Legally no, only the registry office is binding. We call it Bondingoo: the conscious, recurring decision to truly see each other. Bondingoo works regardless of whether you are married or not.
Bondingoo is the new form of honest marriage, adapted to our world today. It needs no status and no big day, but a fixed rhythm: four times a year you look together at how you are really doing. That honesty easily gets lost in everyday life.
No. Bondingoo is for couples who are doing well together and want to nurture that consciously. Anyone currently in a crisis is better off with a therapist.
From Bonding, which is what it is about. The two O at the end stand for two people.
For couples who want to nurture their relationship consciously and visibly, whatever their relationship status. Some are not yet at the point of marrying at the registry office. Some have been married before and do not want to repeat it. Some cannot see the point of marriage as an institution. And some want to marry at the registry office later and are starting now.
Bondingoo is the light version when it comes to the registry office, and the strong one when it comes to the real relationship.
Especially then. After many years, everyday life is often the biggest valley and closeness no longer arises by itself. Bondingoo gives you a reason to look again. Why that is so, you can read in the article After the high: why every relationship moves in waves.
Many relationships run for years without anything feeling real any more. Not out of ill will, but because everyday life leaves no time for looking. Bondingoo nudges you four times a year to do something for your relationship. That way you keep looking each other in the eye and stay up to date on how your relationship is doing.
In serious crises this does not replace couples therapy.
One of you chooses the first pearl online, along with a word out of 25 for your first year. That creates your shared account. The pearl comes home in a jewellery box, with a card that carries the word and the access for the other.
Only one of the two partners themselves. Not parents, not friends. The first pearl is a commitment within the relationship, not a gift from outside.
Yes, Bondingoo is for both of you. The first pearl is the commitment of one of you; the Bonding year begins as soon as the other accepts the access. You do the conversations and tasks together.
The first one yes, it is the conscious entry. Every further one comes from a Bonding year. Without that year a pearl carries no word, no certificate and no entry in your Bondingoo History.
Four blocks of conversations, video messages and small tasks, spread across the year and based on your word. Everything runs in your Bondingoo login.
You choose the word for the next year together, the new pearl comes home. Every year you decide anew whether you continue. No subscription, no automatic renewal, pausing is possible at any time.
Your Bondingoo History with year, word, pearl and diamond certificate, plus the story you want to tell about each year. You wear the pearls on a band, as a bracelet, necklace, earrings or pendant. From the outside you see pearls, you see your years. More at Your story on a band.
No, both are optional. The wedding conversation with your celebrant consists of three hours together, two individual conversations and a questionnaire for each of you. A ceremony can grow out of it, with a small circle of guests if you wish.
Wherever you like, Bondingoo is not tied to any place. The wedding conversation and ceremony are available in German, English and Spanish.
The price of your first pearl depends on its configuration: size, material, finish and diamond. You put it together in the configurator. The Bonding year costs €900. The same applies to every further year: €900 for the year plus the new pearl. The wedding conversation and ceremony are optional for €2,900, photographer and framework programme run via your wedding planner.
More questions? Write to us via the contact form or start straight away with your first pearl.
The wedding is a summit. What comes after and what relationship work has to do with it.
Keep reading →A thought against taking things for granted.
Keep reading →Where the term comes from and what lies behind it.
Keep reading →The tradition of wedding years and what it tells.
Keep reading →The differences between the three classic forms of wedding and why Bonding joins as a fourth way.
Keep reading →From a wedding officiant's practice.
Keep reading →Nobody understands a relationship year better than a couple who has lived through one themselves.
The Bondingoo Community is the place where couples exchange experiences. The first pearl, a year full of tasks, the pearl that grows out of it, and for those who want it: wedding conversation and ceremony. Not an interchangeable relationship forum, but a space among people who know what they are talking about, because they have lived it themselves.
Real stories become orientation: how others experienced their four task blocks, what meaning it became for the next year, what their renewal looked like. Not as a model to copy, but as proof that you're not alone with your own questions.
Three things that set the Bondingoo Community apart from a classic forum.
Couples share what their relationship year was really like, with everything that comes with it, not just the beautiful moments.
Questions about the task blocks, the meaning of the next pearl, the renewal, answered directly by couples who've gone through it themselves.
Insights behind the scenes of Bondingoo, from celebrant training to the making of your pearl.
Wedding speech and ceremony in Mexico, then four years, four pearls, four renewals: Brazil, Hawaii, the Philippines, Costa Rica. Their story, told honestly.
Read the story →For couples already with Bondingoo, no detours, directly in your own login.
Learn more →