Zee First Year

Our one year anniversary was yesterday and it was a happy day. I wonder how many marriages fail in the first year? I don't know, but I'm very glad to say ours isn't one of them.

We went out for dinner and Zee Groom gave me a lovely necklace. It was a total surprise, as usually he checks out whether or not we're doing presents for certain occasions. He hadn't said anything and I felt a bit embarrassed that I didn't have anything for him. As he said, it's not about the gifts, it's about us together. Which is sweet enough to make my own stomach turn, but it's true. Glad I married him.

Several Months Later...

We are still married and still happy. But there are few big changes.

1. I'm pregnant. Due date is 4 days after our wedding anniversary. Very exciting.
2. We're moving to England. For more information on that (and the baby), you should read my new blog, Attack of the C'lonials. That's the current blog for now, and will remain so for a good while, I imagine, as we slowly adapt to life in Blighty.

Look forward to your comments there!

Zee Wedding Itself

What a happy happy day. It keeps coming back to me in moments and I can't help being moved by the kindness and laughter that happened. I will write more, but for now here are some first pictures. This link should be good for a couple of months at least.

Ben's Pictures (sorry folks, the link is now dead)

For everyone who was there, for everyone who thought of us that day, you all made it very special for us.

Zee Final Countdown

Less than 14 hours to go. How do I feel?

Not nervous, not at all. Let's see what tomorrow brings.

A few small mishaps (photography-wise, but it's been fixed in the meantime) but generally okay. I'm both looking forward and slightly nervous about tomorrow. I'm nervous about the crowd of people we are having, I'm not nervous at all about marrying G.

This my last post as a single woman. Look forward to photos in the near future....

Zee Bride

Zee Guests

100 people!!!

About 100 people have said they will come to help toast and cheer our marriage on Friday afternoon. I had no idea we were so popular, it's really flattering. All the same, it's a bit overwhelming. I hope everything goes well on the day.

I'm lagging behind in this blog because there's so much to do. Even though we are keeping it super simple, there are lots of little things to do. I just shot off a page long email to G with what needs to be done or what is being done or what we have done. I think he's a bit shell-shocked too.

Zee Parents arrive on Saturday, after my hen night. Oh. My. God. I hope I'm in decent shape when they arrive. I have warned them at least, and they get in mid-afternoon, so I should be functioning by then.

Zee Invites

The invites have been sent! Well, are being sent. We still have a few people/groups to send them to, but for the most part, they are on their way. We sent it electronically, by email and personal message via a forum. Why not take advantage of the technology? I'm not fussed for the format, and if people do want to print it out, it is in a nice design with a picture and everything. If you want to see it, go to Zee Groom's page. That has everything but the actual location listed.

It's exciting getting the RSVPs back. Everytime I get one, it feels special, knowing that this person wants to be with us on our day. That is really starting to make the excitement grow.

I've been with G for 3 years now, and I still love every minute of it.

Zee Restaurant

So, we finally (and yes, I know, at a late juncture) got around to looking for a restaurant for us to eat and drink and celebrate at. As you might expect on a Friday in December, it's a wee bit tricky.

Basically we want to keep to our Bavarian theme and find a nice Bavarian or German restaurant not too far from the Standesamt (civil office) to go to. A bit of travel is okay, but not a 60 minute drive (even though I know several great restaurants that far away that would fit the bill). Saturday we spend an hour walking around downtown, trying to find a place. Several of our first choices weren't available, which has left us with a couple of other choices.

We have reservation at Augustiner am Platzl. The nice nice part upstairs is unfortunately booked, and the downstairs-ground floor bit is a bit open. There's a mezzanine level between the ground floor and upstairs, and that's where we have the reservation at the moment. It's okay, but a bit open and could be pretty smoky, depending on the clientele downstairs.

The next place we have a tenative booking at is at Nürnberger Bratwurst Glöckl am Dom. Here we have a nice corner that's not too busy in a very traditional setting. The problem is, I don't know if this is booked 100%, as they seemed really laissez-faire about the whole thing and didn't get back to me by email to confirm the booking.

The third place we could choose would be this room in the Löwenbräukeller. We are planning on having around 12 guests, so G is a bit worried it would look empty with just us in it. I think that it could be quite a nice little setting and if it's decorated for Christmas (which they already suggested would be included in a Christmas menu), it could look quite nice.

