Ohio Girl Moving to Southampton

Hello all!

Very excited to have found this site - I stumbled across it while working through a Visa thing, and the forum was amazingly helpful - not only nice to know that someone else had the same problem, but also how to fix it! So I reckoned I'd better join up now in case there are any other useful bits and pieces.

I'm a recent grad with a teaching degree, currently holding a part-time teaching job in Ohio while I sort out how to get to the UK! My fiance is English, and we're planning a wedding for 5 July 2014 in St. Albans, provided that Visa business pulls through. We met 3 years ago in Bath, where I was studying abroad (to this day, my hands-down favorite city in the world), and will be living in Southampton.

I'm in the middle of applying for the Fiance/Proposed Civil Partnership Visa with the settlement part, as I'm sure is fairly obvious - I submitted the application on 5 February 2014, had it sent back to me by the New York office on 8 March 2014 with a note saying that I'm meant to send it to Sheffield, and I only today got it off to Sheffield after about 6 hours worth of phone calls, websites, and complex shipping issues. Crossing my fingers now and hoping that the ridiculous amount of money I just paid does its job...

I'll be on the lookout for other expats in the Southern regions of England, as well as anyone with good advice about cooking, teaching/job-hunting, etc. If you have any insider tricks to making/finding American foods, I'd appreciate those! (Who would have ever thought that I would start to miss American foods?!) Likewise, any tips or tricks about handling Brit/American weddings or house-hunting in the Southampton area, let me know! 

I had the same type of issue with my application, I accidentally sent my fiancé visa application off to NY on Feb. 5th as well, and had mine returned to me this past Saturday with the same note.
So I went out to FedEx this morning (after creating an online account to be billed) and had it sent to Sheffield with the waybill, should be delivered Wednesday!(:
I agree, ridiculously expensive! $120!

Hope your process goes well! (:


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Hi hope u r well. What part of Ohio are u from. I am from
Toledo and have lived in the UK for 12 years now.  It makes
Me feel old when I say that !!  This site has been a major lifesaver
For coping with the move. Best of luck. I live near Eastbourne on the south coast

Hello fellow Ohioan!  I am planning to permanently move to the south of England (Essex) later this year as well.  Best of luck with your Visa application and the wedding (so exciting!). 

I know what you mean about craving American food!  Thank goodness for Mrs. Simms candy shop and the American Candy Store who stock some much missed food (ie. Root Beer, canned pumpkin, Stove-Top Stuffing, etc.).  I have been visiting/living in the UK off-and-on for 4 years now and it seems like there are many more American goods being offered in British stores recently (I found Mike & Ike's in Tesco in January).  Baking of off American recipes can be daunting at first.  I ordered measuring cups and tablespoons off of Amazon so that I didn't have to convert all of my recipes into weight measurements.  I sometimes have to google the British equivalent of some products and where to get them but haven't had a major problem since I found an acceptable type of cornmeal.  The biggest issue I have had is determining how much of an ingredient I need to buy for recipes that call for, say, an 8-oz can of condensed milk.  I ended up having to buy two cans and combining.  The biggest annoyance is the butter!  I miss the American 1/2-cup sticks. 

As for weddings, I feel you there!  My husband and I got married last June in England and wedding planning was a bit interesting.  Getting my dress over here was the first hassle!  I had it altered in the US (I wore my mother's dress) and then brought it to the UK in a professional garment bag stuffed into a rolling carry-on!  I was paranoid the entire flight that this would be the one time the customs officials would actually decide to search my bags!  I also brought over my crinoline (for under the skirt) still vacuum sealed. 
The church at which we were married was pretty small and I might have been its first non-UK citizen to be married there in recent years because they weren't entirely sure how to proceed.  We were married under a special licence rather than banns.  This involved meeting with the head clerical registrar in the diocese where we took copies of my passport, my visa (Tier-4 Student Visa), and had my then-fiance swear an oath that we were being married in good faith.  The church also seemed surprised that we had a groomsman in addition to the best man, probably because they don't see many weddings a year.  The people in the office, though, were wonderful and spoke with the diocese about the proper procedure and were very thorough about making sure that we were legally able to marry.  If you are getting married in a church then they should be able to tell you what you need to do.  Otherwise, the registrar or wedding coordinator should know what to do. 
The reception was were I noticed more of a difference.  Our venue took care of everything (food, drinks, music, etc.) so it was just a matter of telling them what sort of alterations I wanted made.  For instance, they had never been asked about an open bar before.  I just asked them what the normal flow of events was and altered anything I wanted altered.  I had my sister give a speech as the Maid of Honor though she normally wouldn't at an English wedding.  We did have to explain to the guests why my American friends would pick up their glasses randomly and chime them with their knives to make us kiss.  Just make your day a mix of the traditions that the pair of you like.  I loved that there are two meals at English weddings: one where you sit down and then finger foods in the evening.  If there are any songs that you definitely want played, make sure your DJ has them, especially if they are country music or particularly American (ie. An American Girl by Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers).  I am sure that your vendors will work with you.  I hope that you have a lovely day with beautiful weather! 

