Renewing Wedding Vows in Germany- Randy Aderholt Shares his Story

Randy Aderholt wrote this fantastic story about renewing his wedding vows in Uthleben, Thuringia to share with us.

Randy writes…..” I had traced my family back to Uthleben, Thuringia. I first visited in 2009, making friends and meeting actual German cousins.

I realized that in 2010 , the 300th anniversary of my ancestors wedding would occur. This would be my grandparents 9 generations back. His name was Johann Nicole Aderhold and hers was Anna Katherina Frederick. So at first I was planning just a small ceremony, with my wife and I renewing our wedding vows in the church on the same day to honor my ancestors. With the help of my cousin, Marion Aderhold and my friend’s Dieter and Giesla Hunger, the planning began. Very small at first, then bigger. Dieter asked could he make it public. I said sure ! Who would want to see some crazy Americans renew their vows ?

So on November 23, 2010 , at around 2:30 ,the church bells, began to ring and the minister led my wife and I down the side walk to the church. I was shocked to see , maybe 30 people inside the church. So 300 years to the day, my wife and I stood in the very same spot as my ancestors and exchanged wedding vows. I can say that the moment I spoke my vows in German, Ja, mit Gotts heilfa. It was a very very emotional moment for me . I knew had not another Aderhold spoke those same words 300 years ago, I wouldn’t be here. Our reception was at the tavern , we had to saw a log into with a cross saw, ( to prove we could work together in marriage ) , then eat bread rolled in salt ( to prove we could get through the hard times in marriage ) before the reception could start.

I spell my name Aderholt, the German spelling is Aderhold.
My theory is that the German pronunciation of a D sounds like a T to the American ear.
Hopefully this wasn’t too boring.”

No Randy, the story was not boring at all…. thanks for sharing!

This is my favorite photo…. Randy and his Bride…

Thanks again to Randy for sharing this story… Do you have a story you want to share? Take a look at this page for how to do it… Share Your Story on German Girl in America