One should celebrate the parties as they come. Our lovable couple Andrea and Tobias decided to celebrate their wedding at the Turmgut in Erlenbach despite COVID-19, although slightly different than planned. And quite fortunately so, because it was really a lavish party!
GETTING READY
The bride’s getting ready took place in the very picturesque and truly romantic Romantik Hotel Sonne. Our photo shoot there started with the bridal details, which often have a high emotional value for our couples. In the case of Andrea and Tobias, it was several pieces of jewellery:
My mother gave me a necklace that she had already worn to her wedding and that she had, back in the days, received from her mother. My father, in turn, presented me with matching stud earrings. Of course, our rings were also very special for us – even a bit MORE than a simple accessory – because we had forged them ourselves and they contain engravings with our handwriting […]
Soon after, it was time to “hop” into the dress — the part of Getting Ready that I like the most. Why so? Well, because this is one of the most emotional moments of the wedding day. The bride, her maid of honor and the mother shed a few tears of joy, which luckily Andrea’s make-up from Valentino survived undamaged. After these intense minutes, we had a quiet moment in which we could take a few portraits.
FIRST LOOK
The first look was another highlight of this unique wedding at the Turmgut in Erlenbach at Lake Zurich. Andrea was guided by her father to the Villa Meier-Severini, where the ceremony was about to take place. Tobias, the groom, was already waiting expectantly for his future wife at the entrance with the guests.
When the two saw each other for the first time, I actually had goosebumps and tried to capture the magic of the moment in my photos. Unfortunately, I could not do this with the beautiful music that accompanied this moment …
A FANTASTIC WEDDING – IN SPITE OF CORONA
During the ceremony, only a certain number of people were allowed inside the building due to current regulations. This did not prevent the guests who stayed outside from following the ceremony through the windows :).
Please allow me a brief remark here: the Corona pandemic has sadly thrown many weddings in Switzerland and across the glob into disarray. In my opinion, Andrea and Tobias handled that uncertainty really well. Andrea said the following to us about this point:
Actually, the wedding festivities would have stretched over two days. On the first day, the wedding ceremony (Villa Meier-Severini) and a big party (Turmgut) with about 100 people should have taken place. Dinner […] was planned on the second day. However, our parents belong to the risk group, which is why we reduced the number of guests significantly and canceled dinner the following day. We offered the guests who could not take part via zoom to be there when the cake was cut.
The couple really made a virtue out of necessity and finally had a fantastic, intimate wedding day. The necessary change of plan on short notice even had its advantages, as Andrea pointed out:
It also gave me […] the very serene feeling of not needing to plan everything perfectly. I wouldn’t have my wedding in any other way.
There is, however, one tip that she has for soon-to-be brides in order to avoid any additional stress in times of Corona:
Because of the measures taken to contain the pandemic, I scheduled my appointments for a test hairstyling, make-up and fitting of the dress quite late […] Having them earlier is surely more relaxing.
CEREMONY AND APÉRO
The ceremony itself was intimate and very soulful in its subtle serenity. One could also say this about the surprise gift from the best man and the maid of honor. After the ceremony, they gently opened a box out of which butterflies were hovering that have just, effectively, hatched in that very instant. Fantastic!
The following aperitif, which took place in the garden of Villa Meier-Severini, concluded this beautiful afternoon.
THE WEDDING RECEPTION WITH COUPLE SHOOTING
The wedding reception and the following party took place in the Turmgut in Erlenbach, a winery that overlooks Lake Zurich.
The dinner, which was planned as a “flying dinner”, consisted of a variety of snacks and dishes from the grill. Andrea later on concluded that:
We decided for a flying dinner resp. opted for a casual BBQ on the patio, which I highly recommend. No table arrangement, you could eat when you wanted, did not need to wait for any courses to be delivered and had a lot of flexibility. I totally recommend it.
The maid of honor and the best man had organized various activities for this beautiful summer evening. The couple’s fathers took the wedding guests on a journey through Andrea’s and Tobias’ lives.
The evening of this wedding at the Turmgut in Erlenbach was very atmospheric, thanks also to the lighting prepared by the couple’s mothers and the live music.
Andrea, Tobias and I used the time before the party to do another couple shoot amidst this beautiful scenery. We even managed not to get dirty in the process :).
PARTY
A really cool idea was the broadcasting of the wedding cake cutting, to which not present guests could remotely participate with the help of a ZOOM meeting. The wedding dance of the two was also unforgettable. How these two were swaying to the rhythm — breathtaking! Once more, the couple’s spontaneity and gift for imprivisation was needed:
[…] since we could not take any dance lessons due to the Corona pandemic and we generally had a lot to do in the last few weeks before the wedding, we only managed to decide on the song for the wedding dance at midnight before the wedding and then practiced it in the living room. Having a more sophisticated dress and hairstyle at the wedding, everything turned out to be a little more difficult – but it still worked surprisingly well. 🙂
The culmination of the elated mood was the party that followed, during which all the guests really had a lot of fun. I was stoked to be in the middle of the fray and to capture the vibrant atmosphere in my photos.
Even after I left the Turmgut, the music and the laughter of this charming wedding party stayed with me for a long time …
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