It's July 24th 2015, 4AM and i wake up with this thought "This is where Our Story begins.. how will it turn out? Will it be yet another hot day? Will the predicted thunderstorms play spoilsport?". Before the butterflies have a chance of taking a hold of my stomach, a calming Voice within says "Just be in the moment and enjoy each one as never before!". Thankfully I pay attention to the Voice..
Even Aishna foregoes her beauty sleep to share the morning with us. After all she's the sole representative of the Agrawal family here with me :)
Ruth and Terry arrive promptly at 5AM to have the morning cuppa with us and we head out to St Jost, a simple yet peaceful chapel in Ennetbürgen overlooking lake Lucerne. Terry and Anna have offered to be our chauffeurs for the day. As we start driving up the hill, the first orange-red hued rays of sunrise start lighting up the grey overcast skies. The view of the lake from the chapel is mesmerizingly calming. I feel a wave of chill down my spine and wonder if it's my bones rattling or is it really cold. We realize that none of us except Ruth is dressed in layers for the chilly morning.
Vikram starts taking pictures according to the directions of hustler Anna and everyone else tries to make themselves instantly invisible.
While we're soaking in the serenity, Aishna magically appears with our wedding bands and we exchange them amidst a flash of cameras. Everyone seems to have appeared suddenly!
Lukas & I walk up the little trail-steps to the granite boulder - the medieval hermit's cave. Lukas translates the inscription on the fresco to English "I will carry you". I jokingly remark "Will you"? and lucky me gets a ride on Lukas's back down to the chapel! One of the advantages of weighing half of your husband, I guess 
By now everyone is starving and we attack the spread of gipfelis, local cheeses, breads, homemade jams, muesli, yogurts @ Nidwaldnerhof with gusto in silence. Even the usually annoying Wasps don't seem to bother us. After our tummies are full, we begin to chat, plan out the rest of the day and enjoy the morning rays of light playing on the blue waters of the lake.
We all rest for a couple of hours. Terry drives us to "Coiffure Elle et lui" in Hergiswil. Franziska Bianchi, the owner greets Lisa, Aishna & me and ushers me into a chair. The butterflies start to play in my stomach again. Franziska is not only a magician when it comes to hair dressing, but a very warm & friendly soul. She offers us tea/coffee/water to calm my nerves. She quickly transforms my frizz into soft curls. Grazie Mille (Danke Schön) Franziska.
We hang around in her lovely boutique waiting for Terry & Lukas to pickup the bridal bouquet from Muggli. It's a beautiful red-white rose bouquet in sync with our wedding invitation!
We drive back to zumbühl-mode where Vikram/Anna & Ruth await us. It's already 3PM, we have 10 mins to get dressed. Daniela, the owner of the boutique has everything ready for us. As she helps me into the gown, the 30°C seems like 50°C. I start to wonder why i had to choose this 5 layered gown with a big Train. Gosh.. this is going to be one fun afternoon. Thunderstorm, where art thou? I could use one now. Sweetie-pie Aishna tries to keep me cool by blowing some fresh air all around me.
After a couple of pics, it's time for the wedding procession to head to Höfli: the civil registrar's office in Stans. Terry drives Lukas and Anna drives me. Vikram ensures that all parts of the train enter the car along with me. We're greeted by Lukas's family {Mutti (his Mother), Marcelle (his sister), Thuri (Brother-in-law), Simone (niece), Elmar (her husband) and their three children} and friends (Silbi and Gabi) as we walk in to the grounds of Höfli.
The ceremony is supposed to take place in Waser Stubä, which to my dismay is upstairs.. How am i going to carry the train upstairs?? I start scooping up all ends of the train and shuffle up the stairs. It suddenly occurs to me that tripping over my own train would make for some really funny pictures. I can't help laugh as i mentally picture that and suddenly it's much easier to walk up. I get a hang of it -- this is actually fun. Mrs Leutwyler (our civil registrar) and the translator greet us at the top.
They usher us into the room. She arranges for Lukas & I to sit on one side and our witnesses Lisa and Terry at the other. She explains the proceedings and starts off by playing "Bach's Suite#1 in G prelude: played by Maurice Gendron on cello". It's my favorite piece.. how did she know?? (of course Lukas gave her the CD!) I immerse myself into the music and the moment totally overwhelms me. I find tears start their way down my cheek. Whew.. thank goodness i don't wear makeup!!
