Wedding dreams become reality.

A real GUEST post From Desiree about a real WEDDING journey.

"Dear Desiree. Thank you very much for your special request, I love ungewustomary requests and I have never had such a request. Honeymoon almost every month, but never get married. Genius!...."

I got this answer from Klaus on May 13. Five weeks and three days later I am married.

How it came about...

That we would one day return from a trip married had been clear for a long time. For our family and friends for at least eight years. For my husband Normen and me for three. Travel, our great passion, which we have discovered and developed together over the years, which has put us to many a test and in the end brought us closer together - this passion has shaped us as a couple. It was almost logical to take the crowning step of marriage on a journey. The big question for a long time was only: WHERE (is it quite uncomplicated and as exotic as possible)? The decision to get married on Madagascar was rather a coincidence: A hint on a legally binding marriage possibility on a website, then another website on which a resident German-Madagascan couple writes about the fulfillment of individual travel dreams: Klaus Konnerth.

And things took their course...

The first request was followed by five weeks of German bureaucracy, waiting times, processing fees, even more waiting times, trouble with DHL Express and serious jeopardy for the entire project. If I had to take stock of it, I would not be able to quantify it. Klaus and his team have braved this perceived madness with us. They checked the authorities on Madagascar for us, suffered the frustration about the delayed document delivery with us and finally still managed to realize the marriage date at the beginning of the trip - so that enough time for a true Honeymoon could stay.

Doubted at a high level

Pure exoticism and a marriage date - at this point our demands would have been completely fulfilled. But not those of the Konnerths. "We take this extremely seriously, she is never, ever satisfied with Madagascan standard," Klaus wrote after he had suggested to us in the course of the detailed planning to bring the wedding tableware from Germany. We were briefly irritated: What had we actually gotten ourselves into? Was tableware not part of the standard in Madagascar? Should a delicious meal in a beautiful ambience, as we had imagined after the wedding ceremony, not be possible so easily?

It was. More than that, it was a whole day. An unforgettable day full of surprises, which actually began the evening before with the accommodation in a nearby hotel and a romantic dinner in a beautiful restaurant. Which continued in the morning in an extraordinary wedding ceremony in Malagasy-French-German language in front of cordial registrars, fantastic witnesses=interpreters (Klaus) and a sweet flower child (Stephie). Which took its course with a befitting wedding table in the private restaurant, fancy gourmet creations, fine droplets, great mood and an exuberant celebration with the cheerful team of Villa Sibylle and ended in the lovingly prepared "wedding suite".

Stop.
Not ended. Only this post does. The wedding continued. On the whole of Klaus and Nicole accompanied Journey through Madagascar. That fascinating spot of earth that amazed my husband and me so much that, in retrospect, we believe that it was providence that took us there. But there say these pictures certainly more than a thousand other words....

We will be back.

INFO: These documents are required for marriage in Madagascar:

International Certificate of Marriage Ability (registry office place of residence) -> for this, extended registration certificates (citizens' service place of residence) and certified birth certificates (registry office place of birth) of both partners are required

International birth certificate (Registry office place of birth)

Certification and translation of all documents in french (official translation agency)

Passport valid six months after the planned return