You are asking quite a lot as getting together wth my beloved was rather difficult. After school I started working for a bank which I quit after 2 years to study business administration. Between the semesters I kept working for the bank to make some money. This is where I got to know Alex as she joined the bank right after I quit working for them. This is about 8 years ago. We seemed to like each other, especially on my part, but unfortunately she was already engaged. That did not keep us from going out once in a while just like regular friends even though I might have thought about it. Alex began to ask herself: "Can this be right if I like someone else so much that I start wondering if my engagement is still going well or not?" Finally she decided to cancel, quit, divorce (???) her engagement.

I assumed it would be my turn now, but it was not that easy. Alex did not want to have a new relationship right away; she needed time. I gave her time, and even more time, and more . . . However, giving her more and more time was kind of frustrating for me, so I asked her for a final yes or no. She replied that it would be too early for a yes. Not hearing a YES was like a NO to me and I stopped meeting or calling her. I even decided to go to language school, which was not exactly the way I am as I liked staying in my little village here in Germany in the environment I know. You see, without Alex I would have never met you! When I returned in June we somehow got in touch again and in November we were together.

Getting married in Las Vegas was more or less my idea as I really like it there. I did not want to have a traditional wedding with all the relatives you only see once a year. Alex liked the idea and we decided to have a big party with 250 people in our garden before the wedding and then leave for Las Vegas with our parents. Actually, Chris, Tamara and Annarosa (link coming soon) joined that party, which is called 'Polterabend' in Germany. Everybody who knows you can stop by and throw plates, cups, saucers and stuff like that on the street, all of which the bride and the groom have to clean up afterwards. The broken pieces are suppossed to bring good luck and the cleaning up together is supposed to be your first common task. This tradition seems to be weird for foreigners--even Tamara and Annarosa, who live rather close to Germany, did not know of it.

Finally, we got married at the Venetian on the indoor Rialto bridge. That was nice and even Kyoko, my hostmother, attended as she happened to be in Las Vegas. After the wedding we took one of the Gondola rides. Afterwards, we had dinner and pretty soon we left our parents on their own.

Now we are expecting to become parents in June 2001. When we look at the calendar, it might as well have been the wedding night when it all began!

You see, getting married in Las Vegas unearths a lot of surprises!

It's Linda Lou again. What a romantic story! Click on the rings to see wedding photos & on the stork for the birth announcement!