Opinions, especially from people in Munich who probably have a clue as to where these places are and what they are like, are welcome. Even for all you abroad, shout out your opinion!

Zee Last Stand

Slowly, here and there, I'm hearing about plans for a stag weekend and hen night for G and I. Not together, separate, but happening the same weekend. My stomach has gone into knots because not knowing much of what is happening has left me feeling a bit uncertain. I'm just letting my type-A personality get the better of me, because I don't know and can't say what's going on. But I do like a good surprise, and D, who is organising mine, is a fab organiser and I'm sure it will fun for everyone.

Zee Bill

A bill arrived this week related to our wedding. Now, I'm a little bit unsure about what exactly this bill is for. I think it's the cost of for the local government to issue us a paper saying we don't need a Familienbuch (family book) for use foreigners. Germans normally have a family book, which states who married who and who their children were, nice and official-like. The kids hand this over when they get married, and it supposedly reduces the paperwork. Since we don't have a nice and official-like book, we have to pay a fee for the Bavarian government to grudgingly say, "Okay okay, we'll let them get married here anyways. Even if they don't have a family book."

We are paying €260 for this privilege and honour. This is based on our yearly income. So, in a way, fair enough, rich people should pay more. But, it's not like they actually ask for any proof. The woman behind the desk just asks how much you make, types in whatever number you say, and then they base it on that. So if you were slightly unscrupulous or felt that it was a silly way to tax people or felt you has already paid enough in Germany taxes without the right to vote for anyone in control of how they use that money, you could possibly, perhaps be tempted to say a number a bit lower than the actual amount you earnt...

But of course we didn't do that. No sir.

Spammers

Spam has now reached its oily grip to comments on blogs. I have now turned on verification to slow the spammers down. Ha! Take that, you filthy spammers!

Updates

There isn't actually that much to update. We've sort of figured out a plan for the day, although nothing has been committed to yet. In other words, this might be what happens or it might end up being totally different. But it's probably a good bet.

Wedding at 1:50 pm. I've been told it takes around 10 minutes. Seems like a very short time for a very important ceremony, but I guess when I add up all the time running around to get the other paperwork finished, it's not that short. Afterwards we'll have some sparkling wine, Lebkuchen (gingerbread cookies) and Glühwein (spiced wine) to celebrate. One of my friends has very kindly offered to serve the drinks for this, which was really nice. I didn't even mention the idea, she volunteered herself. This could be inside or outside, depending on the weather. If it's not pouring rain, we'll probably do it outside. The place we are getting married is right by the Englischer Garten (a big park in the center of town), so we can have it on the bridge leading into the park.

After that, things get a bit fuzzier. It'll be early on, so too early really for dinner. Maybe we'll go have coffee and cake somewhere and then go off to dinner. The two Bavarian weddings we went to this summer seemed to have a lot of eating involved in them. A brisk walk to the Christmas market at the Chinese Tower, cake, then head off to dinner at a nice Bavarian restaurant. Still trying to decide where we want for a nice Bavarian restaurant. Something centralish, with good food and good service and possibly a private room for around 10 people. Any suggestions more than welcome!

Zee Date!

We have a date for the wedding!

First I'd like to thank Lisa at Lisa's Office for the quick and extremely reasonably-priced translation of our birth certificates. Sent last Thursday, picked up today, €15 each. Bargain!

With official translations, birth certificates, (apostilled & legalized), proof of occupation, proof of residency, certificate of it's-okay-for-this-guy-to-get-married, and passport in hand; I headed down the marriage office to get a date. When I got there, I suddenly worried about not having G there with me and no copy of his passport. But I still managed to get a date, although we have to go down tomorrow together to sign one more form (an affidavit for me to say it's okay for this girl to get married). I think part of the reason she gave me the date rather than telling me to come back tomorrow was that there was an old couple in the office next door (there's no door between them), and I do mean old, like over 65, wanting to get married and the old guy was being a right annoyance, shouting "I'm a customer, you can't treat me this way!". We were looking at each other, shaking our heads in sympathy for the woman working with this jerk and so she was a bit more accomodating for me. :)

So, here it is:

DECEMBER 9TH, 2005; 1:50pm.

Isn't that exciting? I'm excited. A few hiccups to work out, but that is finally set!


Want to save money on your wedding? Click here!

Paperwork is finished

To my great relief, the birth certificate arrived on Wednesday with the appropriate stamp and signature on it. It's now off at the translator, and by this time next week, we should have a date!

