The Great Relocation... Part 6b
A QUICK RECAP
In September 2017, I began planning our wedding. And on December 13th, Bagel landed back in Joburg for the big day and a little vacation.
The day before the Big Day…
Bagel and I decided we wanted a non-religious wedding ceremony where we could handle the ‘paperwork’ of our marriage at the same time. On December 15th 2017, we met with our marriage officer, Larne, and were married in a small, private ceremony with only my dad and our wonderful wedding photographer, Blanche, to bear witness to our union. It was a very special and intimate ceremony, and we appreciated Larne’s attention to detail and personal touches during our short marriage ceremony.
Since we hadn’t had the opportunity to do an engagement shoot leading up to our wedding day, Blanche captured our ceremony and then spent some time with us at 44 Stanley, taking some more snaps of us before the big wedding day.
The Big Day…
I could wax poetic about how perfect the day was and how magical every moment was, but I’m not going to. It was special and beautiful, and I was glad that all the hard work, stress, and anxiety that had gone into planning our wedding day had paid off.
On December 16th 2017, our good friend, Sihle, performed our wedding ceremony where we exchanged vows and rings in front of a small group of our closest friends and family members. Blanche captured all the special moments of our wedding day so beautifully; please take a look at some of her favorite snaps of our wedding celebration here.
once the Party was over
Bagel flew back to the USA about a week after our wedding, and I stayed in Joburg to begin the process of handling all my life admin so that I could apply for my visa, yet again. Another emotional airport goodbye for us with the hope that we’d be reunited in the USA soon.
I had to get a new ID displaying my married name, and a new passport too. If you live in South Africa, you know what a nightmare it is to deal with anything at Home Affairs! After a few weeks, I had all my new documentation, and I was able to reapply for my visa and book an appointment for the interview at the US Embassy.
On March 5th 2018, my dad drove me to the US Embassy for my third attempt at the visa interview, and after a quick and easy couple of questions I was finally granted my visa. I cannot tell you how relieved and grateful I was to have that out of the way! After celebrating the wonderful news with my dad, the packing saga began.
and she’s off!
April 05th came around so fast, and before I knew it, I’d said all my goodbyes, packed my two massive suitcases, and I was New York- bound! Two long flights later, I touched down at JFK airport where Bagel was waiting for me with a bunch of red roses and loads of hugs and kisses. We drove the three hours to our new home chatting away and catching up on everything under the sun while I wondered how it could be springtime while it was snowing.
WHAT NEXT?
You did it; you finished reading about my journey to join Bagel in our new home in Upstate New York and it was quite a journey with loads of ups and downs! Thank you so much for following along on this series of blog posts; I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed sharing this part of our story with you.
Now that this series of posts has come to an end, I look forward to sharing stories about how we’ve been settling into our life here. In the meantime, feel free to get in touch with me here or on the Candice Says Facebook page; I’d love to hear from you!
Take care,
C
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Thumbnail image courtesy of Slava Bowman on Unsplash.
