Our wedding ceremony at the registry office in Kiefersfelden really strengthened my connection with the village in an emotional way. We were the first people from Kiefer to be married at 4pm on a Saturday. It came about through my job as a waitress in one of the oldest restaurants in Kiefersfelden. Through this job, I got to know a lot of people from the village, including the mayor at the time, Erich Ellmerer, and was also very well known, as the Kurzenwirt, the inn, was very popular. In Kiefersfelden, it was standard for weddings to be held at the registry office on Saturdays at 10 a.m. at the latest. As I am a Muslim and my husband a Catholic, a church wedding was not possible.
Normally, most village weddings are organized in such a way that you first get married at the registry office in the morning, then in church in the afternoon and then the celebration begins after the wedding ceremonies, the evening event, so to speak. We had to come up with something to adjust the timing so that there wasn’t too big a gap between the civil ceremony and the celebration afterwards.
This is where the relationships in the village came into play. Because I knew the mayor personally through my job and we got on well, I was able to persuade him to marry us at 4pm in the town of Kiefersfelden. We were therefore the first couple in Kiefersfelden to get married in the afternoon on a Saturday.
Our daughter was actually the first child to decide for herself at the age of 7 whether she would take my husband’s surname at the wedding ceremony. A new regulation had just been passed where children were supposed to sign their own names as soon as they were able to write. This gave our wedding several unique selling points and paved the way for many couples after us in the village to create a relaxed schedule for their weddings. Before that, the wedding schedule was always relatively strict and the same because institutions such as the community and church had strict time regulations.
My husband surprised me with this beautiful dirndl. I have owned this dress for over 20 years now. It means a lot to me as the dirndl was my husband’s first present. This year I will pass it on to my daughter. So it will stay in our family. I associate this special piece of clothing with the love and attentiveness that I have received through this gift.
The tree at the top of the "Bippenwald" and the bench that was built around it are my stress-free place. When I feel that I’m no longer feeling well, I go to this little spot. I recharge my batteries there and feel calm. I feel peace, love, joy and serenity at this tree. That’s why up there is a special place in the village for me, and the wonderful view of the Kaiser is just another plus point.
