German fairy tale wedding for 31 Chinese couples

FUESSEN - Dozens of Chinese couples exchanged wedding vows in a fairytale setting at the foot of southern Germany’s Neuschwanstein castle Wednesday.

In total, 31 Chinese couples attended a baroque church wedding, in the Bavarian town of Fuessen. They all repeated their vows, having been legally married before leaving China.

Alpine horns serenaded the brides, dressed in traditional white, and their new spouses. An actor appeared dressed as King Ludwig II, the Bavarian “fairy tale” king for whom Neuschwanstein was built.

Wedding doves were released into the air, and the couples took a romantic ride in a horse-drawn cart.

“In China, marrying is more of a sober administrative act,” said Rita Steiger of the Fuessen-based wedding organisers.

“With us, people enjoy the romance of Europe and are simply happy to experience a day as a princess,” Steiger added.

Her company has been offering weddings to couples from abroad for 13 years. The service has already proven popular in Japan. This is the third time they have organised a mass ceremony for Chinese visitors.

The couples exchanged wedding bands in a former Benedictine monastery, where an interpreter translated the service into Chinese.

A key part of the programme was taken up by the obligatory wedding photos, as 31 couples posed in front of Neuschwanstein’s fairy tale spires, nestled in the soaring Bavarian Alps.