Very exciting indeed! That's worth a few exclamation points.

!!!!!!

Drama with the Consulate

What a pair of weeks!

Let's rewind to middle of August, when I last posted.

I phoned the Germany embassy in Ottawa to ask if I simply had to send my birth certificate or if there was more to it or what. I spoke to the receptionist, explained that I needed my Canadian birth certificate "legalized" by the Germans so I could get married in Germany. He said to me, "Okay... but what does that have to do with us?". Sigh. I explain again, using small words, that it has to be done by the German embassy in Canada. He then passes me onto to someone who has more clue than he does.

She a right old hag, as I explain what I need again. She says "Where was the certificate issued?" I say, "Canada". She snaps "WHERE in Canada?" like it's an obvious question when I'm phoning halfway around the world. I kept my cool, since I needed her help, but oh, at other times, she would have had an earful. I tell her it's from Alberta and she says "Oh, we don't deal with Alberta. You'll have to contact the consulate in Vancouver to help you." Great.

Since Vancouver is 3 hours behind Ottawa, I decide not to hang around to phone them, but rather send an email asking the following: 1. Do I send you my birth certificate? 2. Do I need to send anything else? 3. How much does it cost? I get an email very late the following day (so basically two full working days) saying "my colleague who can assist you in this mattter is on holiday. I kindly ask you to contact Mr. XXX* next week - Email: XXX@vanc.auswaertiges-amt.de
Thank you very much!"
*Name removed to protect the incompetent.

Now, this ticked me off, because to me, these were bloody simple questions. It seems there is only one person in the entire office who deals with "Legalisation" of birth certificates. Why the hell do you have colleagues for if they can't even take over for you to answer to simple questions? Everyone in Germany has been up until now been helpful and friendly, but these overseas Beamters are doing my nut in.

So, Monday, I email him. No answer. So I phone him later. No answer, only voice mail. I email again. No answer. Finally, Tuesday, I get the info I need. Told where to send it, say that I will pay for the stuff, etc etc. Oh, yeah, he did try and fob me off onto the Calgary office, saying they did it too, but I wasn't allowing the buck to be passed any farther. I send one more email to ask how long it will take. Answer: "I can not give any guaranteed processing time and mailing time which will be needed. We send out mail to GErmany once a week on Fridays via the foreign office in Berlin." Once a week to Germany? Via Berlin? What, is this the 19th century and the Pony Express only leaves once a week? It might not seem unreasonable, but when I compare that G sent his off to Australia and got it back direct within 10 days, it seems very unreasonable to me.

So, I pray that it would arrive last week, but no luck. So far, nothing this week, so I phoned yesterday to see if he had received the birth certificate. The guy is away AGAIN until Monday! I phone the extension he gives as the assistance and finally get someone who seems interested enough to help. She says that they haven't received my letter yet. I'm thinking, this is weird, I sent it 2 weeks ago, they should have it. She welcomed me to phone again today, which I did. Still no sign of it. At this point, I started to make a polite stink about it. I told her I was certain it was 2 weeks since I sent the letter and I know it doesn't take 14 days for the mail to get to Canada from Munich. I started to ask if it was on his desk, or if it was in the mailroom or somewhere else. No, no and no; I'm told. I added the comment, "Well, I hope it hasn't been lost, as it's my original document and the only one I have", which believe it or not, seemed to press her a little. She asked for my email address, but I ended up taking hers. About 20 minutes later, I got an email saying that my birth certificate had turned up. Out of the blue. I so wonder where it was. I'm guessing it was just sitting on Mr. XXX's desk, without it being sent.

The woman was helpful enough as to fax me a copy. But upon getting the fax, I was even more ticked off. The document is signed and stamped and dated. Guess when it was dated? AUGUST 30TH!!! So, 8 days earlier. I could have had it this week if they had sent it. If I hadn't put the pressure on, I wonder how long it would have sat there, nothing happening to it.

Well, the good news is that I should have it in my hot little hands by Wednesday at the latest. And I found someone very reasonably priced to translate it, so that is some more good news. Finally.

