Lee and I came very close to eloping. Browsing elopement packages in Vanuatu or Fiji was just too tempting. A honeymoon and a wedding rolled into one. Just us. Very cost effective! Only thing was, I still wanted the wedding solemnized, and had doubts about having a non-Australian marriage certificate to submit for the spouse visa application later on. That'd mean we'd have to get married twice. tsk.

On the other hand, we can't afford a reception or a full fare wedding that we'd like to have with everyone in such a short time. My visa expires in August, and I have to marry before then to upgrade to a spouse visa.

I spoke to Lee's mum about all this when she asked what we wanted to do. She suggested we could do the registration and solemnization first, then have a reception with a renewal of vows celebrating our first anniversary, next year. We loved that idea.

Today, we met with Fr Joe at St Augustine's to talk about the wedding date and things. We had a bit of trouble deciding on a date. The initial one set was in March, before I realised to set it around my mum's school holidays so they might come over. Then it was trying to match when Fr Joe would be around. I had been eyeing April 13th because it was when Lee first wrote me. But Fr Joe would be on leave. Then he went on to suggest we pick a unique date to call our own, sharing the analogy of a child being born on Christmas day having only one present for both his birthday and Christmas. My mum should've been there to hear that one, because she initially suggested my birth date as a wedding day (since it would be the first day of CNY this year, too).

Subsequently, we told Fr Joe we were only thinking about having a small private affair of 6-7 people. Strangely then the numbers increased, as he started asking about my family in Malaysia and if I've any friends in Sydney whom I could invite, because it was such a special day to be shared with. It felt as though he was more excited about the whole thing, and even went on further to tell us about a restaurant down the road that we could have lunch at after the ceremony. It was amusing in some way, not that we didn't want friends and family around. It was just a little more of a financial hindrance. But we'll see.

Lee and I didn't know what to expect in our meeting with Fr Joe. While I had all my documents ready, Fr Joe said that our meeting today was first a little "Hello" session for him to get to know us. He then arranged another date for us to get all the formalities under way.

That aside, Lee and I have already completed a preliminary questionnaire for the Marriage Preparations course, and are awaiting our appointment sessions with a counsellor. The questionnaire kit that came in the mail felt like an exam sheet. Centacare had sent us two 2B pencils and an eraser along with two sheets of a multiple-choice answer sheet. You know, the ones like in our PMR objective papers which we have to colour in? Of course, this time there's no right or wrong answers. Or grades. Just answers that would see us through our marriage.

Also in the wedding prep news, Lee's mum, previously a fashion and wedding gown designer, has offered to tailor my dress. *^_^*

The date?

April 18th, 2008