FAQs about our Happily Ever After

You may notice this is a real post on a Tuesday, instead of a Tuesday travel photo. I’ve been thinking of changing that up for awhile now and some preliminary feedback on the reader survey confirmed that the Tuesday and Thursday travel photos aren’t your favorites. Instead of posting a single photo on those days I am switching to one photo per week, on Fridays. That way we can get some better content out earlier in the week, when people seem to stop by more often. Don’t forget, there are still a few more days to help us out and fill in the short survey, for a chance to win a $50 Amazon gift card!

Haha! You’ll have to forgive me for this title. We are a little excited over here. I wanted to do another FAQ post about the next steps in our immigration process and our plans for the future and needed a title to capture what I was talking about. Anyway, here are some answers to some questions we have been getting recently.

Happily Ever After

When will Roberto get to the US?

We recently received correspondence from the US consulate in Brazil that Roberto must appear for an interview in early February. If all goes as expected he’ll leave his passport there for them to issue his new visa and then mail it back to him. They ask for 10 business days plus mailing time so we expect him to arrive somewhere towards then end of February. We would welcome any positive thoughts during this time as we make our way through the final hurdles of the K1 process.

When are you getting married?

We have to get married within 90 days of his entrance according to the fiance visa laws. However, the sooner we legally get married the sooner we’ll be able to start the green card application process. We are planning to get married in early March.

What kind of wedding will you have?

We’ll have to keep it small in this timeframe but we still want to celebrate. What we are planning is to have a civil ceremony before a judge during the day. We will then enjoy a photo shoot with a local photographer to get some wedding shots around town. After this we plan to celebrate with family and close friends at a local restaurant with dinner, drinks and dancing. Later, we hope to plan a church ceremony and traditional celebration with Roberto’s friends and family in Brazil who won’t be able to come to the US on such short notice for our small civil wedding.

What will you wear?

I obviously don’t have time to order a wedding gown from a bridal salon and get it custom made, altered, etc. However, I still wanted to get dressed up pretty and wear a white dress. After doing lots of shopping and searching the Internet, I got creative. I ended up ordering a full length but simple bridesmaid dress from a bridal shop, in white. Sorry, I can’t post any photos! I plan to spend a few hours at the spa getting my hair and nails done to complete the look. Oh, and Roberto will wear a nice suit.

What kind of wedding rings will you wear?

Right now Roberto and I are both wearing engagement rings. In Brazil and much of South America it is traditional for both the bride- and groom-to-be to wear plan gold bands on their right hands. While it is not typical for brides to wear a diamond engagement ring as it is in the US, Roberto selected a band for me that included diamonds as a way to blend both traditions.

When we get married we have decided to wear simple gold bands as traditional in most of the world. I can choose to stack my engagement ring with the band, or perhaps commemorate our second celebration in Brazil with a new piece, but for now I like the option on wearing a traditional band rather than purchasing a trendy, expensive wedding set.

How about a honeymoon? Will you take one?

Are you kidding? We are so excited to take a few days off and enjoy some time together after our wedding. While we haven’t made firm plans yet, right now our plan is to do a California road trip on the Pacific Coastal Highway from San Francisco to Los Angeles. It will be Roberto’s first time to California and I fell in love with the region in the last couple years. We hope to rent a convertible and stay in some romantic properties along the way. It should be a good combination of adventure and relaxation.

Are you having a bridal shower?

So many people are asking us how they can celebrate with us and many of our fabulous friends and family have indicated they would like to give us a wedding gift. We even have had gracious offers to host a bridal shower. However, since our wedding will be so small and last minute, I don’t feel comfortable having a traditional shower. We think the best option will be to have a small celebration when Roberto arrives: an engagement or welcome back party. This way if guests would wish to purchase a gift there is a venue, but there is no expectation or show of opening gifts. We are still considering creating a small registry of items we really need to make things easier. Since this isn’t the most “typical” wedding it’s hard to know the proper etiquette, but since this question has been asked so much we feel like we should do something.

What about the blog? You won’t be “traveling for love” anymore.

Well we certainly aren’t going anywhere. While we may need to update our about page a bit, the basic premise of blogging about our travels together and our life as an international couple will remain the same. Still this is a good opportunity to think about the direction of the blog, and it’s part of the reason for launching the reader survey. I think as we move forward we’ll have lots of stories about trips we take and also things to write as we get used to life together on the same continent. One thing is for sure: we will still be keeping travel as a huge priority as we embark on this new journey.

Want to know more? Leave a question in the comments. Or, let us know what you think!