Weddings 2021
What were they like?
Well, they were weddings. Very nice weddings, in fact. Only some of them were a bit smaller.
Just in the spring of 2021, there were some registry offices in the region that actually did not allow any guests besides the bride and groom - not even a wedding photographer. Therefore, however, no couple had to do without their wedding photos. The photos were taken with a remote shutter release - partly via timer, partly via WiFi with LiveView. At a wedding in the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Bad in Bad Homburg, I also took photos from the balcony through the closed window. One just adapts.
On the other hand, the year was also marked by surprisingly large weddings. You could tell how good it was for people to have a good time again.
Many weddings in Rhine-Main
I've always had a lot of weddings in Rhein-Main. Of course, this is my home base. For longer reports, however, I am usually quite often on the road all over Germany and beyond. Usually. But what is actually normal in Corona times?
Small registry office visits have increased significantly in 2021. And of course, as a wedding photographer in Frankfurt, you don't go to Flensburg or Garmisch for them. So during the season I was often on duty as a photographer in various registry offices in Rhein-Main.
In Frankfurt, for example, we went to weddings in the Frankfurt Römer, with portraits in the new old town and on the Main and several times to the beautiful registry office in Frankfurt-Höchst, with the old town, castle and graffitti at the ship pier.
I haven't been to weddings in Stammheim Castle in Wetterau for far too long, where the civil wedding outside in the castle garden almost felt like it was before Corona.
My jobs brought me to the city center of Mainz and to Bad Vilbel in the old town hall and of course to the Taunus. In Königstein, the balcony of Villa Borgnis offers one of the most beautiful civil registry locations in the entire region. If the weather cooperates, wonderful outdoor weddings are possible there.
Urban weddings
and rural weddings
Unlike 2020, there were many big weddings again in 2021. So maybe not really really big, but big enough to be almost normal.
City or country? Preferably both!
The first wedding of the year with a real party was in Frankfurt, for example - more precisely in the Westhafen in the Frankfurter Botschaft (Frankfurt Embassy) on the cozy terrace and in the white sand of the "Botschaft Beach", directly between the Main and the harbor basin. Urban, chic, chilled.
But it was also really nice at Jagdschloss Mönchbruch, southwest of Frankfurt - a free wedding ceremony in the castle garden and a celebration with a wild, never-ending party in the cozy inner courtyard.
Of course, getting married in the Rheingau is always a good idea. And so, among other things, we went to Hochheim for a wonderful wedding in the parish church of St. Peter and Paul, which is enthroned high above the vineyards. The party then took place in the small residence at the castle in Hochheim-Massenheim - a very charming place in the middle of the old wine village.
Save Water, Drink Riesling!
Please give me more Rheingau!
I also had a church wedding in the middle of Eltville and civil weddings in Kiedrich and Hattenheim. There were big wedding celebrations with a good party in the Klostermühle in Kiedrich and - combined with a great free wedding ceremony - at Weingut Baron Knyphausen (Draiser Hof) in Eltville-Erbach.
Wine tip: The red Riesling from Baron Knyphausen - great!
Wedding photos at Villa Rothschild and Schlosshotel Kronberg
Besides Bad Homburg, my favorite spots for weddings in the Taunus are Schlosshotel in Kronberg and Villa Rothschild in Königstein.
In the Villa Rothschild I had one of the most beautiful wedding celebrations ever this year. Everything came together perfectly. And in the Tizians Bar, things really got down to partying that night - the old Rothschilds certainly wouldn't have dreamed of that at their time.
Finally, I had several civil marriages this year at the Schlosshotel Kronberg. The old imperial library there is an official branch of the Kronberg registry office. This makes the Schlosshotel a safe tip for all seasons and I always find new photo motifs both inside and outside in the park. I would like to have a winter wedding there again. With snow. And mulled wine. Anyone?
Elopement in Ireland and
Destination Wedding in Andalusia
Irish weddings are back! Sort of. The big Irish weddings that were planned for this year have actually been completely postponed to the next few years. But a wonderful couple from Schleswig Holstein made it to Connemara for an elopement - together with their three dogs. And I was not only there as a wedding photographer in Ireland, but also as best man. It was an honor!
I accompanied the two of them all day - from getting ready to the romantic free wedding ceremony at the lake in the wild hills of Connemara, a lunch under the bright sunshine to a trip for wedding photos on the beach of Dog's Bay - with cows on the dunes.
And if you're going to fly through world history, please do it correctly. After the trip to Ireland, Saja was supposed to go to a wedding in Andalusia. Originally we had planned it as a tour with the camper, but then too many appointments came up. But one should celebrate the festivals as they come. And so it happened that the day after the wedding in Connemara I drove across the island to Dublin again to fly from there to Malaga to meet Saja there, who was supposed to arrive a little later by plane from Frankfurt.
Together we went from Malaga along the coast to the wedding location near Cabo de Gato in the extreme southeast of Spain near Almeria, where we were able to spend some wonderful days under the Spanish sun together with the wedding party - with yoga, a free wedding ceremony in the countryside, wedding photos on the beach of Los Escullos and a wedding party right by the pool.
The region was a stark contrast to the lush green of Ireland, but no less interesting and no less full of exciting photo opportunities.
Weddings in the Rhineland and
on the Swabian Alb
Back home in Germany we went straight back on tour. I had a fantastic German-Brazilian wedding at the Kameha Grand, right on the banks of the Rhine in Bonn - with wedding photos in the sunset on the Rhine and a great party.
With the camper we went to a wedding on the Swabian Alb in Münsingen. In the Albgut there - a former barracks from the late 19th century - Martina and Hannes celebrated a unique wedding in the style of the 1920s in the historic Württemberg Palais. The weather for the wedding in the open air was perfect, with sunshine that August would have envied.
Immediately after the wedding on the Alb, vacation was the order of the day - three weeks with the camper in France. We went over the Champagne to the Atlantic coast in La Rochelle, down to the Dordogne and back home via southern France and Provence. And although I was planning to do it, I couldn't even think about editing the photos on the trip. We tanked up on an incredible amount of energy on the tour. And wine. ;)
winter weddings in Saarland,
in the Taunus and in Frankfurt
After autumn comes winter. And with winter come the winter weddings. Among other things, we went to Mettlach in Saarland to a wedding at Saareck Castle. There were winterly temperatures and finally a few portraits in the snow.
And of course there were still a few weddings in Rhein-Main: for example in the middle of Frankfurt - with portraits under the Christmas tree on the Römerberg - but also in Friedrichsdorf and at home in Bad Homburg.
All in all, 2021 was quite eventful and despite Corona there was a lot going on in terms of weddings. So we remain curious about 2022. Let's see what else is to come.
And why no BestNine this year?
Actually there is no real reason. I was just a bit lazy on social media in 2021 and posted less than before and also less current - a lot of nice and previously unseen things, but from the archive. Only two pictures of the "real" #BestNine are from 2021.
The story really is that simple.
