Hello my dearly beloved readership,

welcome to my last article of the Fall4Me Wedding Special. Approximately one year of wedding-fever, 20 articles of wedding which take up all of the different things it comprises – from the most important people to things you need to think of as well as preparations. However a wedding section without an article about the bride is a wedding section incomplete. In one day within some hours you are getting from a girl to a woman, the day you become the bride and I want to take you to this journey of mine.

The highlight of my marriage was the beginning of it along with the whole married life: our wonderful and dreamlike civil and church wedding. Finally being free and independent – which does not mean that I would not need my parents’ advices any longer, travelling around the world bit for bit with the best partner by my side, something completely according to my wishes… yes, these are indeed benefits in a marriage but what comes in my mind first as best thing is simply the fact that we got married and have founded a family, our family. Nothing else matters. Only the birth of the children we are commonly dreaming of could top this! So you see somehow there is a common highlight in every marriage but it goes apart in details.

Whether I as girl or rather woman am a puppet to society and tradition or self-determined, I cannot really tell, to be honest. Boys are taught to become heroes and soldiers and girls are taught to be beautiful, tender princesses to get married in the end and support their husbands which both genders still accept without rebellion.
It has been an ideal for me since I can start thinking, to get married, have children and a family and in the end I can tell that with this wedding I have fulfilled myself and lived one of my biggest dreams, in addition because I have married the man of my dreams – did not search for but still have found.
If I had to choose an outer influence to make me get married it would have certainly been the beautiful fairy tales which mostly end with a wonderful wedding which make you fall for, as well as God who wishes for that and whom I trust as I believe that he only wants best for his children – mankind – and as I believe in him. I do not want to sound old-fashioned (or I think I do!) but personally I believe that as woman you are fulfilled when you are married (especially with children). A life without a marriage is a life lost I want to say from the bottom of my heart with all conviction and such a sad thing I do not want to imagine ever.

Apart from the few things I have named above being a married woman with the best partner I could have ever wished for made me weaker but yet stronger. I am not afraid to lose or let go because I know that with my husband and our family I have everything for the eternity. I can fight actively because I know someone is always having my back and I can defend even better because I know that it is always worth while. The way it made me “weaker” is simply that every day I have the chance to let myself fall and not play a role because I know if I cannot be strong my husband still would be for both of us! My contribution to make this great and special marriage maintain is to manage, hold everything together and probably to constantly force my husband and the members of our big family to their luck even if it is often misunderstood. In particular my biggest project consists of teaching that in a marriage there is no yours and mine but only ours in many different ways for example that husband and wife are an impenetrable union and that communication is the most important thing even by far distance – what else do we have modern ways of communication for? My husband himself makes this marriage perfect by understanding me with too many but as well without words. He is the place where I can be who I am with my strengths and weaknesses because he loves me unconditionally and supports me and everything that belongs to me. This is something I always want to return to him. Furthermore he is my partner in crime.

I think that when you live – and act without a script – you quickly forget about your examples because you are who you are, individual just like your marriage is. There are two families I admire: the Beckhams as well as Prince William and Duchess Catherine along with their children. Not only the mothers of these two families belong to my ideals in fashion they are families who have probably been often caught by the bad glance which not always caused them good times but in the end their family – with numerous children – matters and comes first. William and Catherine in addition have maintained their youth and often seem to me like teenagers in love. This is where I recognize my husband and myself and the sitcom family Miller from Still Standing – I think that Bill and Judy are a cool couple from which we want to learn things. I do not live according to them but every day I remind myself to take them as examples.

Dear men, do not do this to your girlfriend to stay unmarried. It breaks my heart to know that they dream the dream of white but fear to never live it. There are simply some things that money cannot buy, so do not think of costs in this case because you will be given. Apart from that it should be worth all the money in the world to you to not cause sad emotions to your girlfriends. Dear families, even if it is not according to your liking, Respect every way your children want to get married as long as they have the will to. If they want to get married silently without public then forget about your egoism and agree instead of standing in their way. Last but not least, dear mothers, dear fathers, have courage to forbid your daughters certain things until they get married. It might seem unfair to them and old-fashioned to society but trust me they are going to thank you for this and often the old-school turns out to be the better one in the end. I have seen all of this and even more and I cannot not let this get too much into my heart. Getting married is the most beautiful thing in the world and many women admit that it sounds much better to address their partner as their husband.

There is so much more I could or would like to say but I think my husband got these points very well in the previous article and perfectly complements me.

