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Laura and Patrick had an Austrian destination wedding that was incandescent. They traveled from the U.S. to their favorite little village in the Austrian Alps. Patrick and Laura live in Washington D.C. Laura is a native of the area while Patrick grew up in Germany and California. Laura is an Itinerant Teacher of the Deaf/Hard-of-Hearing. Laura loves what she does mainly because she is Deaf herself and can relate very well with her students. Patrick works as an environmental scientist working on air pollution regulations.
They met at a Friendsgiving potluck in 2012. Their mutual friend introduced them as Laura just got back from her first solo trip in Europe and Patrick is German-American, so he has been traveling every year to Europe to visit his family. They bonded over their mutual travels and their shared love of a town called Hopfgarten. It eventually became the venue for their wedding. Patrick stumbled upon Berggasthof Tenn while traveling and immediately knew it was the right venue. Laura agreed and it was off to the races with planning.
They wanted their wedding guests to know why they loved Hopfgarten and Tirol so much and why it holds such a special place in their hearts. They wanted a cozy and intimate vibe to the wedding — hence why Berggasthof Tenn was so cozy with the rustic wooden look of a quaint Tirolean farmhouse amidst the snow capped mountains.
Before going to Austria in November, Laura tried on a couple of white wedding dresses and hated every minute of it. Her German neighbors convinced her to consider wearing a dirndl for the wedding which turned out to be the perfect look for her. Patrick also found his outfit in Innsbruck.
Some of their favorite moments included the snowy ceremony that led to a snowball fight, the amazing food (including Kaiserschmarrn!), the after-party at a bar, and the day after with skiing and Aprés Ski at the Tenner Stadl.
Vendors
Photography: Wild Connections Photography • Coordinator: Dreamotions • Venue: Berggasthof Tenn • Cake: Die Zuckerbäckerin
Gallery
About the Author: Catherine Clark
Catherine Clark loiters at her local library, makes art, watches movies en masse, plays video and tabletop games, poorly cooks healthy things, cuddles with her feline fur babies, and blogs at BijouxandBits.com.
It’s so wonderful to see this awesome wedding featured. Thanks so much for sharing their wonderful, unique story. xx
Thanks for all the phenomenal photos!!! We’re so happy with it and find ourselves looking at them often to remind ourselves how much we really enjoyed our wedding day, let alone wedding week 😉 And we also love the blog, so thank you, Offbeatbride! xx
I find it unique as it isn’t common in Singapore. love the dress code.. simple and great…
hope you had a great time there. share your sweetest memories, if you have any to tell more..
We definitely enjoyed it and still talk about it often. It was an amazing day — we were very thankful for all of the wonderful vendors that made our day unforgettably beautiful. We just loved how many of our guests stayed longer than a couple of nights as we were all able to spend time together — skiing, meals, etc. The cake was to die for as well – a delicious lemon-peach and sacher torte cake. We just went back for New Year’s Eve to have dinner at the same place and to celebrate NYE. It was so much fun being back where we got married and to ring in the New Year 🙂
I would love to go to a wedding like this! In fact, I’ve always wanted to go to Austria as I am a huge Sound of Music fan. I also really love the bride’s dirndl. It reminds me of the one my German great-aunt had.
Hope one day you can go to a wedding like ours — it was so much fun!!! Austria is amazing, but it is not just known for the “Sound of Music” – the Alps, the history, the salt mines and so much more. It is such a beautiful country to visit. We can’t stop going back. It is home to us as our family and friends reside there, Germany and Switzerland. Thank you — I LOVED my dirndl, it was so comfortable and I felt so beautiful in it. My wedding planner did such a great job finding the right store and helping me with finding the right dirndl 🙂 Where in Germany is your great-aunt from?
She was from a smaller town kind of close to Frankfurt and Stuttgart, I believe (don’t remember the name of it though), so basically the western part of the country.
Nice! Our mom is from Stuttgart but her parents came from Bremen and a town in Czechia (that used to be Germany prior to WWII) 🙂