Old Hollywood Glamour For a Magical Winter Wedding in a Converted Railway Depot in Berlin

We’re heading to brilliant Berlin today for a completely beguiling wedding celebration held in the beautiful and weathered spaces of a converted railway depot.

Our couple, too, are head to toe in stylish, vintage inspired outfits inspired by the bygone glamour of Hollywood’s golden age. Victoria, Deputy Secretary General of the German Council for Sustainable Development and Thorsten, a police officer with the Berlin State Police Department were married on the 13 January 2018 at Von Greifswald, Berlin.

Images by Oh Hedwig

“We wanted a venue that was close to our home for logistical reasons and also something quite central to Berlin as we had many guests travelling in for the wedding. It also suited our brief for a relaxed location with plenty of room and a great atmosphere. Von Greifswald is a converted railway depot with large connecting spaces. As we were planning a winter wedding we wanted a location where the ceremony and party could be in one place. It was important to us that the feel would not be too polished or corporate.”

“Our guiding principles were our guests really. We wanted them to feel welcomed and comfortable. Many of our friends have young children whom we wanted to include. We also wanted our venue to reflect the place we live in. Von Greifswald perfectly encapsulates the current atmosphere and style in Berlin.”

We have the talented Saskia Bauermeister of Oh Hedwig to thank for these intimate and evocative images full of warmth and charm.

“A friend recommended Saskia to me. She specialises in documentary style wedding shoots and creates very atmospheric pictures.  Saskia was very warm and attentive. She was open and easy to talk to.”

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“On the day she blended into the celebrations seamlessly and it was a pleasure to have her around. Shooting a winter wedding has its own special challenges due to the lack of natural light, but she made it an asset and captured so many beautiful moments for us. She works internationally too and I would highly recommend her to couples wanting a documentary style feel to their photos.”

Groom Thorsten wanted to wear a classic morning suit and hired one from Xuits, along with a fantastic top hat and bought shoes from Belmondo.

“If you can’t wear a top hat at your wedding then when else?”

Victoria’s elegant gown was made for her by friend and designer Dara Ford, with a romantic lace bodice (those lace and tulle sleeves, wow!) and graceful silk skirt.

“I knew that getting a perfect fit would be important to me… Luckily my childhood friend, Dara, is a bespoke tailor and dressmaker so I asked her to make my dress. I might not have thought about going down the custom wedding dress route otherwise. It was such a special experience and not just because she is my friend. Being listened to and having every detail considered for and with you is incredible.”

“The look I wanted was a deep V-Neck (down to the waist) with an A-Line skirt. Throughout the fittings Dara worked with me to create the look, but also made the adjustments that my curvy shape required.”

“She carefully placed the lace so that it met at the front covering the bra I was going to wear and pieced together two different types of lace to add a nicer edge and a little sparkle. Nothing was too much trouble and she even added in some little net gussets under the arms to ensure I could move freely without compromising on the fitted look of the sleeve.”

“All the lace seams were hand-stitched creating a sculpted effect.On the day I felt so incredibly comfortable! I loved wearing my dress. It was perfect for me and the venue. I had so many compliments from my friends on the day. But even now months later I still get comments on how amazing and perfectly suited to me the dress was.” 

Victoria added pearl earrings from Christ, and for fragrance, J’Adore by Dior, a gift from her aunt Petra. On her feet she wore simple and stylish patent pumps by Gino Rossi. Glamorous, vintage style hair and make up came courtesy of Mandy Klimt.

“I chose these shoes so that I could wear them again after the wedding. They are simple and elegant and I now wear them all the time…I also had some flat ballerinas by Cox for back-up. An absolute essential as we partied and danced until 4am!”

“I found Mandy via Google. I liked her style and she lives near us. She put a lot of effort and care into our trial session. She was extremely professional and it was a lot of fun. Our wedding day was no different. The make-up and hairstyle she created for me lasted all evening. She even managed to conceal a pimple that appeared on my nose that morning! She made me feel beautiful and created a perfectly natural look for me.”

The flowers were full of frosted, winter beauty in shades of white, with waxflowers and eucalyptus, as well as gorgeous ranunculus with the most delicate hint of blush pink. They were the work of Jil Berner of Kopflegenden, who was recommended to the couple by make-up artist Mandy.

