Bridal couples have to give way in Frankfurt because of the Eintracht final

DThe guests were already invited, the restaurant booked for 30 people, and the hairdresser’s appointment made. The couple even had their wedding rings engraved with the planned wedding date. Laura and Norbert Müller planned to get married in the Römer on Thursday, May 19 – just one day after endgame of Eintracht against Glasgow Rangers in Seville. But therein lies the problem.

In the event of a victory, the city of Frankfurt expects thousands of celebrating fans at the Roemerberg and has therefore decided to cancel all civil weddings planned for that day in the Römer. One cannot offer the couples the atmosphere that they wanted for their wedding, according to a statement published by the responsible department head Stephanie Wüst (FDP) last week.

A total of nine couples are affected by the change of plan – and not all of them should take it as calmly as the Müllers, who incidentally already before the wedding shared the same name. The topic is being discussed on social media. “After 42 years, the boys bring the trophy to Frankfurt, everything and everyone has to be subordinate to that,” writes a user under a Facebook post. “Phew … even as a loyal Eintracht fan, I would not be amused as a wedding couple,” writes another.

Understanding for celebrating football fans

33-year-old Laura Müller takes the whole matter with humor. Her two-year-old daughter taught her to remain flexible and to accept changes in plans in a relaxed manner. In addition, she and her husband are Eintracht fans. So there is a lot of understanding for celebrating football fans. Both, she says, had already guessed, looking at the date, that the Römerberg could be full on the day of their civil wedding. After all, she still has the pictures after the DFB Cup victory in 2019 in mind, says Laura Müller. She therefore wrote an email to the responsible registrar shortly after Eintracht’s victory over West Ham. Would it be possible to use a side entrance on the wedding day to get into the wedding room? Instead of a written reply email, there was a phone call. The thirty-three-year-old was at the playground with her daughter when word reached her that the wedding date had to be postponed. She was not offered any other place for the marriage on the same date, says Laura Müller.

This is also confirmed by head of department Stephanie Wüst. “The couples concerned made a conscious decision in favor of the atmospheric ambience of the wedding hall in Frankfurt’s Römer. It was therefore particularly important to us to find an alternative date so that we could offer our couples the desired festive setting.” We tried to accommodate all requests when finding the date. The registry office had to react in “the shortest possible time” and had to make the decision as to whether weddings could take place on that day or not. It was not easy for everyone involved. But after a ball was shot against a window of the wedding hall during a wedding on the day of the semi-final home game and it broke, the decision was made to take this step.