Mrs Leutwyler recites a German poem she has selected on "the true meaning of Love" and the tears start to swell up again. She asks me the Question of the day.. I'm sane enough to respond "Yes I do".. and the moment again overwhelms me. I see Vikram sweating profusely while trying to video tape the entire ceremony. Mentally i bow & Thank him! The rest is a bit hazy, as is the "You may now kiss the bride". Soon she brings the papers for us to sign. She reads out a touching quote to end the ceremony. She not only delivers the official papers, but a gift from the registrar's office: Jams made by local farmer's wives - How nice. We should get married here more often
I toss the bouquet down to Aishna (only single bridesmaid). She makes a perfect catch and we walk down the stairs to find Jürgen, Nicole, Kobi & Daniela with their four boys dressed in traditional attire waiting for us. We're asked to pass through cleaning supplies woven on a laundry wire.. Lolz.. what a nice reminder that the "I do I do" also includes cleaning & laundry and not just romance 
After a picture session, we drive back to Rössli Biergarten in Beckenried. We're meeting Claudia/Armand; Walti/Bettina/Simona; Susi/Richard/Michelle; Billy/Doris and the rest of of our guests here for Apéros. It's a festive gathering -- amidst meeting & greeting our guests, trying out my few Swiss-German words, sipping on the strawberry-mint infused wine, I feel a moment of silence enveloping me. I sit down and happily watch friends & family merrily chatting, drinking, smoking. It's been a perfect day. The rumble of thunder wakes me up from my reverie -- uh-oh, a storm is on it's way. The sky is filled with ominous looking grey clouds. Unfortunately the skies took a few hours to answer my prayers.. :(
It starts to drizzle but nobody seemed to be concerned. We see our boat MS Taras approaching and it's time to walk over to the dock. As Lukas & I walk across the adjacent restaurant, all the guests in that restaurant rise and clap to cheer us on. I put on my best smile and attempt to wave at them with the bouquet still in my hand & the train in the other... Not an easy task, I sure wish i had half as many appendages as an Octopus!!
The crew greets us warmly as we board. As soon as the last guest is onboard, the skies open-up and the placid lake transforms into rough seas. The timing couldn't have been better. I send a silent Thank You to the Universe. We're happy to note that the seating arrangement in the dining room has been transformed upon Lukas's request into one long table instead of the usual 6/4 smaller tables. The Storm is a blessing in disguise as it keeps all our guests together at the table. No one is brave enough to venture to the open upper deck just yet.
The Captain - Urs welcomes us onboard and we set sail. Music playing in the background (Lukas's tablet streaming from his server), the chatter of guests mingled with laughter, the clanking of wine glasses, the distant sounds of thunder, of rain splattering on the boat deck, of waves crashing against the boat, Armand draws a map of mountain peaks he climbed on the foggy window to exchange climbing experiences with Terry, our extremely attentive yet invisible servers, Apéros, the mouth watering Vorspeise (appetizers), Hauptspeisen heiss (Hot main courses).. it's a perfect setting. I surely must be dreaming! Thank you Kauer Catering for the excellent feast!
Lisa begins the clinking-glass tradition... I wasn't aware of that and neither were any of our local guests.
I manage to make my way to the upper deck by climbing up the narrow staircase amidst the stormy weather. It's raining & windy & just wonderful upstairs.. Wow. I prefer this to sunny skies. Soon Vikram, Anna, Terry, Ruth, Lisa, Aishna and Daniela join us. It's time for another photo shoot... THANK YOU VIKRAM and ANNA!!
Unfortunately we don't yet have any pictures for the day except for the ones uploaded here. Vikram has been taking pictures/videos and we hope to share them as soon as we see them ourselves.
Aishna enjoys sitting perched up along with the captain and after a few tips, navigates the boat for a bit. I shamelessly walkup first to pick the desserts: Tirami fruit and dark chocolate mousse... ummm.. ummm.. ummm!! Life is GOOD!! I bravely try an espresso (my first that late in the day or rather night!) with Amaretti.. The captain announces that our journey is coming to a close... We all deboard with a heavy heart and bid goodbyes.
We move on to Nidwaldnerhof lounge with just family and close friends. After a few more drinks, Lukas suggests that perhaps the guests could share funny anecdotes about Lukas or Me. Marcelle (Lukas's sister) starts by sharing how she was hoping Lukas would be a girl as she already had two brothers! Phew!!! Thank Goodness the Universe had other plans!!! Vivi, Terry/Ruth, Lisa and Armand share some anecdotes. Lukas does the German/English translations. Aishna is too sleepy and happily sleeps in my lap while we continue with our stories. It's way past midnight and Aishna has an early morning flight to catch, so with yet another heavy heart -- we all part ways.
Walking back to the apartment from the dark uneven gravel path of the construction site poses to be the challenge of the day. Once inside, Nellie looks me up and down a few times from her cat-tree. Her look appears to convey: Who .. What?
I take a few minutes to THANK the Universe for the perfect day and the feeling of contentment i feel inside my Heart!!!