“Jil specialises in beautiful vintage bouquets and headpieces. She sent me pictures of seasonal flowers from the market and advised me with a lot of care, attention to detail and expertise. I loved my flowers and the flower girls looked so perfect with their headbands.”

Outdoors in the January chill, Victoria wore the most beautiful cream coloured winter coat from Christian Berg – a gift from her adopted mother, Anne.

“I didn’t really have bridesmaids as such, but I gave little engraved bracelets to my closest girlfriends with the word ‘Freundin’, one for my adopted mother that says ‘Familie’ (German for family) and I have a matching one that says ‘Braut’ (German for bride).”

Victoria credits her Maid of Honour, Andrea, with providing invaluable help in the run up to the day. As a film-maker and producer, she has a great eye and so undertook the designing of the couple’s wedding stationery.

“We met on a blind date on January 13th 2013. It was at the Café Chagall, an old quirky pub in Berlin. We didn’t know much about each other prior to meeting and were curious to find out more. I had planned to make an excuse to leave after 10 minutes or so if I didn’t feel any connection. As it turned out we talked for hours and discovered that we had both lived abroad for periods of time and would like to do so again.”

“For our second date Thorsten invited me to the ‘Komische Oper’. He booked seats for us in a private box which we shared with an elderly couple who have been regulars there for decades and always have those seats. It was wonderful to share a box with a couple that were still in love after so many years. I wouldn’t say that it was love at first sight. Our love for each other developed gradually over time.”

“We travelled a lot, mostly in Thorsten’s favourite T3 Volkswagen Camper and just spent a lot of time with each other. We also fought and argued, but always came to realise that we are happier together than apart. In 2015 the Nickelback song ‘What are you waiting for’ became our anthem and we decided to move in together.”

“Thorsten gave up his beloved bachelor pad on the outskirts of Berlin where wild boar still roam the streets at night and moved into my flat in the centre of Berlin. Shortly after I fell pregnant with our daughter Carlotta and she was born in 2016.”

“Since then barely a day passes in which we don’t look at each other and think how lucky we are – life is just so much fun together. On December 25th 2016 we were sat round the Christmas tree with my family and Thorsten gave me a large present.”

“As I began to unwrap it more and more smaller boxes were revealed. When I had reached the last one Thorsten took it out of my hand and got down on one knee. In front of the whole family he asked me if I would marry him. It was a very moving moment for us all. I would never have imagined that he would ask me in front of my family – it was so touching and beautiful.”

“We celebrated with champagne as the day faded. On October 13th 2017 we had our civil ceremony (this is always separate from a church or other ceremony in Germany). Only our witnesses and their families were present.”

“We chose the Eberbach monastery for this where ‘The Name of the Rose’ with Sean Connery was filmed. We were assigned a date and when we realised that it would be October 13th we chose January 13th 2018 for our main celebrations – five years to the day from our first date. A wonderful coincidence as we had already been considering a winter wedding.”

Victoria chose Pachelbel’s Canon in D as her entrance music for the ceremony. She was accompanied down the aisle, and here Victoria explains her choice and her reasons.

“My family background is difficult. My parents divorced when I was young. My father pretty much abandoned us and my mother struggled to cope with my two younger brothers and me.”

“For a while I practically became their surrogate mother. Where my own parents failed me others stepped in. I have three families that played an instrumental part in my upbringing. Bernd, who walked me down the aisle, and his wife Anne ended up legally adopting my youngest brother. To me they are my soul family and it was a special and poignant moment.”

Pastor Mickey Wiese conducted the ceremony, and he has also been another important guiding figure in Victoria’s life.

“He is an amazing preacher and took great care to make our ceremony personal and meaningful. He is a licensed pastor, but does humanist weddings too.”

“Mickey helped us structure our marriage ceremony. We wanted it to feel individual and for it to include our families and friends. The ceremony was made up of different parts. We had a ‘sky of love’ in which friends read out quotes and words of wisdom that we had chosen.”

Victoria and Thorsten selected a Bible reading from the New International Version – Ecclestiastes 4:9-12.

“Our faith is important to us and we wanted to reflect that we are not alone in our marriage. God will guide and help us live a good, loving and respectful marriage symbolised in the three stranded cords at the end of the verse.”

Weddings rings were bought from 123 Gold, and Victoria chose rose gold to match her engagement ring.

