Everything should now be in place, at last!  Clothes for tomorrow’s civil wedding in Talheim have arrived from the bro-in-law – didn’t know he had such good taste! And we managed to find an alternative spot next to Maulbronn Abbey for our champagne reception on Saturday – the rent cost us 150 euros, but hey, you only get married once (or twice, or three times...!).

The booze is bought, the bilingual orders of service have been photocopied and folded and my 92-year-old mum is en route from Yate, near Bristol to Stansted for her early morning flight to Karlsruhe-Baden airport (not alone, I must add, but with my brother and his wife).

My two kids and their respective partners will set off on Friday to arrive in time for an impromptu stag/hen night before the church wedding in Maulbronn on Saturday, and my best mate, leaving it till the last minute, as usual, flies out on Saturday morning and drives straight to the ceremony.

So, tonight, me and the Hausfrau can relax alone – we’re babysitting the grandkids, so maybe not – and enjoy a nice meal à deux with a bottle of local wine. Then it’ll be early to bed and dreams of married life ...

© Paul Whitelock

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