The road from Orange Beach to Bay Minette is a familiar one now for Rainer and Dorothee Dallmann. It is a quiet drive north, past signs of summer crowds and stretches of trees that look much as they did 25 years ago.

At the end of it stands a courthouse that, for them, is more than brick and columns. It is where a brochure from a Berlin travel fair turned into a marriage — and where tourism became personal.

In 1999, the German couple boarded a plane bound for the American South with wedding plans unlike most Europeans of their generation. Las Vegas had been the original idea, but when her hairdresser returned from Nevada with a wedding story of her own, Dorothee reconsidered.

"If each hairdresser is getting married in Las Vegas, I must find another place," she said with a laugh.

That other place appeared at the International Tourism Exchange in Berlin, where representatives from the Alabama Tourism Department displayed glossy images of white beaches and Southern charm. Dorothee picked up a brochure. On the back was a name and phone number — Burkhard Masuhr, a consultant working with the state to expand its international reach.

"As far as I recall, they came to this big, huge trade show, which is called the ITB in Berlin," Masuhr said. "We had this brochure and other stuff at our booths, and I also spread a number of those brochures around."

Months later, his phone rang.

"I have a brochure here," Masuhr recalled Rainer saying. "This sounds really good."

The Dallmanns wanted help booking a condo along Alabama's Gulf Coast. Then came a second question that caught Masuhr off guard.

"He said, 'I have one other idea or request when we come. Do you think … you can marry us?'" Masuhr said.

He could not officiate, but he contacted a local judge in Bay Minette to see if the ceremony could be arranged. Paperwork crossed the Atlantic. Dates were coordinated. Plans were made.

Dorothee's attraction to the South was rooted as much in imagination as geography.

"I have read many books about the Deep South, and also, you know, Scarlett O'Hara," she said, referencing the heroine of "Gone with the Wind." "I was interested to see such places."

When they arrived — flying into Atlanta before driving southwest to the Gulf Coast — everything felt new.

"It was really new for us; the traffic," she said. "But the life in this area, it was fantastic."

The ceremony itself was small but unforgettable. Their daughters flew from Germany to surprise Dorothee just days before the trip.

"I have booked flights for our daughters," she remembered her husband telling her. "They come only for the celebration."

Judge Adrian T. Jones performed the ceremony and told the couple they were the first German pair he had married. Masuhr stood nearby, watching what he later described as a living example of his work.

"That's what tourism does," he said.

A celebratory dinner overlooking the water followed. The daughters soon returned home to school, but the Dallmanns' connection to Alabama was only beginning.

"If we hadn't got married here, we wouldn't come here too often," Dorothee said.

They returned for their fifth anniversary. Then their 10th. They brought groups of friends and business associates — 10 or 12 at a time — organizing three-week tours that looped from Atlanta to Montgomery, down to Gulf Shores and Orange Beach and on to New Orleans. Every trip included a stop at the courthouse in Bay Minette.

"We go to Bay Minette, show the courthouse and make a celebration," she said.

Over the decades, they have watched Baldwin County transform. Low wooden houses have given way to taller condominium towers. Traffic has thickened. Prices have climbed.

"Much things are different," Dorothee said. Yet, some impressions remain steady. "The people are still friendly, helpful."

Their affection for the coast mirrors a broader trend that has reshaped the county. In 2023, according to Alabama Beaches, about 8.4 million people visited Baldwin County, and approximately 6.5 million of them traveled specifically to the beaches, making up a significant share of the state's overall tourism impact. Those visitors contributed billions in spending and helped employ thousands of residents in lodging, restaurants, attractions and retail.

For a county with fewer than 250,000 residents, those numbers underscore how central tourism has become to its identity and economy. The Dallmanns' story is a reminder that behind broad statistics and economic reports are individual decisions that ripple outward in unexpected ways.

Now in their 70s, the couple still travels widely. Their most recent journey spanned 114 days across Europe and the United States without a single flight; relying solely on ships, trains and rental cars. And they made sure of one thing.

"The last station, the best station," Dorothee said, "Alabama."

Gabriella Chavez is a Report for America corps member who writes about growth and development in Baldwin County and our natural spaces for Gulf Coast Media. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://tinyurl.com/yaf8yf5n.