The Civil Ceremony

I think I said she looked beautiful when I saw her for the first time in the cheongsam. But the more memorable bit of the conversation went as follows:

She: So what do I get for marrying you?

Me: Sechs...

She: Say what?!

Me: Sechs Kinder.

She: Oh yes, of course. (Or something like that.)

After the gate-crashing ended, we had about an hour to clean up, get dressed and be ready for the civil registration at the Stadthaus (City Hall).

Joining the queue of the other couples ahead of us dressed up in tuxedos and white wedding gowns, was an Indian girl in a cheongsam, and a Chinese boy in a sherwani.

As the civil ceremony started forty minutes behind schedule (a travesty of Swiss efficiency), we were expecting a dour-looking solemnizer who would expeditiously bring us through the due process and then hurry us through the exit. To our pleasant surprise, she took some time to explain the importance of commitment and tolerance in making a marriage work. In addition, she even shared a poem from The Prophet (On Marriage) by Khalil Gibran:

But let there be spaces in your togetherness, 

And let the winds of the heavens dance between you. 

Love one another but make not a bond of love: 

Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls. 

Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup. 

Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.

It was from a poem which we had initially wanted to use for our private ceremony. We eventually decided against it because we thought it would appear slightly presumptuous of us to tell our guests on our joyous occasion that we should remember to practice separateness in unity. But for the same message to come from our solemnizer, it couldn't have been more appropriate.

After the sharing of the poem and the exchange of our mutual consent, we finally put pen to paper and became legally married!

"You know the thing we've been doing, hanging out? I want to keep doing that until one of us dies. Let's sign this document here so everyone knows we have an arrangement."