Weddings in Namibia - couples from abroad are telling their story
Meet in the desert and listen to songs of love in Mondesa For us it is still unbelievable with how much warmth and ease people in Mondesa organised our wedding party and that for strangers from abroad. It was just wonderful!
There was a moment of unease when we thought of our family at home in Germany who could not join us for this special day, but we have always been travelling together and we really wanted to make the wedding ours. It soon turned out that there were many people in Swakopmund and Mondesa who took genuine pleasure in our wedding and organized an unforgettable day for us.
 The registrar at Swakopmund’s magistrate didn’t only ask for a simple „Yes“ but let us repeat a personal marriage vow. Floyd, who had accompanied us as our personal tour guide throughout Namibia the week before, was our witness along with one of his cousins – Christine. After a champagne reception at the Atlantic beach right next to the Namib desert we were taken to Mondesa, but had to do a „last round of honour“: Our host Granny Josephine still had curlers in her hair ... Maybe we would have been irritated in a country like Germany, where even weddings are following tight time schedules. Here we felt taken care of all the time. We were spontaneously taken for cart-driving, had a coffee and visited a kindergarten.The afternoon was spent dancing in the courtyard of our hosts Oma Josephine and her husband Joseph. All their neighbours were around, dressed up in festive day clothes.
 We shared a personalized wedding cake made of butter cream. Susanne got a scarf made of silk that, traditionally, only married Damara women usually wrap around their head. Again and again we were hugged and congratulated! We drove a few blocks further, got out of the taxi and were again welcomed with showers of confetti and a singing youth choir. The interior of the house as well as the Courtyard was lit with lanterns and candles; we discovered an individually designed wedding tapestry for us on the house wall. We all enjoyed a delicious meal - prepared over an open fire in a traditional 3-legged-Pot that is called a„Potjie“. Close to 30 children and youngsters sang damara and english love songs whilst the choir director told us the corresponding stories.
Sebastian und Susanne Triesch
November 2009
Bochum, Germany
African Desk: Sebastian and Susanne will come this year 2011 for another trip to Namibia - and their parents will join them this time.
Champagne in the silence of desert
 When we planned our Namibia tour in February, we spontaneously decided: Let’s get married in Namibia! As we both love trips to foreign countries, this was the perfect way for us to get married. After a short internet research, we discovered African Desk and were immediately convinced by their offer.
It was definitely strange to plan our own wedding by e-mail from abroad. However, our worries were unfounded since Elizabeth did an excellent job! Our bus trip to Swakopmund, the hairdresser’s appointment, the civil wedding itself – everything had been arranged perfectly. After the hairdresser’s appointment, Elizabeth picked us up at our hotel at around 11 am. She had a beautiful African bouquet for me and a boutonniere for Steffen. Our taxi brought us to town, where our wedding witnesses, some of Elizabeth’s family members and an African a-capella band already awaited us in front of the Magistrates’ Court. Along with the band – which played wonderful music – we strolled through the town towards the beach and stopped now and then to take pictures. Afterwards, the taxi brought us to the dunes where we had a glass of champagne with our wedding witnesses and the band. Of course we also took some more pictures. The atmosphere in the dunes was unique since the fog cleared at exactly that moment. At 2 pm, the wedding itself took place in the Magistrates’ Court. We had the rest of the afternoon for ourselves and used it for a stroll along the beach. That wonderful day was crowned by a romantic candle light dinner in a separate hotel room. The huge fish platter was excellent! Thank you very much for that unforgettable day and the beautiful pictures! Kerstin Freudl and Steffen Mayer
Kleinostheim (Bayern), Germany
May 2009
 Like King and Queen
For a long time we’ve dreaming and wondered, Should we get married or not? Should we have a big event with all our friends, relatives and family? Or should we marry secretly? What was our best solution? And eventually we found it.
