FROONCK – Wedding planner deluxe

Froonck is Germany’s most glamorous wedding planner. With a portfolio comprising over 400 weddings, he knows exactly how to turn a dream wedding vision into reality. He is the man to be trusted when handling the most important moment in life, not only for many celebrities.

He has seen it all: A diving groom disguised as the Frog King emerging from a river near Berlin, a gothic themed wedding featuring coffins and barb wire or a couple tying the knot in a cage full of lions. It is hard to surprise Froonck, but his job certainly never gets boring. “I remember my very first wedding, I was so nervous. The water ballet from the Friedrichstadt palace performed in an art deco indoor pool – that was amazing,” the charming event organiser remembers the beginning of his career. That was twelve years ago. “Looking back, I know it was always my vocation,” he says. After returning from a journey to the United States, where he gained first hand experience with the wedding planning industry, he was instantly hooked and decided to quit his career in advertising in order to organise weddings. Since then he has become renowned for organising the most extraordinary weddings. “We had a crew pizza and a big band in a luxury hotel at the Côte d’Azur, we danced with Xavier Naidoo at Oliver Pocher’s wedding. I fell into the pool when Sarah [Connor] and Marc [Terenzi] tied the knot,” he recalls. Over the years, highlights were plenty. “We’ve arranged an incredible Indian ceremony in the Cologne trade fair centre, we had the most spectacular bonfire at a Balkan themed wedding in a beach club on the Rhine river and in Scotland we organised Highland games for the guests,” Froonck remembers fondly.

Despite regularly starring on TV in shows like VOX’s “4 Hochzeiten und eine Traumreise” [four weddings and a dream journey], the romantic perfectionist spends most of his time organising the most unusual and glamourous events with his agency “WH!TE by Froonck”. And although he’s employing the best industry experts, it is always the Maestro himself who takes great care of the clients personally. “It is very important to always focus on the positive, the good and the beautiful in everything. I love to make things beautiful around me, live in style and highly value aesthetics and good taste,” the wedding planner says. He loves his profession and he gets a lot out of his job. “When you treat people nicely, you live in a beautiful environment, it creates a warming bliss and harmony. This is great.”

Weddings such a big deal in Germany (yet)

While other nations take the use of a wedding planner for granted, Germany is still a bit behind. “People are still sceptical, they think ‘we don’t need that’ or ‘ it’s a family affair, we’d rather do it ourselves’. Spending money on a professional event organiser is not really common yet,” Froonck explains. “During the many first interviews I did with ‘my’ couples, I quickly realised that Germans are mostly DIY-characters and service-resistant as I like to put it.” In other countries such as the USA, Great Britain, South Africa or Australia it is a completely different story. People realise the dimensions and have higher expectations in terms of individualism, perfectionism and creativity. Froonck believes that a wedding still hasn’t reached the social status it has in other countries and cultures. “Take a look at the Balkan region, Turkey, Lebanon, the Arab States, India, Africa or Thailand – the wedding couple is lavishly celebrated like a King and Queen for several days. They are the centre of attention admired by not seldom more than 400 guests or more.” According to the wedding expert Germans tend to celebrate rather moderately with an average of 80 guests, the whole procedure doesn’t take more than one day and the couple really doesn’t like to be the centre of attention.

“Romance is an attitude”

Just in time for Valentine’s Day and ahead of the wedding season, Froonck published a new book. “Hochzeitsfieber – Liebe, Tränen, Traualtar, meine besten Storys” [Wedding fever – love, tears, altar, my best stories] discloses a most emotional journey through the delights (and ordeals) of weddings. A wedding CD by Froonck is to be released shortly: details are yet to be revealed, but we know for sure that the Maestro himself will be performing some vocals. Romance plays an important role in the life of the wedding planner, who’s currently in a happy relationship. “For me romance is rather an attitude and a way of life instead of a short-lived feeling or moment. In my eyes it is like a pair of glasses I use to take a closer look at people and situations. It helps me deal with those.”

The master of ceremonies is expanding the product range for his online store www.monsieur-Froonck.com. But one of his dreams has not come true yet in his wedding empire. “I would love to create my own wedding dress collection. The first design is already sketched, but this project has still a long way to go,“ Froonck reveals. When he’s not busy running his wedding empire, Froonck likes to take it slow. “Sleep long, relax in SPAs, massages and doing,” the romantic entrepreneur muses. He’s got a passsion for opera, good books, great food and loves to go out dancing. During winter he recharges his batteries during a nice beach holiday. “I love sunbathing, swimming, shopping and just hanging out with good friends,” he says. He also actively promotes gender equality and participates in Berlin’s Rainbow-Run or marches the streets on Christopher Street Day to spread the message in his spare time. Unlike the UK, where Elton John just officially got married to David Furnish, gay marriages are still not fully accepted in German law, only a registered life partnership is.