The start of June I found myself a fiancee rather than a girlfriend. My best friend of almost four years proposed to me in not at all a way we thought would ever happen--over Skype! To make a long story short, since he is British and I am American, I would have to get a visa to live and work over there. Unfortunately, the UK government is making changes to the law concerning this Spousal visa and as a result it would have made it even harder for us to be able to live together or even be married--hence the rushed proposal--since he had planned to propose to me this summer on our trip to Budapest and Germany (which, consequently, had to be canceled).
Not only was I engaged... but this also meant getting married before the end of the month to get all the necessary paperwork in before the law changed! We were trying to save money by not going through with a fiance visa, so within a week of being engaged, we set the wedding for the second week of June... in Cyprus and tied the knot there.
We knew it would be small and without any fuss--that was the easy part--but we had no idea the headache of getting a small document that proved that both of us were single and free to marry. Not to mention doing this all from Poland and taking care of 3 kids in the middle of this makes all wedding plans seem EASY. I thought getting this affidavit would be easy from Poland--just whip by the US Embassy in Warsaw on my way to Cyprus, but it turned out last minute that we found out I had to do it at the US Embassy in Cyprus instead, and on the morning of the wedding because that was the earliest time slot available. Cue change of time for the wedding. And hoping that the town hall would be okay with a time change. Both D and I were making calls to what seemed like embassy after embassy, asking about apostles and if I could do it in such and such country. It was a very busy and trying time. My call to Cyprus was quite comical... not at the time, but afterward it was very funny. I had somehow not been able to print out my confirmation page that you are required to bring to the embassy on the day of your appointment and thus called to find out what could be done and if I could still be seen. The lady on the phone insisted that my print out had a unique bar code on it and thus they wouldn't be able to see me because that bar code was lost with my confirmation page.
"How can we find you in thousands of applicants? It's impossible."
Oh. No. Are you kidding me?
"Ma'am can't you look me up in the system with my passport and name?"
"No, we can not do that."
After a few minutes of me asking questions and then referring to a second question, she suddenly realized I was not there for a visa appointment, just a notary appointment, in which case, I would not need a bar code. The irony is instead of me laughing, she proceeded to laugh and apologize. At least she has a sense of humor. In the end, I laughed with her.
"I am so sorry! of course you can still come for your appointment. You don't need your confirmation page."
Thank you!!
So after all that we were fine for the appointment, and soon found out via text as I was about to board the airplane that our wedding was changed to the day after the appointment. So all was good--I could get my affidavit.... and get married.
The trip to the embassy was really easy and straightforward--minus someone's camera being taken away and their photos being deleted because they took a photo of the embassy--and no it wasn't me. The people there were really friendly and helpful. I think it has something to do that I was the only American citizen there for an appointment. Everyone else was there for a visa! Afterward, one of the guards even asked me to stay--he was in such a cheery mood. Quite the adventure.
Cyprus was really beautiful and it was funny how we both got our wish to be married near the beach and in such summer sunshine. We were also lucky and blessed to have D's whole family there with us--somehow his parents and two brother's were able to get off work to celebrate with us. Neither of us thought that would happen, and even though it could never replace my parents not being able to come, it still made us so grateful to have them there to share our day.
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We arrived at the town hall early in the morning, and had several weddings ahead of us, so it took awhile for our paperwork to get to us. When it finally did we had to keep correcting typing errors. Poor girl who was typing everything up, she was standing in for the person who normally does these things who was on holiday. I think she was in over her head, but we finally got it all completed, and probably something around noon we were led into the conference room where they hold the ceremonies--the last wedding of the day. Having no rings as of yet (I have yet to get my engagement ring!), we became husband and wife saying these words:
I ... accept you ... as my lawful spouse, to love & share with you from this day moments of joy and sorrow, wealth & poverty, happiness & unhappiness throughout our life until death do separate us."The vows were perfect--as was our wedding. I can only say the journey of getting to this day was long and an incredible story, but one so worth it that I never regret any of it. Unfortunately our small (but wonderful) holiday in Cyprus was short and sweet. I traveled back to Poland and then about a week later went to the US to get all my visa papers in order. I now safely have my visa (and before the deadline of UK law change! Yay!) and will be back in Poland in a few weeks to finish my year there. The beginning of next year I start my new life with my husband in England. Who would have thought?
So that was June.
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