Dittingen airfield (remember the airshow?) above the valley.  After some good food, good company and a very good party (and poor Martin trying to teach me how to dance) - we cashed out early in the morning and slept the sleep of the well-partied righteous!

And while we're at it, September is a poignant wedding month for another reason.  On 1 September my parents, John and Mickie (at left in my favorite Parisian bistro), celebrated 30 years of wedded bliss and three fantastic daughters.  I hold that this is a good omen for Jana and Martin.  No relationship is immune to the ups and downs of life, but I hope that their life will be as good as my parents', which in my opinion as the Beloved Eldest has been pretty crazy (thanks to the Bretz genes), but also pretty fabulously well-lived.  Unless I'm missing something, and Mom and Dad are just really good actors, in which case I'm officially scarred and in need of a really good shrink.


Wedding season didn't begin here, and it isn't over.  Congrats to Lindsey & Nick who tied the knot on 15 August.  The Paris crew isn't done pairing off, either.  In less than a month Maggie is getting hitched, and yours truly will be on site in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin (how ironic, right?) on hand to celebrate.  Tune in next month for tales of the Parisian crew reunion.

I'm feeling positively romantic these days.  I really must do something about that before I start feeling the side effects.  : )

(Again, well done to Pischel-pix.ch)