The Wedding Room
The Wedding Room is a source of pride for the Wedding Tower Promotion Society and the Darmstadt registry office. It offers an exceptional setting for weddings. It is well over four meters high and has a flat, gilded stucco ceiling. The walls are painted with a princely wedding scene in neo-Renaissance style. In front of the wood-panelled walls below the painting, bridal cups from the 19th and 20th century are displayed in showcases. Since 1993, the Wedding Tower Promotion Society has offered bridal couples the extraordinary opportunity to celebrate their civil wedding in the Wedding Tower which is part of the traditional Jugendstil ensemble on Mathildenhöhe.
The Wedding Butler
Each ceremony in the Wedding Tower is accompanied by the wedding butler in tails and top hat who makes sure the ceremony runs smoothly. He welcomes the bridal couples, gives a brief run-through of the ceremony and ensures that the bridal party arrive in the Wedding Room on schedule.
Should you wish for a bridal cup ceremony, hand your previously purchased bridal cup over to the butler in the Wedding Tower foyer and agree with him on the place where the guests are supposed to meet after the ceremony. There he will await the newlyweds. In the presence of your guests he will tell the legend of the bridal cup and say a few words about the symbolic character of this wedding tradition. Then he will pass the newlyweds the filled cup which they are supposed to empty simultaneously in harmonious coordination without spilling a single drop. After successful completion of this harmony test, the butler concludes the ceremony with the presentation of the cup to the young couple and his best wishes for a happy marriage.
The Bridal Cup Ceremony
The bridal cup, also called the wedding cup, is a drinking vessel from which the bride and groom can, with a certain level of skill, drink simultaneously. Bridal cups are a typical wedding gift for young couples to prove in an original way that they are able to jointly master difficult situations.
The bridal cup ceremony has its origin in the goldsmiths’ town of Nuremberg. According to a legend dating back to the 16th century, Kunigunde, the young daughter of a duke, was deeply in love with a handsome goldsmith. As this was not in line with the nobleman’s idea of a suitable relationship, he locked the young man up in a dungeon to put an end to the affair. Kunigunde, however, cried, fell ill and became weaker and weaker. Finally, the duke had mercy and said: “If the goldsmith can make a cup allowing two people to drink at the same time without spilling one single drop, you shall have him for your husband.” He did not expect the young man’s enormous ambition and creativity. Inspired by his love, he created a unique and unprecedented bridal cup in the form of a wonderful skirt within only a few days. On this he fixed a model of his beautiful love’s upper body with her raised hands holding a smaller movable cup. So, it was an easy thing for the two lovers to drink from the cup simultaneously without spilling a drop. The nobleman had to keep his promise and reluctantly gave his blessing to the wedding.
For your own personal harmony test the shop on the ground floor of the Wedding Tower provides various bridal cups made of polished tin and brilliant, cut crystal glass. All bridal cups are handmade and manufactured under strict quality control. If you wish, your own bridal cup can be personalized, for example by an engraving of the first names or initials and the wedding date. Thus, the bridal cup contributes to making the most important day in the life of a married couple unforgettable. On special request, bridal couples may crown their wedding by their personal bridal cup ceremony performed by the wedding butler.
The ceremony goes back to a legend from the 16th century.
