In the evening 200 guests were invited for the big wedding soiree.
The dinner:
- backed Loup de Mer at Julienne von Mangetout with sunripened, dried tomatoes with olive tapenada
- champagne soup with crayfish and Spanish saffron
- fillet from Herforder cows roasted with truffle sauce
- iced vegetable batonnets with potato-truffle mousselin with fresh summertruffles and rosemary
- palmleaf-hearts with sandwich breadcrumbs on iced vegetable batonnets on potato-truffle mousselin and fresh summertruffles
- wild blackberry-cake with yoghurt-lemon ice and chocolate ice with chocolate
At midnight a romantic and impressive torch light procession and tattoo took place on the courtyard. Outside hundreds of people – locals and tourists - followed the small event standing around the courtyard while the wedding guests appeared on the balconies of the castle. Speeches were held by town major Rolf Netzer, Fürst Alexander zu Schaumburg-Lippe and Prime Minister of Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony) Christian Wulff. Mr Netzer in his speech expressed a warm welcome to the new Fürstin and also said to hope that Fürstin Benita will make a full recovery soon. Fürst Alexander spoke about the friendship between his family and the local community and said to be very happy with the warm welcome his wife has received. Mr Wulff said to be proud that Schaumburg is a part of Niedersachsen. Afterwards the bridal waltz was held and the ball really started with music of Guido Perrey and Winnie Appel. The party went on for a long time. On Sunday afternoon a brunch was held at Bückeburg Castle. The guests who showed up were still in a good mood, although some looked a bit sleepy.
We had had some hope to be able to see guests arriving at the castle for the wedding soiree, but we saw pretty little. Only a few guests arrived by foot and unfortunately most people arrived by bus and car. We saw some lovely glittering tiaras behind car windows. We decided to go for a late dinner and to return at the castle later in the evening for the torch light procession and tattoo. We had heard when they would open the courtyard again, so we wanted to be in time. We were lucky to get a place at the front of the people when we came back and hurried afterwards to get a good place. The procession was great, the tattoo a bit long, but overall we enjoyed it very much. The speeches were especially very good. Although we couldn't really see who were out on the balconies of the castle we saw shadows of the guests there. The bride was the only one recognisable with her white veil. We returned back to the hotel. Stefan left on Sunday morning while Stig and I decided to have another look at the castle having heard there was to take place a brunch. We saw several guests and made some lovely pictures but often had to promise not to publish them. Therefore no pictures of the brunch on this website or in the press. But reckon we had a lovely afternoon. The weather was sunny and the benches in the courtyard sat quite well.
Photo and Copyright: Netty Leistra