My Bridal Outfit In Details

• Wedding dress and veil by Lila
• Lace gloves by Hudson/Karstadt
• Shoes by Graceland/Deichmann
  Hint: Make sure to have a comfortable back-up shoe.
• Clutch by Bijou Brigitte
• Suspender by €-Shop
• Lingerie by C&A
• Pearl-necklace by New Look
• Earrings by H&M
  Hint: I have chosen pearls even though I have always imagined to wear the shooting star by Chanel in white-gold on my wedding but as my main piece, the wedding dress has been embroidered with pearls I have adapted my jewelry to that.

Something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue:

The well-known as well as well-tried tradition which shall bring the bride additional fortune on her special day. Not only she is surrounded by fortune thanks to her bridesmaid, the charms, her bouquet or the cake she is furthermore wearing fortune.

• Something old: as something old I have chosen lace-gloves which my mother has bought me in my early teens. I have never really worn the white ones whereas I loved the black version of those which she has bought me, too. This changed with my special day.
• Something new: The dress… the veil… the lingerie… or the shoes…? Which of them should I name? I think it is not worth a speech that for your special day you are getting new things anyway.
• Something borrow: this has indeed been the point where I have started to sweat and panic as I realized my whole outfit is standing but I have nothing borrowed. Luckily we very well improvised with my mother-in-law to have hankies embroidered by my grandmother-in-law in my bag for that.
• Something blue: I have always swam against the stream and never liked to wear, follow or have what the mainstream dictated. Therefore I have thought of something which underlines my personality and style best…

Nails by Mai Nails & Wellness

A blue suspender? Boooring! Blue eye-shadow? I do not want to look like a clown on my most important day, I want to look elegant and still like myself. Therefore, thanks but no thanks. Two different colors as usual, please. So the result has been blue and white nails for the wedding in my most favorite shade the very sublime and unbeatable royal blue. This has been my first visit at the Thanh Mai Nails & Wellness studio [where previously there has been Miu Nails & Wellness before the owner changed – for good]. After my back then current nail artist has started to betray me, be pretty cheeky and doing bad work on my nails it has been a good sign that exactly by that time she has let me hanging so I could change my nail artist for good. Even if after that she called incessantly to do my nails I had to be pragmatic as every minute the days before my wedding has been valuable.

Make-Up & Hair by Hairdressing Salon Venus

Not only someone who knows you well should take the photos on your wedding. As well someone who knows your brows, your hair as well as your style and face should be responsible for your make-up and hair and be a master in his job. For me there was no one else to do this and understand me better than Farzaneh and her daughter from the Hairdressing Salon Venus. Our longtime neighbor had opened her salon for us already at 7 am and did my and my mother’s hair while my daughter made my make-up. The day before she had prepared my hair to finish it one day after and took care of my eye-brows. My bridesmaid had the opportunity to style herself meanwhile on  her own which she did very well as she had practiced it again and again with a tutorial in the web. Nevertheless as bride on your special day you should spend some more money on stylists without worries and let yourself be spoiled in order to calm down a little bit.

Thank You

First of all I want to thank God for making an unbelievable fairy tale possible when bringing me together with my husband and for blessing me and guarding me on my way.

Apart from that I want to thank my granny for loving Florian from the first sight and giving her blessing for us.

The way I have written it I, of course, want to thank all my stylists for their amazing work with love. As well as my mother-in-law and granny(-in-law) for the hankies and the idea [wink].

My colleagues at work who have cheered for me, Cristina for welcoming me to the club of married and my team-leader Piot for his very heartily hug on my last workday before their wedding.

I want to thank my amazing photographers, Anna, my neighbor and friend for accepting my offer to take the photos on our wedding and for her beautiful interpretation of it. In addition I want to than uncle(-in-law) Martin for complementing Anna with his priceless photos of our wedding.

I want to thank Maike, my bridesmaid and little sister(-in-law) that she has extra bought a new dress for our wedding and made me take the final choice. In this context I want to thank my big sister(-in-law) Natascha, that even if she is not the type for this she had bought a beautiful dress for our wedding to wear instead of a suit.

I want to thank my parents for raising me the way they did, for their restrictions (for good), for teaching me values and taking care of me for supporting me (especially with full engagement and unconditionally for the wedding), respecting my choice, supporting me with it and closing Florian to their heart as he was his own son.

Phil (my brother) for the talks, the time we spent the three of us and for all your support.

Last but not least I want to thank my husband for the wonderful life I have since I met him, for leaving everything and moving to Hamburg for me and for proposing to spontaneously go and inform ourselves at the registry office. I simply want to thank you for making my life simply and only better.

And I want to thank everyone who is (constantly) happy for us, for all the good wishes and the attention and care!

Love, Johanna