Curry and Benj's Relaxed Garden Wedding in Switzerland by Stephanie Wittmer

Hello you lovely people and welcome to the middle of the week, how are you all? Today I am taking you to Switzerland for the gorgeous outdoor wedding of Curry and Benj. This wedding is full of love, laughter and the most exquisite hand painted dress. Curry and Benj wanted a venue that gave them an outdoors option as well as the rustic barn, this they found in Maxililian in Solothurn. They chose a colour scheme of blue, white and green with the blue being mirrored in Curry’s stunning hand painted gown, which is totally breathtaking. Adding in their own personal details this wedding oozes personality and of course a whole lot of love. All captured perfectly by Stephanie Wittmer.

A colourful, joyful celebration with a generous pinch of Japan and Carnival spirit.

Curry and Benj were married on 20th September 2025 at Maxililian in Solothurn, Switzerland. Benj stumbled across Maxililian whilst searching online, and it immediately felt right. The combination of a marquee and a barn spoke to both of them — Benj grew up in the Jungwacht Blauring (the Swiss equivalent of scouts), with summers spent in tents, and was raised in a village where barns were simply part of life. On a more practical note, the venue offered everything under one roof: catering, décor, and contingency plans for bad weather. There was no need for a wedding planner — just one point of contact, and everything flowed from there. We had 70 guests and it took roughly a year and a half, though it was more of a steady start-stop than a relentless march of spreadsheets. They secured the venue early — by that point, only three weekend dates remained — and locked in the most important elements first: the venue, the wedding dress, the officiant, and the photographer. Everything else followed at its own pace.

How they met
Curry is a cosplayer — someone who brings characters from video games, anime and comics to life through elaborate, handmade costumes. A mutual friend asked if she and Curry could stay at Benj‘s flat during Fantasy Basel, Switzerland‘s answer to Comic-Con. Curry arrived in full costume as Mad Moxie from Borderlands — and then emerged from the shower as a completely different person, natural hair and all. Benj and Curry spent time together, and when he visited her atelier and helped build her next costume — a Demon Hunter from Diablo 3 — things fell into place. He makes Carnival costumes himself, so they spoke the same creative language from the very beginning. They‘ve been together for ten years, and were married after eight.

The proposal
It happened in Malta, on their second day of holiday. Benj had been carrying the ring in his hand luggage, a band with black diamonds set in a wave pattern, designed to echo the matching friendship rings they‘d worn for years. He was quietly terrified that airport security would pull him aside and the ring would tumble out in front of Curry. Fortunately, nothing of the sort occurred. Hehadn‘t planned a specific moment — just waited for the right one. It came at sunset, sitting on rocky stones by the sea, watching a group of older locals splash about with pool noodles. He made an excuse about fetching grapes, retrieved the ring, returned, and simply sat down beside her. Going down on one knee on jagged rock whilst she was already sitting seemed ill-advised. She said yes, through tears.

How did you allocate your budget?
There was no fixed budget as such. Every decision came down to a simple question: how much does this cost, and how much is it worth to us? The Maxililian made things considerably easier — as an all-in venue combining catering and location, it removed most of the financial uncertainty from the equation. The rest they decided as they went.

Where did you splurge and where did you save?
The wedding dress rather ran away with the original budget — though given everything that went into it, perhaps that‘s unsurprising. Beyond that, Curry and Benj simply invested in what brought them joy. The bar was open and generous throughout the evening. In place of a photo booth, they chose a full-length photo mirror — unlimited photos, unlimited time, and crucially, you could actually see your whole outfit. The flowers, by contrast, were kept deliberately minimal: the arch, the entrance, the tables, chairs, boutonnieres and a small wrist corsage for the bridesmaid. It never looked sparse — it just looked exactly right.

How did you choose your photographer?
By happy accident. They knew they wanted someone with a distinctive eye — not a conventional
wedding photographer. A photographer whose work they admired turned out to be fully booked, but
passed Stephanie‘s details to the couple.. From the very first meeting, it clicked. They didn‘t look any further.
The pre-shoot proved especially valuable — by the time the wedding day arrived, the ice was well and truly broken, and the First Look felt calm and natural rather than nerve-wracking.

The dress
Curry knew exactly what she wanted: a „House of Savin“ gown with hand-painted flowers. So she flew from Switzerland to London to make it happen, purchasing the dress at White Lace and Butterflies. A fair amount of logistics, but worth every bit of it. During the day,
Curry wore white platform shoes; come the evening, she switched into red Converse, which looked absolutely perfect. Her earrings came from Japan, and the same delicate blooms appear in her bridal bouquet. Her necklace — a heart pendant with a blue stone, was a gift from Benj. Her bracelet was borrowed from her witness Dani, neatly ticking both the „borrowed“ and „blue“ boxes at once.

The suit and bridesmaids
Benj‘s suit came from Domino Bridal Couture in Rheinfelden, Germany — a Trachten-style cut with a standing collar and buttons on both sides, rather than a conventional suit. His cufflinks were two silver lion heads, chosen because Benj is a Leo, and given to him by Curry. The colour coordination between the two outfits was something Benj cared deeply about and handled rather ingeniously: he brought a sealed envelope containing a fabric sample from Curry‘s dress to the shop — which he never opened himself. The advisors compared it with potential suits behind closed doors, supplemented by a photograph of Curry in her dress. Benj chose entirely on instinct, trusted the process, and is still quietly thrilled at how perfectly everything came together. The bridesmaids wore deep navy blue, from Mindermode Huttwil.

