Bossy Wedding: The Week Before

From the moment we decided to have the wedding in Vienna we knew we wanted to plan other events leading up to it. If you're inviting people to travel halfway around the world, you want to entertain them for more than just a few hours. We did a lot of brainstorming and ended up coming up with activities that took us from Thursday night through Sunday morning.

Thursday night we started with The Best of the Wurst, a beer and wurst crawl through the inner part of the city. I'm very proud of the name, which came to me in a flash of inspiration one morning. The lack of open container laws in Europe is always a treat for Americans, who dream of walking through the streets sipping a beer (at least THIS American does), and Vienna in the summer is hopping with outdoor events, so we kept the whole evening outside. We started at the Staatsoper with a beer while we waited for everyone to arrive. Some of our guests had already been in Vienna for a day or more (our parents all arrived on Sunday), and some were meeting for the first time.

Once everyone was there, we headed to the Würstelstand behind the Staatsoper (our fave) for a Käsekrainer and more beer, which we took up to the top of the Albertina Museum to eat.

  

Then we headed to the Museumsquartier, which took much longer than expected, first because the Spanische Hochreitschule Summer Ball was in progress (many detours and Wieners in fancy dress), and then because we stumbled upon people dancing in the Heldenplatz (we wanted to watch).

To the Museumsquartier for more wurst and more beer, and then we ended the night at the Rathaus (City Hall), where they hold a Film Festival of operas and music during the summer, complete with lots of food and drink booths. Thursday's selection was Bruckner's 5th Symphony (probably wouldn't have been our 1st choice), and the place was packed with people ignoring the music. We foraged for food and sat on park benches chatting. All in all, a great night and a perfect way to see the city.

Friday morning we were up early to avoid the heat for our Photo Scavenger Hunt (Did you know the word for scavenger hunt in German is Schnitzeljagd? Me either.) We divided into 2 teams and gave each team an Instax camera, which is sort of like a Polaroid but cuter. I had been looking for an excuse to buy one for a very long time, and we ended up buying 3 different kinds to see which we liked best (this one, but I think we're keeping them all).

CM came up with the list and instructions: 

The rules: To take a photo of each one of the following items. Speed is not the goal, but rather, creativity. Take turns taking the photos so that everyone has taken at least one, and each team member must be in at least one of the photos.

1. Something with “Vienna” or “Wien” in the title
2. Team members with a statue of a composer
3. A street entertainer
4. 1 Team member with a Mozart ticket seller (bonus if you can steal his wig)
5. A window display of desserts and/or pastries (photos of eating the subjects are optional)
6. Team members on a tram
7. The inside of a church
8. Team members reflected in a mirror
9. Plaque on the side of a building denoting something historic
10. Team members jumping in front of the Rathaus OR the Stephansdom OR the Konzerthaus
11. Flowers in a park
12. Team members with a Fiaker (horse & carriage driver)
BONUS: Someone in a Dirndl or Lederhosen

Oh, lord, was that fun. We're going to take all the Instax photos and put them in an album. Some of them are so funny. 

Friday night we had people over to our apartment for desserts and cocktails. By that time in the week, we were pretty exhausted, so I scrapped all plans of baking cakes and instead went to Oberlaa and got lots of delicious things. Papa Bossy made biscotti and I made Porch Swings (CM had brought Pimm's back for me from a recent trip to London). We actually ended up leaving our own party early so that we could do a few last-minute wedding things and get some sleep.

Getting a hotel room the night before the wedding was one of the best choices we made, and I highly recommend it to others getting married. After all the craziness of the week, we sat quietly in bed and talked about everything we were looking forward to the next day. It was magical. Also, if you're looking for a hotel, why not make it Le Meridien? They treated us so well, upgrading us to a suite when they heard we were getting married, and leaving champagne in our room on the night of the wedding.

Saturday was the wedding, of course, and then Sunday we all met up for brunch at Pierre, a favorite spot in our neighborhood. It was low-key and easy, and we were able to all sit outside on the patio. We left that night for our honeymoon, so it was the perfect way to say goodbye.


The best thing about planning so much together time for the week before the wedding was that by the time Saturday rolled around everyone knew each other already. If we'd held the wedding in the States, our friends might have met each other for the first time on the day itself. It was such a luxury to not have to worry about any new dynamics and feel completely confident that everyone would have a good time together. Plus, we loved showing off our city, and because we knew we were leaving so soon it felt like a last Vienna hurrah for us as well.

(All photos by me again.)