Marion wondered why her maid of honour began rushing her when she should be slowly making her way to the cable car for the ascent to Riederalp. “The cable cars run all the time,” thought the bride-to-be. However, this was no ordinary cable car, but one that her friends had beautifully decorated with balloons and hearts, and there was even Prosecco on board…

One of the guests then pointed out the double rainbow sitting high above the mountains. “For the family, this was a moment to pause for reflection,” recalls Marion. “Püli’s parents had recently passed away, and now we were all gathered here together as a family. It really felt as if the two of them were watching over us.”

The bride and groom had scheduled a half-hour break after the drinks reception to give their guests a chance to change and freshen up, or to just put their feet up for a while. “For us, this half-hour was one of the best moments of the entire day,” says Marion. “We sat on the balcony in our room – which was strewn with rose petals and had the most incredible panoramic view – and talked about us and about everything that had happened. It was half an hour just for us, even though the original reason for doing it was to give our guests a bit of a breather.”

Up to that point, the guests had been on their feet the entire time. While Marion and Püli were having their wedding photos taken in front of the church, their guests walked across to the Alpenrose restaurant for the drinks reception. “We got the photos done in a quarter of an hour,” says Marion. “It’s so beautiful here that we didn’t have to look too far for suitable locations. We chose four or five different spots around the chapel and that was it.” The newlyweds then travelled by electric taxi to the drinks reception (the plateau of the Aletsch Arena is car-free) – and were there before the last guests arrived.

Marion and Püli thought it was ideal to have their reception at a place where all of their guests could also stay overnight. Art Furrer Hotels had enough rooms for everyone. For Marion, the wedding reception was an unforgettable experience: “I laughed so much… I got to pick out a man who had to crow every hour. By 3 a.m., we were all sitting on the floor, pretending to row a boat along with the song ‘Knallrotes Gummiboot’ (bright red rubber dinghy). As the priest himself had said after the ceremony: let’s party!