Theme or colour scheme
Japan meets Basel Carnival, with blue, white and green running through everything.

Flowers
Blue, white and green — following the same colour palette as Curry‘s dress, which set the concept
for the flowers too. All arranged by Blumen Träume in Solothurn, with Curry and her witness visiting
the florist together to work through the palette.

Decoration
The centrepiece was something entirely their own: the Waggis-Daruma. The Daruma is a traditional
Japanese wishing doll; the Waggis is one of the most iconic figures of the Basel Carnival, famous for his wild hair and enormous nose. Curry and Benj ordered Darumas in bulk, then gave each one a wild mop of colourful hair and a suitably oversized Waggis nose. The heart-shaped name cards tucked into each Daruma‘s hair doubled as table cards and instructions for how to make a Daruma wish — a guest gift that told the whole story of the couple in one small, handcrafted object. Curry designed all the stationery herself, including the seating plan. The venue contributed light blue napkins, chosen to complement the colour scheme.

Food
After the ceremony, guests were welcomed with an aperitif in classic Swiss style: Aperol, cheese crisps, dried meat, olives and iced tea. The entire wedding was a buffet — a deliberate choice that
brought real energy to the day. Guests stood up, wandered, got talking to people they might never have spoken to at a seated dinner. The meal moved through a salad buffet, then an elderflower sorbet with blueberries, before arriving at the main course: meats and fish grilled directly over an open fire — brisket, flambéed salmon and lamb loin, with white wine risotto, seasonal vegetables, roast potatoes and corn on the cob. The evening ended with a dessert buffet of small sweet things alongside the wedding cake.

Wedding cake
From Confiserie Widmer in Burgdorf — where Curry completed her pastry apprenticeship, and where she‘d always said she‘d return when the time came. The design reflected the Japan-and-Carnival theme: painted blossoms taken directly from the motif of Curry‘s dress, and confetti. And then there was the detail nobody planned: the confiserie iced „BEND“ on the cake instead of „Benj.“ Benj didn‘t bat an eyelid — he‘d already forgotten his suit that morning, so by that point, he was well in his stride. The story of the „BEND“ cake has since become one of the great anecdotes of the day.

Entertainment
Both fathers took matters into their own hands — quite independently — and both were spectacular.
Curry‘s father composed an original AI-generated song about the couple with a friend and performed it live. Benj‘s father organised a Kahoot quiz about the two of them, drawing on childhood stories gathered from both families. Curry won! For music, there was no DJ — instead, a curated Spotify playlist and an interactive system that let guests request songs directly from a laptop. It worked far better than anyone had dared hope: after the first dance — a choreographed routine with a seamless segue into Pink‘s „Get This Party Started“ — the dance floor filled up and essentially didn‘t empty again. The venue lent a natural change of pace: dinner in the marquee, then a move to the barn for dessert and dancing, complete with a glitterball. The full-length photo mirror was another firm favourite — as Benj puts it, everyone made an effort with their outfit, so you ought to be able to see all of it.

Who supplied the stationery?
Curry and Benj designed and made everything themselves — the Daruma name cards, the seating plan, all of it.

Where are you going on your honeymoon?
Japan and South Korea — a month in total. A 15-day cruise to parts of Japan they hadn‘t yet visited,
followed by Seoul, Busan and Jeju in South Korea, then back to Tokyo before spending another
week and a half exploring Japan by train.

Personal touches
The Waggis-Darumas were entirely their own creation — conceived, ordered and hand-crafted by
Curry and Benj themselves. All the stationery was designed by Curry. And there‘s one detail that ties the whole day together beautifully: at their civil ceremony, which took place earlier in the year (and in the rain), they sheltered under a red heart-shaped umbrella belonging to Benj‘s sister. On the wedding day itself, the sun was shining — but they made a point of taking a few photographs with their own matching umbrella (a gift by the jeweller of their wedding rings), completing the circle. Paired with Curry‘s red Converse for the evening, it made for rather a perfect image.

Special moments
So many that it‘s almost impossible to single any out. The First Look. The ceremony itself — officiant
Pascal Hiltbrand wove the story of the forgotten suit into his words with such warmth and humour
that guests were laughing through their tears. The ring warming ceremony, where the rings were
threaded onto a ribbon and passed through all seventy guests, each holding them for a moment and
offering their own silent wishes — the symbolism of it moved the couple deeply. The first dance, and
the fact that the dance floor stayed full long into the night. Both fathers‘ performances. The speeches by the witnesses. And quietly, behind everything: the Maxililian team, whose seamless, unhurried organisation meant that nobody — least of all the couple — felt a single moment of stress.

Advice for other couples?
Start early, but don‘t try to do everything at once. Fix the two or three things that matter most to you
first — for Curry and Benj, that was the dress and the venue — and let everything else follow from there.
A venue that knows and works with its own suppliers is worth its weight in gold; so much of the coordination simply happens by itself.
Do a pre-shoot with your photographer. It makes an extraordinary difference on the day.
Build more time into your schedule than you think you need.
And then, perhaps most importantly: embrace the happy little accidents. In the spirit of Bob Ross —
a badly placed brushstroke doesn‘t ruin a painting; it just takes it somewhere unexpected. A forgotten suit, a „BEND“ on the cake — those are the stories you‘ll still be telling in twenty years.

Biggest surprise
Both fathers‘ contributions — neither of the couple had any idea what was coming, and both
exceeded all expectations. And for Benj, the biggest surprise of all: seeing Curry in her dress for the
very first time. He knew there would be flowers. He knew it would be beautiful. But nothing quite
prepares you for that moment.