Spring blossom & the mountains. International castle wedding at Schloss Leopoldskron. Hallie & Juergen.

Hallie, a native Texan living in California, and Jürgen, a native German living in London, met in Nashville, TN, at a personal development retreat. With strict rules of no cell phones, TV and portable electronics, the two were stripped of distractions and assigned the same group for the week.

They learned about each other’s strengths, weakness, insecurities, and saw the person for who they really were and fell in love.

They managed a long distance relationship between San Diego and London for a year and half, and On March 27th 2016, Jürgen took Hallie to the beautiful town of Füssen in Germany, where he had spent countless childhood vacations. After shopping for traditional German outfits, Dirndl and Lederhosen, they went to the magical castle of Neuschwanstein, where Jürgen got down on one knee on the king’s balcony.

The proposal set the tone – Hallie and Jürgen decided to celebrate their wedding with guests from all over the world in a romantic castle. And could you ever find more romance than in Schloss Leopoldskron, the Sound of Music castle located in beautiful Salzburg, Austria. To honour both their heritages, their three day wedding celebrations were kicked off with a Mini-Oktoberfest in a traditional beer cellar, overlooking Salzburg’s old town. Dress code “Tracht” – that meant that everybody got into Dirndls and Lederhosen, enjoying typical German games, great traditional music and, you guessed it, quite a bit of beer. On Sunday, the wedding celebrations was rounded off with a delicious American inspired brunch with pancakes, waffles and a view of Schloss Leopoldkron.

About their wedding celebration on saturday

Hallie and Jürgen had a vision of effortless, classy and organic feel that worked so well with the traditional elegance of the castle. Lot’s of greenery, paired with anemones, succulents and pillar candles created a feelings as if the woods had taken back a little piece of the castle.

The ceremony aisle was lined with greenery arrangements and pictures of the couple’s parents and grandparents on their wedding day. The altar was framed with springy, blossoming twigs of pear trees, right in front of the famous horse gates from “The Sound of Music.”

Someone was watching over them, as an outside ceremony usually never happens in March in Austria – but at noon, the clouds were whisked away, the fog lifted and the sun brought out the beautiful view of the lake and the mountains. The ceremony had many emotional highlights: Hallie’s father, a pastor, officiated the service. Honoring the international background of their family and friends, Hallie and Jürgen incorporated 12 different languages into their ceremony, with friends from all over the world quoting Corinthians 13 “Love is patient” in their native languages. As a first task as husband and wife, Hallie and Jürgen cut their wedding cake, beautifully designed with their gold monogram and sugar greenery and then invited their guests to enjoy champagne, coffee and cake, a tradition amongst Germans.

For dinner, the great historic marble hall with the grand crystal chandeliers was opened, and guests found their seats at the tables which were named after milestones in Hallie and Jürgen’s love story. As spreading kindness is something very important to the bride and groom, a table was dedicated to this and had random acts of kindness hidden underneath the plates of 12 guests. Making the wedding a personal affair was also very important to the couple – so instead of gifts, they asked their guests to contribute a talent to their special day. The stationery was designed by a grooms friend together with the bride; Hallie’s girlfriend, a famous hair stylist, did her hair on the day of, a friend and singer from Poland treated them to a polish love song during the ceremony.

Hallie Heeg recently raised £1m to open up her own eating disorder centre in London. Being in recovery from bulimia herself, she wanted to create a program that would help others who were struggling. The theme of vulnerability and kindness was spread throughout the wedding weekend.