More paperwork to do

In the vain hope that we had all our paperwork, we went down to the Marriage Office this morning. Much busier this time as when I was down there last, maybe because it was morning, maybe because it was summer. I knew it wasn't complete because there was no translation done yet, but we thought we might be able to twist a few arms to give us a date. No such luck. We both need to send our birth certificates back to our respective nations to get "officialized" by the authorities. G needs an Apostille to say "Yes, this is an Australian birth certificate" and I need the German embassy in Canada to say the same about mine. What a runaround. I'm phoning them this afternoon to make sure of the address and such. Hope I don't have to apply in person. That would be a real downer. And probably kill the idea of getting married in Germany PDQ.

Bavarian Wedding

Last Saturday we went to another wedding. This time it was a real one. It was the marriage of two others who met through our Bavarian band. So pay attention kids, joining a band is the way to meet your spouse! So, rather than writing about it here, I'll let you enjoy it from Zee Groom's point of view.

Boarische Hochzeit

Landshuter Hochzeit

Today's post isn't about our wedding, it's about a wedding that took place 530 years ago. It was the wedding between Hedwig, daughter of the Polish King and that of Georg, son of the Landshut duke.

Every 3-5 years, Landshut reenacts the marriage celebrations of Hedwig and Georg. It's Germany's largest historical pageant and if you have the chance to see it, I recommend you go. We went on Sunday and it was a fun afternoon out. It's very realistic costumes, from the hats down to the shoes. Even the horses are kitted out in medival style harnesses. I'd never seen so many side-saddles before Sunday. What I thought was very cool were all the falconers. Here's a picture, but careful, it's big. Maybe more later.

Review of Ultimate Wedding website

Since the most recent spate of visitors has been from the Ultimate Wedding website, I thought I should return the favour with a link and a review.

I like the website in general. They are trying to turn a profit by working as a middleman for wedding shopping, but they do a good job. It's a clean design with simple descriptions to get you where you want to go. I can't comment on the prices, as I don't shop via it, since it's set up for the USA, possibly Canada.

They have a lot of articles in the form of checklists such as: Honeymoon Packing Checklist, Ceremony Music Checklist, Name Change Checklist, Wedding Day Hair Checklist, etc etc. I haven't explored them fully, but I think they could prove useful.

Also useful to someone wanting ideas are contributions from members of the website. These include lists of songs, marital vows, wine ceremony speeches, etc etc. This is a good resource of material for people to get ideas for their own ceremony.

Where the board really shines is in its online forums. These are well organised and the members really seem to be out to help each other, not just trash talk. I think they work far far better than The Knot's forums do.

Unfortunately, there are a couple of technical problems with the forums that keep me from participating as much as I otherwise might. When you click on a link, it is reeeeeallllly sllllllllloooow to load. And I have broadband, there's no reason for this, other than there must be too much background stuff being reloaded each time. They have updated and it's a bit faster, but it still is quite slow in my opinion. The other problem is that the notification of new posts on a thread you are tracking is usually about a week old. If you are interested in joining the forums, by all means do so, but don't rely on email notification to keep you updated on new posts.

All in all, for someone looking for good advice from other brides to be (it does seem to be only brides, no grooms, sorry!) and somewhere where they can rave about their very cool table centerpiece without fear of the reader getting bored, this is a good place for you.

If you do log on, feel free to drop me a Private Message (PM). I'm on there as ZeeBride, funnily enough.

http://www.ultimatewedding.com/
http://www.weddingchat.com/index.php
Do It Yourself" Wedding Tips - Save!

Dirndl talk - Look below for pictures!

These were the 4 dirndls I tried on. I sent the pics to my parents and my dad liked the way number 2 looked on me and I agree. But if you look closely, you'll also see the angle I'm standing at is a bit more flattering and it has more to do with that than the dirndl itself. The winning dirndl is much nicer looking too, the first two are sort of "every day" dresses. I'm sure to anyone from outside of Germany, no, make that Bavaria, would think that it's not every day you wear a dirndl. But to be honest, although it might be slightly unusual to wear one just around town, no local would really bat an eye at it. People do wear them all the time, to church, to a special party, to the opera, to the beergarden. Candidates 3 and 4 are a little more special, something more what you would wear to the opera or to... hmm... what's another good special occasion? Oh yeah, a wedding. Hah!

I was talking to my mom (who was being very good about not pressuring for specific dates of where and when to be) and she pointed out that the Chinese think that red (like my apron) is a lucky colour, and is often used for weddings. So we got that going for us as well. I'm happy.


"Do It Yourself" Wedding Tips - Save!

Candidate number 1 at Zee Dirndl Try-Outs