The original plan was that I'd move to the UK in October, after having finished my grad degree in August, and then spending a month back home in LA. But it took way longer than we every anticipated to get through all of the paperwork for the fiance visa. I wish I had known about this site back then.
Well, I finally made it to Wales in early December, by that point, the plan was that we would stay with OH's parents through the holidays, and then get our own place in January, with the wedding set for 1st of May.
Problem was, OH was working nights and major overtime, and it was making us both miserable now that we were finally in the same time zone. So in January, he switched to days, and took an unexpected 33% paycut. Ouch. By February, we knew there was no way we could afford to live on our own, let alone put together a wedding on his meagre income. I'd have to start working. So we gave notice on Valentine's Day, and set a date for a registry office ceremony at the soonest they would let us-- March 12th.
Yesterday. By this point, we've also accepted that there's no way we can afford a wedding and moving out by May, and the moving out is the priority, so the "real" wedding has been pushed back to June 21st, which allows us some time to concentrate on the expenses of my visa and his car, and getting a bed large enough for two people to actually sleep comfortably.
So here we are at the Register's Office, doing the ceremony as low-key as possible so that the ceremony in June feels fresh and real and more solemn. There's also an element that OH hated the idea of the government having any kind of say at all in his personal life.
And yet...
It was so hard not to feel excited. Because in spite of the fact that we were in a government office with Muzak love songs playing in the background, OH's disapproving parents flanking us on either side, and my mom sobbing into the cell phone as she drove to work-- there we were, stealing coy glances at each other, saying vows in a daze, and feeling incredibly happy and emotional.
The rest of the day was spent teasing each other with variations of Mrs & Mr and husband & wife. So in spite of all of our efforts to downplay the registry ceremony as just an impersonal bit of neccessary paperwork, OH and are really are quite giddy over the idea that we actually are married!
It's pretty hard to wrap my head around the whole thing. I just hope that come June, it will feel like we really are getting married then, too.
*giggles*