Travelling is our favourite hobby: We thought we would just backpack our way through Botswana and Namibia without anything booked in advance. We planned this for the beginning of this year: Three weeks with our friends, a Jeep and two tents. Why should we not also have a plain wedding ceremony on the beach – without any fuss or stress?  After a quick search in the Internet, we hooked up with Elizabeth from African Desk. Shortly after that we fixed the 29th of February – the magistrate in Swakopmund was free then, so we faxed the required documents and left for Botswana with a birth certificate, 2 pairs of flip flops, an elegant beach dress and a wedding shirt for André. Elizabeth handled all the paper work, organized a ceremony at the beach just the way we wanted it: Small but nice.
After a two weeks in Botswana, we arrived in Swakopmund with two more friends. My niece had come as surprise guests – so there were six of us.  Our pension had a wonderful garden that we used for ironing clothes, putting on makeup and relaxing with a cool drink in hand. Elizabeth picked us up in the early afternoon and we headed for the magistrate, with a bridal bouquet, flowers for my hair and André’s shirt. The Registrar joked a lot and the English ceremony was easier than we thought.
After this official part we left for the beach where singing children greeted us under a decorated tent. Then our emotions got the upper hand. Everything was arranged with so much love, nothing too formal and we were just sitting there like a king and queen. That’s how it should be in Africa.
André und Katja Störmer
Leipzig, Deutschland
Februar 2008
 Vows at sunrise
Namibia is our dreamland. That's why we made sure that when we got married, it would be in Namibia! We wanted a very plain ceremony - even in casual wear and without any organizational stress. We found African Desk in the Internet and felt in good hands with Elizabeth right from the beginning. She worked fast and efficiently, always available and on our side to help - even when we posed questions beyond our wedding ceremony.
We arrived in Swakopmund one day before the wedding ceremony. Elizabeth invited us to dinner so that we could also get to know our witnesses: We were quite taken with Charles as well as Charlotte and found them very pleasant. We knew we had made the right choice. The next day we had east wind with 41,5 °C which was exceptionally hot for Swakopmund. Nonetheless Charlotte came in her traditional Nama dress and Charles dressed up with a dark suit and noble shoes - we could not have had better witnesses. Elizabeth had arranged for a plain decoration that perfectly suited our wishes. She even thought of a bouquet of dried desert flowers so that we could take it with on the trip.
 After the ceremony we had drinks at Café Village and had so much fun sitting in our half-cut bathing tube! Although legislation had changed only recently Elizabeth made sure that we got the wedding papers
(apostille) in time before our departure to Germany. There was really nothing that we had to worry about! It was an unforgettable day that we spent with unforgettable people!
Sabine and Uwe Grunert,
Wiesbaden, Germany
May 2007
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 Real palm trees and those from marzipan....
Our wedding in Namibia was a day filled with wonderful surprises:
Starting with our charming witnesses Renate and Solomon in traditional dresses, the magistrate decorated with flowers and the wedding ceremony in the Lapa at the Atlantic Ocean of Swakopmund - Elizabeth from African Desk had organized a perfect wedding. A Nama choir sang and children danced for us. On the wedding cake we did not only find palm trees and elephants from marzipan but also our names. Hansa Hotel served fresh butterfish together with a delicious South African white wine from the Cape region.  The dessert - mousse au chocolat - came with a candle and good wishes: "Alles Gute" (All the best) was written in chocolate on the edge of the plate.... we really felt at home! Getting married in Nambia was definitely the right thing for us!
Thanks to Elizabeth's cheerfulness and competent service we spent three unforgettable weeks in Namibia. Our experiences in Etosha exceeded all our expectations: elephants taking a bath, innumerable zebras and giraffes, rhinos at the water hole and lions dozing in the savannah…
Inger Rahn and Thomas Heisterhagen
Hamburg/ Germany
May 2005
 A fairy tale wedding
8. Juli 2005. A cloudless sky. Palmtrees dandling in the wind. A festively dressed company assembles in the courtyard of Swakopmunder Hotel. The Marimba Band plays a traiditional wedding march, when the bride appears between the fassades of the colonial-style house and steps to the aisle under a white tent. After the ceremony the choire is singing – it is the many-voiced melody of the Nama plucking the guest’s heartstrings. The stay for many hours, have a glass of champagne and enjoy the nicely decorated wedding cake. A fairy tale wedding in Namibia.