Music throughout the ceremony was provided by close friends, including a spine-tingling version of Nickelback’s What Are You Waiting For.

“At the end they sang the gospel song ‘Oh Happy Day’ for us alongside a small choir made up of friends and family. It was an uplifting ending to our beautiful ceremony and couldn’t have been more perfect.”

“There was such an overwhelming feeling of love in the air. The ceremony was very emotional and personal. It was wonderful to see the many shining faces looking at us and the contributions by our friends, especially the songs, were so touching.”

The flower girls looked heavenly in tulle skirts by Dara Ford paired with soft jumpers from Vertbaudet.

“We tried to consider what our flower girls would enjoy wearing and what they would have fun in. Dara created the fairytale tulle skirts and we completed the look with soft jumpers so that they wouldn’t be cold.”

The couple’s four smart page boys wore checked suits from Next, complete with bow ties.

“The outfits came with little bow ties, which I thought the boys might not like so I didn’t insist they wear them, but they turned out to be the favourite part of the outfit for them. All the boys were so excited about their little suits – it was too cute.”

It’s amazing how cosy and inviting industrial spaces can look, especially as it gets dark outside. Inside Von Greifswald, the wonderful old brickwork and wooden ceiling served as a beautiful backdrop for long tables with simple white cloths and mismatched chairs.

“Because we were quite relaxed about the décor we asked the venue to source and provide flowers for the tables. We concentrated our efforts on providing entertainment for the kids instead. We hired babysitters and made sure there were plenty of games on hand. From bobby cars to table tennis and a fun photo booth they were certainly kept busy.”

The food was provided by the in-house team at Von Greifswald.

“Choosing this venue was greatly helped by the fact that their chef uses local and seasonal ingredients. The food is prepared on site in an open kitchen and it was great to have that connection to the catering staff throughout the evening.”

“Much of our wedding was done with the help of our friends and it meant so much to us to know that the cake had been made in our kitchen. We chose to serve it after dinner once our extended friends and colleagues had joined us for the evening party. We made sure they were the first to get a slice (apart from the kids of course).”

There was another spectacular sweet treat in the shape of a doughnut wall made by Thorsten the day before the wedding, with vegan doughnuts from Brammibal’s Donuts.

Later in the evening, Victoria and Thorsten danced to the song Come Away With Me by Norah Jones, and family friend and DJ Simply Tasi was on hand to get everyone dancing through the night.

“The evening’s celebrations were relaxed just as we had hoped. We enjoyed celebrating with our 120 guests and loved watching the children flit around in between. They were clearly having fun which was wonderful to see. The food was amazing and the speeches both moving and funny. Then we simply danced into the wee hours. The entire day was perfect!”

“Andrea, the maid of honour, acted as master of ceremonies and kept everything running smoothly on the day. She kept any problems out of our sight so that we could enjoy ourselves.”

The couple landed on a really brilliant idea for favours. On each guest’s seat there were matches and sparklers from Ihr Werbedruck, which were then lit and held aloft as a glittering guard of honour as they walked back down the aisle as newlyweds.

The wedding cake was made by bridal designer Dara’s sister Hannah, who created a naked cake in seasonally inspired flavours, with cranberry filling and buttercream. Victoria ordered a wooden laser-cut topper from Etsy-based CorkCountryCottage.

Words of Wedded Wisdom

“Take time to consider which things about the day are important to you and focus your efforts on those. Our priority was to provide a beautiful and relaxed atmosphere to our friends and family. So the venue, the food, the children’s entertainment were all key elements for us. Table decorations by comparison were not high on our list.”

“Go with what feels right to you and trust your instincts. If you are going to include children in your wedding keep things easy for them. We had a simple children’s dish so that they didn’t have to sit through a four course meal. We also provided drawing materials and a babysitter. The photo booth was their favourite bit of the evening. It had a printer attached so that they could see the results instantly. A great hit.”

“My main advice would be to choose a dress that is truly comfortable and in which you can move and dance freely. It will help you relax and enjoy your day to the full.”

Thank you so much Victoria and Thorsten, for sharing your day with us, and for your honest and heartfelt words. Many thanks also to Saskia at Oh Hedwig for her truly bewitching images. You can take a look at more beautiful weddings in Germany on our pages, right here.

With love,

Laura