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″A clear message is coming out of Washington: Europeans ought to do more to provide for the defense of their own continent,” Felipe said. “We should not underestimate how consequential this message is. There are few alive today that have lived in a Europe where the U.S., the United States, was not the dominant security provider.”Merz, whose election earlier this month was seen as a reemergence of Germany’s status as a diplomatic and economic heavyweight, brought up U.S. Vice President JD Vance’s comments at the Munich Security Conference earlier this year. Vance, “in his own very special way,” confronted what Europeans stand for, Merz said.

Vance at the time complained about the state of democracy and free speech in Europe, and lambasted German political parties — days before a national election — for their so-called “firewall” against working with far-right parties.“We actually stand for what we have been able to develop, to design, what we have actually fought for during centuries -- and despite many backlashes and disasters -- that we actually defend what is dear to us and important: freedom and democracy,” Merz said.Both leaders, as well as von der Leyen, emphasized the importance of responding to Trump’s changing tariff policies with a single voice.

“We will never be a protectionist continent,” von der Leyen said.The International Charlemagne Prize was first awarded in 1950 in Aachen. Charlemagne, considered the first unifier of Europe, had his favorite palace in the western German city in the late eighth century.

Aachen, on the Dutch border, is also famous as the birthplace of teenage diarist

, Edith Holländer. She and Otto Frank married in Aachen’s synagogue, which was destroyed during the Kristallnacht — or the “Night of Broken Glass” — in 1938 in which the Nazis terrorized Jews throughout Germany and Austria.Any one wedding may involve

Vizcaino said. Huge jumps in costs are already widespread due to tariffs, she said, florals and fabrics among them.With many weddings planned up to a year or more in advance, she and others in the industry are girding for more bad news.

“We’re going to see a lot of interactions that aren’t so pleasant in the next eight to 12 months,” she said.Tariffs have delayed decision-making among many couples planning weddings.