Luxembourg Wedding (a LOT of photos!)

We got married!  It was a wonderful occasion with some of our close family and friends.

The ceremony was in Bettembourg Castle, which is where the registry office is based.  As the rain was holding off, we had a couple of pre-ceremony photos. 

It was a simple but moving event lead by Mr Graas who, amazingly, had been taught English by JC's Dad.  The ceremony was in English (I had insisted) and he was putting his english lessons into good practice!  

We exchanged rings and signed the paperwork.  My wedding ring is my mother's gold band with a tourmaline stone addition.  The diamond from her engagement ring is set in white gold ring.  Of course, neither she or Dad were at the wedding, but at least I now carry Mum close.  

We'd taken helium balloons to decorate the room, but JC's friends also rocked up with wonderful "J, R and a ring" balloons which were fun.  Of course, R is for Riona...

For 16 EUR the municipality of Bettembourg provides a marriage service including not only officiant/registrar but use of a room and a drinks reception afterwards.  They also gave us a couple of local books which was a lovely touch.  

Mr Graas caught up with his teacher.

Lovely hallway for a photo.  Mark kindly moved the giant of Luxembourg out of our way.

Afterwards we had photos in the courtyard.  As we didn't descend to the grass area, we weren't able to use any confetti - sorry to Caitlin who had prepared beautifully wrapped small pockets of rose petals to throw. 

 

Marc and JC set up the camera for the group shot.

We meandered to the local Italian restaurant, La Celula, where we'd reserved a small private room.  The girls had been scheming, as I suspected, and we were entertained by a portfolio of Ruth and JC photos, of which the cannon camera featured 6 times ;-).  There were heart table decorations, heart straws and, best ever, glow stick glasses (see later).

We had a wonderful time eating, drinking, chilling and generally enjoying ourselves.  The table plan was organised according to languages: myself, the girls and Mark were on the English speaking side, JC and his parents in the 'English to Luxembourgish' portion, and, turning the corner, was the German/Luxembourgish patch, before rounding back to Luxembourgish/English speakers again.  

We had a traditional Luxembourg celebration cake, Baamkuch.  A real treat for all in the room - we'd added a few Ruth/JC touches too.  It's a ring-shaped  cake and you cut super thin slices which show the numerous layers which make up the ring (it's sometimes known as 'tree cake' for this reason).

 It was time to activate the glasses, which we got up and running and sent them around the table.

Michael had popped out when the glasses first passed his spot.

Irmine and Camille rocked the glasses.

It was a truly special day with family and friends - lots of laughter and cherished moments.  Riona and Mark had taken numerous polaroid photos during the day and we found a pile of them on our bed when we turned in that night.  

We popped the glasses on the window sill and fell asleep with the glow of the hearts.

Luxembourg for tourists

We have just enjoyed nearly a week in Luxembourg with Caitlin and Riona (and Mark for half of it).  We drove over on Saturday 31 May, and Caitlin and Riona arrived by train on the Sunday.  The London to Brussels section took them less time than the 4:15 hours from Brussels to Arlon (Belgium) where we picked them up.  

Monday 02 June 2025

First up on the grand tour of Luxembourg was Vianden.  

We didn't feel the need to go inside it, but enjoyed the views and, particularly, the chair lift.

Coffee with a view was lovely, and then we had a pleasant walk around Vianden village jumping onto various entertainments as they were found.

We also visited Germany for 5 minutes, and discovered the Luxembourg border post which made a Ruth very happy.

Tuesday 03 June 2025

We did wedding running around today, ordering the helium balloons, flowers and buying bits and bobs for the reception.  

After lunch we had a treat of high ropes at Parc Le'h Adventures.  JC, Caitlin, Riona and I did the first circuit which took an hour or so.  

JC then decided to stay on terra firma whilst we three took to the high ropes again.

This course was trickier than the first - we got stuck at one stage with both Riona and I needing a hand to reach the netting from where we were dangling (Caitlin had opted for the less faff zip-wire option).  Lots of hanging off arms and upper body strength which was a fine work out, but pretty unexciting for JC who was left contemplating life and all that (book and phone had been left behind) whilst we took 2 hours to complete it.  

We were late back, had to cook in a rush and only just made it to Luxembourg airport for 2115 to pick up Mark who had just flown in from London.  Welcome Mark!

Wednesday 04 June 2025

We had a pleasant 6.3 km stroll in the Mullerthal today, starting just south of Nommern.  This walk, in the 'Petite Suisse' of Luxembourg, traversed some interesting rock formations.

We were joined by JC's sister (Marie-Anne) and brother-in-law who were also around.   They had already booked their flights from New Zealand to visit M-A's parents in back in December when we announced our wedding plans, so it was a happy coincidence we were all together. 

M-A and John headed back whilst we drove to Larochette for picnic lunch.

We then went south east to Remish which sits on the River Mossel, the border with Germany.  We considered popping over to both Germany and France but focused our tourist efforts on crazy golf, which JC annoyingly (not for him) won.

Thursday 04 June 2025

JC was busy with home commitments today so Caitlin, Riona, Mark and I headed into Luxembourg City.  All public transport in Luxembourg is free so we took a train and tram into the city centre.  

We found the lift that descended into the Alzette Valley where Caitlin played us a tune, then walked across to the funicular.  

We meandered along the Alzette and past the Bock.  

A bit of a whistle stop tour for the girls (and Mark).  Luxembourg highlights the Ruth/Caitlin/Riona way which involved seeing a castle, a chair lift, high ropes, Mullerthal, Mossel, crazy golf, city strolling, train, tram, lift and a furnicular.  All the best bits!

In between these we were capably hosted by JC's parents who were delighted to have 'normal' guests who devoured pastries and cake.  :-)