Our wedding story
Up until Jan' 25th 2000, we were convinced that I, (Gerry), would have to go back to the UK for a while, while we got all the paperwork sorted for a K-1, fiancé visa application. Well, one evening a family friend phoned Tina's Mama, to say that she had a relative that had been in a similar situation, but on advice from an organization called Catholic Family Services, had gone ahead & got married, and had been able to stay in the US while their application was processed. The next day we contacted Lydia, at the local branch of Catholic Family Services and this lady was surprised that with me already in the country we were thinking of going about this any other way. We made an appointment to see her that Friday Jan' 28th. The only drawback we found was that she was under the impression that I would have to stay in the US until the application had finished processing, up to 2 years, she thought. If that was correct I would have found it very difficult to go ahead. We looked at various internet sites covering the subject, these told us that the process was currently taking on average 6 months or less. We also discovered that it is common for people to be able to get permission to leave & return without too much trouble. (6 months later we discovered this information, I-130 Q&A). We decided to try to get a ceremony organized for the 12th of February, when some of Tina's family would be in the area. The only thing that was holding us back now was that Tina hadn't yet got her divorce papers. The case had been heard on Jan' 20th, but there had been heavy snowfalls in South Carolina over the last couple of weeks and the postal service was being delayed. On Tuesday Feb' 1st, Tina called the local county clerk who said that the actual paperwork wasn't necessary, BUT, she said, the law in Texas said that you could not re-marry within 30 days of a previous marriage, unfortunately we decided that although that would still be before I had to return to the UK, it did not allow time for the unforeseen. That night we trawled the internet looking at South Carolina law, & Texas law, thinking that Texas may honour South Carolina law if it did not have this provision. We also started to make plans to maybe go to Las Vegas at the weekend if this proved fruitless. We did discover that it may be possible to contest this law, but decided that unless the clerk gave us the ok, we would make other plans. Tina called the clerk again on Wednesday morning and was again told that the 30 day rule would apply. So, Tina told her boss that she might not be into work the following Monday and that evening we talked to Tina's parents. At first we intended to drive to Las Vegas, after chatting for a while, we decided that Colorado Springs would be a better idea & Janet & Keith, (Tina's Ma & Pa), said they would drive us & act as witnesses for us. Thursday was spent looking on the internet for somewhere to stay & somewhere to marry or someone to marry us. Having looked through, at, telephoned and talked about some 30 to 50 places we were finally able to confirm our reservations on Friday morning.
We chose the B&B out of several because the lady that answered the phone was really helpful, she said that she hadn’t been asked for wedding facilities before, and said that she didn’t think she had the room, but when I said that there’d only be 4 of us, she started to get excited. She asked if she could get her cook to make a cake & if she should go into town to get some Champagne for us . Then she also asked whether we had found a priest & offered to talk to the people at the chapel just down the street from her. I was sort of bowled over by the way this lady wanted to put herself out so much for us. Anyway we got in touch with several others & this place just stuck out like a sore thumb. We got in touch with the chapel ourselves & the LADY !!! who conducted the service was just as helpful, she agreed to make herself available on Sunday, (wouldn’t normally do this), so that we could go see & decide if we wanted her to conduct the service in the Library of the B&B, or if we would like to have the service in their chapel, (just down the road). One of the other places we looked at said that the room that they set aside for weddings had been inspired by Glastonbury England & we were tempted to go there until we discovered that some of the rooms had just been redecorated & were as yet unfinished. Quite a strange conversation I had with the lady there, apparently you are allowed to conduct your own wedding ceremony in Colorado & she offered to “facilitate”, (prompt, so that we didn’t get lost), for us.
Well we finally got it all sorted, Saturday morning we were off to Colorado Springs, in Colorado. We decided to go look around Colorado Saturday & Sunday. Saturday night we would stay at a motel.
Sunday we would go to look at the chapel
&
the posh B&B,
to see which we’d prefer to get married in. We would stay Sunday night in the B&B in The:
Monday morning we would go to get a marriage license, then at 12pm, ( 6pm, UK time), we would be getting married. After that we would make our way home, as Tina had to go back to work on Tuesday.
We're off ......
We left Amarillo about 9am Saturday, had lunch at about 12ish in New Mexico, and then drove on, (with the odd photo stop), through to Colorado Springs. Tina & Janet still had some things they wanted to get for the wedding, so we had to visit Wal-Mart, ( the biggest supermarket chain in the US), I got my hair cut while they were doing that. The travel inn was the next stop, to unload the van,( I took some more pictures), then to find somewhere to eat. Sunday morning we had breakfast went to Wal-Mart for some film & a hair piece, then we took a trip around the local
and on to look at an area called the “Garden of the
Gods”. Then as we were in the area, to see where the guest house was, they
were still closed when we got there, so we took a couple of pictures. We tried
to find the little Chapel that was supposed to be “just 2 blocks from here”.
Well after 20mins scouring the area, we stopped at a phone box & the lady,
Linda, gave us directions. When Tina & I got there, (Pa stayed in the car
& Ma went ……… you guessed it, SHOPPING!!!!!!!), we immediately knew
this lady was going to be fun, the house was decorated with lights, hearts, and
roses and on the porch were a snow bride & groom. Through the window, (the
lady had told me on the phone that they would not be back till the evening, and
to go ahead and peer through the window), we could see a white trellis fence and
benches, it looked pretty, but we weren’t specially struck by that, so we thought we’d leave
deciding till we’d seen inside the guest house. Well Ma was still, you know
what, so we did a bit of window shopping too. By the time we got back to the
van, about 2.15pm we guessed that the guest house would probably be open, so we
drove around to there & yes they were open. We introduced ourselves and were
told that our rooms weren’t ready yet, but we could look around the rest of
the house, so we went into the library to decide, Library or Chapel? We decided
that the Library was going to be the best for us.
What next? We’d found some
brochures on our travels, and there was one advertising a local cave complex
called “The Cave of the Winds”, so we took a tour around there, it was much
like “Kent’s Caverns” in Devon UK, with some nice American Indian history
stories and some awesome views when you were outside.
Ok, back to the guest
house. Back at the guest house we unpacked and joined the “Inn Keepers”, as
they called themselves, for wine and horsd'ovres. The socialising done with we
went out for a meal at a local German restaurant, then back to the guest house
for a dunk in the hot tub, a shower and to sit & decide what music we wanted
to play during the ceremony.
The big day…..
not quite finished yet :-)
Click here to see some pictures of the event.
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