ABBAMAILers Andy & Achim get married!

American ABBAMAILer Andy Andrews was just 16 when he joined ABBAMAIL in 1997 and now, almost a decade, he's all grown up and still an ABBAMAILer. What's even better is that his partner, Achim Riegler from Austria is now also on the list!

Andy has been one of the mainstays of ABBAMAIL's internet mailing list during the last decade and has made a huge number of friends throughout the world. Andy, who speaks fluent German, took a work placement in Austria after completing university and this led to his meeting with Achim. It was love at first sight and the pair have been inseparable ever since. This weekend they made it official - they were married in Dortmund, Germany with their parents present and good friends ABBAMAILers Pieter Wever (thanks for the pics Pete!) and Samia Jalal.

It's the friendships and connections that ABBAMAILers make with each other that make ABBAMAIL truly unique amongst internet fan communities around the world. Many of our list members have flown across the country and across the world to meet up with fellow ABBAMAILers and some incredible friendships have been made. We're all very proud of Andy and Achim here at ABBAMAIL HQ - they're a fantastic couple and we wish them all the best for a fantastic married life together!


ABBAMAILers Andy Andrews & Achim Riegler	4 ABBAMAILers Together: Andy, Achim, Samia Jalal (Germany) & Pieter Wever (The Netherlands)

Checking out those gorgeous wedding rings!	Andy and Achim with their parents on their special day.

Here's a short report from Dortmund, where Andy und Achim married last Saturday!

ABBAMAILer Pieter and his partner Hans arrived around 9:30am in Dortmund. The apartment where Andy and Achim had set up base was a hive of activity because some family and friends who came over from Austria the day before had stayed there for the night.

At around 10.45am we go headed for the City Hall. As it is only a few minutes by metro, we all decided metro was the way to go!. And that was funny, because it was so unusual. No parking problems at all, and no stress!

We arrived at the City Hall shortly before Samia Jalal, German ABBAMAILer arrived - she had travelled by train directly from Münster. On the way to the City Hall, via the underground the city of Dortmund, everything was so ABBA related - all over the place Swedish flags and Swedish (Football) Fans! Samia was so glad to see the rest of the friends and family. The wedding ceremony started around 11:30am

The ceremony was very nice, held in an older building with a big hall with high ceilings and stained glass windows. The registrar who performed the ceremony did a great job, no empty talk but meaningful words about love, married life and taking care of one's relationship. It was quite moving.

After the ceremony pictures were taken and then we all headed to the restaurant for lunch. Again we took the metro to get there and it was funny sitting there among football fans. It added to the international flavour of the day. We had a very really good lunch and had time to chat to Achim and Andy's families and friends.

After lunch we walked back to Andy's and Achim's apartment. Samia went from there to the metro station and headed home. Pieter and Hans stayed for a while and drove back to their home in Amersfoort in The Netherlands. Just a 1 hour 45 minutes away - with some very fast driving ;-)

The reception and the party is next Friday in Waidhoffen ab der Ybbs, Austria. And some more amazing ABBAMAILers will be there. Frank Horstmann (UK) will arrive today (Monday) in Austria. Others, like Cliff (UK), Sandra (Netherlands), Trent (Australia) and Laura (USA) will be there on Thursday. Pieter and Hans will be there (naturally) and are looking forward so catching up with their fellow list members..

Pieter Wever (Amsersfoort, Netherlands) and Samia Jalal (Lengerich, Germany)