I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE YOU - HOW COUPLES USE THE TV PROGRAM TRAUMHOCHZEIT

In the show ''Traumhochzeit'' ('Dream-Like Wadding), brides and grooms not only say ''I do'' in front of 'live' television cameras - i.e. wi th an audience of roughly 10 million viewers, but also ''I love you'' in front of a hidden camera. If they win the first prize in the show, they are married in the bosom of their TV congregation in a romantic a tmosphere and in grand style. The article examines why couples take pa rt in this programme, or more precisely: how the couples use the progr amme to organize their own life. The description of a declaration of l ove in front of a hidden camera and its structural analysis using the method of hermeneutic sociology of knowledge reveals that the couples do not participate in the show for exhibitionist reasons or the like, but that the use of the 'magic' medium of television represents, in a certain sense, a meaningful reaction,to a no longer latent and also no longer small risk of seperation.