Flashback: During her trip through South African my sister Tanja got to know the South African Derick from Pretoria. After a few months of travelling to and fro they wanted to get married. It was their wish to have a ceremony in Namibia – the country where they had met for the first time. Myself – being her sister and fond of Africa – promised to orgnized everything. However, I wasn’t aware at this point of time, that there would be about 80 guests travelling from Germany and South Africa. It was my luck that through a rearch in the internet I got to know Elizabeth. She helped in every respect. We mailed on an almost daily basis. That alone was great fun.
 In the end Elizabeth took over the whole organization according to our wishes and contributed most of the ideas. The ceremony in the magistrate was planned perfectly. Part of the wedding was supposed to take place in the desert – all the details were considered and taken care of already: Chairs, champagne, glasses, wedding cake, an aisle, decoration, wedding choire, Marimba Band and a desert tent – however there came a desert storm on the day. Within a few hours Elizabeth reorganized everything: She booked and decorated the courtyard of Swakopmund Hotel. The way she created this special
To plan and celebrate with Elizabeth was a great pleasure. She couldn’t have imagined a nicer weddding – my sister recalled later. The pictures remain unforgettable. Thank you, Elizabeth.
Sonja Fröhlich,
Hannover , Germany
July 2005  Sharing a wedding cake at Africa's Atlantic Ocean
We have always been globetrotters exploring the world and when we thought about the venue for our wedding, "Swakopmund" flashed into our minds. We had been in Namibia before and what we especially liked about Swakopmund was its colonial architecture and the ocean nearby. When we checked the Internet we came across African Desk's home page that described a couple's experiences when they got married in Namibia. This was exactly what we had in mind!
We got in touch with Elizabeth. Once we had made the decision to go with Elizabeth, everything went very smoothly and quickly with no complications. We had a clear plan about our 5-weeks-honeymoon already and Elizabeth suggested a variety of useful tips. Once a place was fully booked she traced alternatives and put us at ease when accommodations were confirmed a bit late.  We had nice witnesses Olga and Steven. The first time we met was during an African dinner at Elizabeth's place the day before the wedding. Our big day came on the 2nd April 2004. It was perfect: blue sky, sun and Olga in her traditional Herero dress and Steven dressed in his finest suit. Drummers played after the ceremony in front of the magistrate’s office; a photographer took photos; children danced; and we had champagne and wedding cake under the tent on the beach. Thanks to Elizabeth who organized and arranged our wedding with so much love and a special sense for detail! It was a special day in our life and a honeymoon that we will never forget!
Kirstin Witt and Peter Unterspann
Berlin / Germany
May 2004
 Tunes of the desert winds
Elizabeth, a friend and I drove on the morning of our wedding to a spot in the desert. Merle (then my wife-to-be) and I had chosen and decorated it with palm leaves and white blossoms. Later, guests followed us to this wonderful place, where we all waited for the bride-to-be to arrive.
After waiting an hour, the desert silence was suddenly broken by the roar of a V-8 motor. From the distance you could see a pick-up truck approaching, and Merle was sitting in it. That is how my "Desert Rose" arrived at the altar. We heard the wedding march from a cassette player, and Merle walked barefoot along a palm-lined path towards me.
The pastor performed the ceremony under a blue sky, in the golden dunes of the Namib. The wedding guests sang as we signed the papers, accompanied by the music of the desert winds. Afterwards we celebrated with champagne, lamb chops and salads prepared by my Namibian mother-in-law. It was an unforgettable experience for my wife and me, and a unique one for our guests.
Thomas and Merle Zenker
Mörshausen/ Spangenberg, Germany
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