P.S.- Though you're getting married in England, consider signing up with the Knot or David's Bridal.  They sent me a voucher for a free Shutterfly photo book if I reviewed 5 US vendors.  May be worth it.  Sorry for the long post!

Hello! Another Ohioan here (we really just don't stay put, do we?). I'm not too far from St. Albans, although I realise you don't actually live there!

Since I moved here a few years ago, I'm noticing more and more supermarkets bringing in American foods - or sometimes what they would consider American foods. Everyone I meet around here seems to think all Americans regularly eat marshmallow fluff... Mrs Simms is great, but you might be able to find the same products at Asda, Tesco or Waitrose for even cheaper.

Beatlemania - concerning your cornmeal problem: get maize-based polenta. You can get some that is pretty finely ground that will do the trick. It may be a little grittier than you're used to, but I've used it to make cornbread in the past and it works great. Also, once you bake enough over here, you'll get used to remembering that 112g = 1/2 cup butter 

Sorry if this is weird - still getting the hang of using a forum like this!

Blondeshania: I'm from a couple of the smaller cities around Dayton. I hesitate to pick one since we've moved so much, but generally have lived in the stretch between Xenia and Miamisburg. Nice to hear from someone else on the south coast!

Beatlemania: Hello, fellow Ohioan! One of the first things I did when my fiance and I put together our wedding registry (or gift list, I suppose I ought to say!) was make sure we had some American measuring spoons and cups on the list! I tried to help my fiance bake Christmas cookies when I was visiting him over the holidays and spent the whole time just watching him, utterly bemused! It will be a learning curve, for sure!

We have a bit of luck in the wedding department because my fiance's mum is a curate at a local church - very old, very gorgeous! (The church, not his mum! ) She's been able to figure out a lot of the church stuff for us - my largest concern about the ceremony at this point is whether to have the bridesmaids walk in front of or behind me! The reception is the weirdest bit - my friends are all getting married and having receptions at churches and in back yards, whereas we're having a hotel reception, so I can't figure out if all of this seems strange to me because it's English or because it's just generally fancier than I expected! Like having a drinks reception, then a meal, then finger food and dancing. As part of our package we have a 'toastmaster,' a term which threw me for a loop! How interesting about the clinking of glasses - I didn't consider that! My sister is also giving the Maid of Honor speech! The great debate right now is about having first dance and/or father/daughter dance ... fiance thinks it's weird, whereas I've never been to a wedding without both of them ...

I'm glad to hear how you transported your dress! That was my exact plan! (Excepting the crinoline, since I don't have that bit...) I'm glad it worked out for you, no damage to the dress. I just need to figure out where I can get my dress steamed to take care of the probable wrinkles.

And oh yes - I am definitely already on The Knot! We decided that it might be easier to make a website with information about flights/accommodations rather than trying to stuff a lot of information in the invitations. Because I made it, of course, it's an American site. Yeah.

elle.davis: Yes, we Ohioans seem to have a strange affinity with England. I met an Ohioan from my area at my fiance's church Boxing Day walk - she was dating a guy from his church! What are the odds?! I won't actually be living in St. Albans, no, but I'm sure we will spend a lot of time up there. My fiance is very close to his family, and I've spent most of my English holidays in that part of the country - excepting a walking trip to Wales. It's very nice in that area.

Marshmallow fluff makes the best fudge.