“You want to get married December 30th, hmm, and you will need to have your family help plan your wedding?” the Reverend John asked, “Be careful, your mom might think it’s festive to have a donkey and a cart for transportation when you had a Mercedes in mind.” “What is it now, March?” he asked excitedly, pausing to count to nine months in his head, “You two have enough time to have your very own live nativity scene!” (pause) “But don’t do that.”
The vicars we met with in England ranged from comedians, like Reverend John above, to quite stoically pious, but all were kind and supportive of our marriage. If that were only all it took.
Stuart (Claire’s brother) and Georgie’s wedding was awesome by the way. It left Claire and I feeling: “aw we want one!” We’ll get a picture or two up soon.
So, why haven’t we been blogging? Because when we returned to NZ we found out we couldn’t extend our current visas while awaiting our residency application. Frantic nights of more applications. And then there is, of course, our own wedding plans. If it was up to the vicars, we’d have been set, but it’s not. There is a process. It’s not like the U.S.. We applied for a special license to the church we would like to be married at with the support of the vicar, the Oxford University Church of St Mary the Virgin. If we are not approved, we can either do the legal bit in another country (like NZ) or try to meet the U.K.’s residency requirements, which means be physically present in the U.K. for a minimum of 26 days prior to our wedding – so much for having a honeymoon or a job when we return. A few weeks later we received a letter that our connection to the church was not strong enough with a suggestion to choose another path. More late nights ensued – a pleading letter in response was drafted…
Weeks passed… I played in symphony concerts, we had dinners with friends, we went to cafes and Saturday markets, and Claire restrained herself and did not in fact throw her knickers on stage at the John Mayer concert.
Yesterday, we received a letter from the U.K., the author stating that while he maintained his belief that our connection to the church was not strong enough, our special license for marriage would be granted anyway. Hooray! We’re getting married at the beautiful Oxford University Church of St Mary the Virgin. A few hours later, a courier arrived with our passports stamped with NZ residency permits. I’m not sure what the term is in England, but in America, one might say Booyah!
So, Lynne, time to start organising that donkey and cart!
