Q. How did you guys first meet and fall in love?

A. We first met in 2018 in one of the shabbiest clubs in Cologne. I was there with two friends and actually didn’t want to go partying in the first place. Wiebke on the other hand has just failed an exam that day and desperately needed to dance and drink the failed exam away with a friend of hers. Wiebke and her friend were the first ones on the dancefloor that night. When one of my favorite songs started to play, I just had to get up to dance. It did not take Wiebke long to approach me and ask, “Hey! Why aren’t your friends dancing?” I said, “I don’t know, ask them yourselves.” And that’s exactly what Wiebke did. “Ey! Why aren’t you dancing?!” She shouted as if the fact that they weren’t moving somehow offended her. We got to talk and the evening ended with us sitting at the train station at 6 o’clock in the morning eating breakfast. We mostly talked about movies and I had to answer a very tricky question of great importance to Wiebke (since she studied media and culture sciences). “What’s your favorite movie?” Wiebke asked me. I answered, that this cannot be said in general and depends on the genre we are talking about since you can’t compare for instance action and comedy movies in that matter. That was a more than sufficient answer to Wiebke and we continued talking over breakfast until she took the train home. Since Wiebke just left a very long relationship she wasn’t really interested in dating, so I was lucky to still somehow manage to get her number. Only two days later we got coffee together. And Wiebke’s plan of not dating for a while, you may have guessed it, failed miserably. More than 4 years later, on September 23rd, 2022, I proposed to her.

Q. How did you know you wanted to marry each other and who wanted to tie the knot first?

A. Christian: When I first met Wiebke I had the feeling that we just “clicked” and after getting to know her even better, she is now the person I feel the most comfortable, secure and loved and at-home around. I know I can talk to her about absolutely everything and know that I won’t ever become tired of listening to her and having her around me. Whenever I think of her, it makes me smile. I always thought I knew love before, but I realized I did not know true love until I met Wiebke. And this is how I knew I wanted to marry her.

Wiebke: When I met Christian, I was so not ready to enter another relationship. I just wanted to finish my Bachelor’s and start to build a life for myself. The thing that impressed me the most about Christian was his absolute determination to help and support me during all of the challenges I had to face even though I made it very clear I did not want a relationship at that time, which he was completely fine with. I am a person who always listens to her head rather than her heart and the fact that Christian still found a way into my heart while I was so focused on my degree, moving into a new flat and finding a first job showed me that he was the one. Especially in the last years when there were a lot of health-related issues on my side, he always supported and motivated me and was my biggest cheerleader. So I guess I knew right from the start that he was the one for me but the last two years showed me that he is not only great during the good times but even greater during difficult times.

Q. Why did you choose Hiddenspace, how did you hear about us, and what made you decide on this specific ring?

A. Hiddenspace has been on our mind for quite some time, since Wiebke LOVES Salt and Pepper diamonds. I had been waiting a long time until I could, on one hand, afford the ring and, on the other hand, find the perfect setting based on Wiebke’s pinterest board: A hexagon or kite shaped center stone, which should be the star of the ring. However there also can be side stones but they mustn’t steal the show. The center stone itself should not be too dark and not too “salty”; it should have a perfect balance. So, I waited for the right setting, until the Scarlett Ring came along. This kite-shaped center stone embedded in beautiful gold with pretty marquise diamonds was simply perfect. I chose Hiddenspace since the rings are so unique and you can just feel how much love and time Jay puts into his designs. There are so many beautiful options and Jay was more than helpful and appreciating during the whole process.

Q. Tell us about the details of the proposal & the wedding. How did you feel? How did it go?

A. Since movies and going to the cinema have been and still are (and will always be) a very important part of our lives and our relationship, Christian chose a movie theater as the location for the proposal. He planned it to be at the end of September and chose this specific date (23rd of September), because on that date we were together for 1407 days. Since we got to know each other on the 14th of July, the date was set to be perfect already. To not make me suspicious, he planned several activities throughout the month’s weekends as “Autumn Date Nights”. But little did I know that the second date night would be the engagement.

Christian rented our favorite movie theater in the city and had some help from my best friend Leona and our photographer Stefanie (an old friend of mine from my first job) who set up everything so it would be perfect when we arrive. When we got to the door of the movie theater, Christian knocked twice to let Leona and Stefanie know that we were about to enter. So when he did, I was really confused. Not only because Christian knocked on the door (who does that?) but also because of the slideshow with photos of us that was playing on the big screen and the fact that I heard the clicking of a camera. I wasn’t able to move at first because I was panicking that I may have forgotten an anniversary or something. But the moment I saw my bestie, I immediately knew what was about to happen.

We proceeded to go the first row, where Christian sat my nervous-a** down. Then Christian, to my surprise, proceeded to grab a guitar. Mind you, Christian is not musically talented at all! However, he managed to teach himself how to play our favorite song on guitar. Afterwards he made me stand up in front of him and we both started to cry before he even said a word. After a very emotional speech he had prepared, he got down on one knee and popped the question.

Afterwards we had two hours, in which we could celebrate and take pictures within and outside of the movie theater. It was simply perfect and the best day of our lives so far. The wedding is now officially in planning since we started looking for the perfect location. We are planning to get married at the end of 2025.

“He learned to play the guitar without me even noticing!
To this day I still have no idea how he managed to keep that a secret.”

Q. Describe your romantic night or the most romantic day you guys have ever shared.

A. It has to be the day of the proposal – no question about that! Christian himself is a hopeless romantic and loves planning romantic little surprises or activities. However, by arranging such a beautiful proposal he has simply outdone himself. He put so much thought and effort into planning everything: finding the perfect place, photographer and ring. And, I mean, hey! He learned to play the guitar without me even noticing! To this day I still have no idea how he managed to keep that a secret.

“We think it is important to make sure your core values align with the other person’s before committing to a relationship. [...] Any disagreements that aren’t based on the other person’s fundamental values can be resolved relatively easily as long as you are willing to listen to your partner.”

Q. Any advice to couples or newlyweds? Anything else you’d like to share with the world?

A. Communication is key. Like every other couple, we are sometimes of different opinions but fortunately we have never had any really intense, heated arguments. It turned out that every fight or discussion we had to this day was due to stressful times or needing some time to ourselves. We think this is due to the fact that we always try to understand the other person and talk it out. That’s why we think it is important to make sure your core values align with the other person’s before committing to a relationship. Because any disagreements that aren’t based on the other person’s fundamental values can be resolved relatively easily as long as you are willing to listen to your partner, try to understand how they feel and learn from your mistakes.