Wedding at Kavalierhaus Klessheim

Getting ready at Hotel zum Hirschen

At Hotel zum Hirschen, the Saturday began without any rush. The room was bright, the windows large, and the curtains took just enough sharpness out of the light for it to fall softly into the room. Moritz had his brother with him, who was also his best man that day and helped him get dressed. Isabelle spent the morning with her maid of honour. There was hardly any tension in the air, more a familiarity in which every small task simply fell into place.

At some point I asked Moritz to stand by the window. He looked out, the curtain hanging still beside him, and outside a day was waiting that had not quite begun. That brief moment had something quiet, almost private about it, just before everything started to move.

Moritz went ahead, Isabelle stayed at the hotel a little longer. Down in the lobby she waited, glass in hand, for the driver, who arrived later than planned. No one grew restless. Those minutes still belonged to a morning that was taking its time. By the time Isabelle finally got into the car, Moritz was already at Kavalierhaus Klessheim, and their first moment together that day was only a short drive away.

First look at the corner of the house

Moritz was waiting at the corner of the Kavalierhaus. The pale façade with its shutters stood clear in the sun, and the light cut sharp edges into wall and shadow. Beside it, a patch of green with a sculpture. No one else was there, no guests, no voices, just this quiet corner and what was about to happen.

When the two of them finally stood facing each other, their eyes went down first, as if each of them needed a breath of their own. It did not last long. A laugh came, a glance up, a hand reaching for the other. I said nothing at that point. There was nothing to say, and any word from me would only have made the moment smaller.

Their first walk together led along the wrought-iron gate, the Kavalierhaus behind them. The sun traced their outlines, and the two of them walked side by side as naturally as if they had taken this path many times before. Neither of them posed. They had simply arrived, with each other and in this place.

Couple portraits in the garden

After the hard midday light against the wall of the house, the garden felt like breathing out. The sun was still there, but between the lawn and the pale stone of the Kavalierhaus it grew softer. The two of them were almost always on the move, along the paths, past the balustrade with the stone stag, and the lightness came with the movement on its own.

Under the arch they paused just once. Moritz kissed Isabelle on the forehead, and for a moment the garden around them seemed to grow quieter.

On the lawn the wind played with the train of her dress, and Isabelle laughed the way you only laugh when you have forgotten that someone is watching. Towards the end, the first clouds drifted over the trees, slowly, but impossible to miss.

The ceremony after the rain

The rain arrived with the guests. It fell on the paths and on the rows of chairs in the rondeau. Inside, people waited by the windows, looking out at the wet garden. Isabelle held on to her plan all the same. She wanted to walk down the avenue to her ceremony, outside under the trees, and would rather start later than give that up. There was a quiet certainty in that decision that this was how it should be.

A few minutes before the start, the rain stopped. Suddenly there were many helping hands, drying chair after chair. As the two of them came down the stone steps into the garden, the sun broke through. The leaves were still glistening with rain, and the air was fresh.

A musician played the violin, and with the first notes some of the tension that had hung in the air all afternoon began to lift. Alexander from Heinzigartig, their celebrant, gave an address so personal that it moved everyone listening. Isabelle and Moritz held hands and were entirely with each other. And so it became the ceremony under the trees after all, the one Isabelle had chosen so bravely and so clearly. When they kissed, nothing was left of the waiting. Only the damp gravel underfoot still quietly remembered it.

Champagne and speeches in the evening

While the guests made their way to the reception, Isabelle and Moritz slipped away for a moment. Two glasses of champagne, a quiet toast. They did not say much. They simply stood close together, and you could feel how good this small pause for the two of them was before the evening began.

Later everyone sat together at the table, and with dinner came the speeches. When Isabelle's maid of honour stood up, the table soon filled with warm laughter. At some point it grew quieter, and the laughter turned into something more tender. I noticed how close light-hearted cheer and deep emotion lay to each other that evening. At the end there was an embrace that needed no explanation.

That is how this Kavalierhaus Klessheim wedding drew to a close: the day ended in a warm room full of people who had a great deal to say to one another.

Looks and details

For the second day of their wedding weekend, the two of them had chosen new looks. Isabelle wore a halterneck gown by Alberto Palatchi. The long scarf elements gave the fabric a lightness, as if it were never quite still. With it came statement earrings by Studio Ena. Moritz had chosen a black dinner suit from Suitsupply, with a white shirt from Cove & Co. and a black bow tie.

The bouquet was made by Mydekostories, hair and make-up by Jackie Asaro. I liked that this elegance did not need to be loud. It lay in the small things. Black and white, clean lines, and in between enough room for the two of them and for everything that was so effortless between them.

The people behind the day

Photography

Juliane Kaeppel

Hair & make-up

Jackie Asaro

Getting ready

Hotel zum Hirschen

Venue

Kavalierhaus Klessheim

Ceremony

Heinzigartig Trauredner

Flowers

Mydekostories

Dress

Alberto Palatchi

Bridal boutique

Ladonnahochzeitsatelier

Jewellery

STUDIO ENA

Suit

Suitsupply

Suit & shirt

Cove GmbH & Co. KG