Organized Chaos

Tuesday 14 May 2013

I've Got a Secret...


Tomorrow…

Well tomorrow is a pretty big day that has been a closely guarded (okay not that close, we’ve let it slip over the years!) secret within our family!


If you’re just joining up or haven’t scooted over to my About Me page (DO THAT NOW!) then you’ll be interested to learn I’m a pure bred American girl living in…South Africa!! I immigrated here just over four years ago to be with my Hubby Dearest.



When I moved here, we had two options; have a quick wedding or apply and hope for an extension on my visitors visa. After speaking with a representative at Home Affairs we quickly realized that the chances of me getting an extension were slim. We didn’t have any solid grounds in the governments eyes for an extension. It was about 1/3 of Hubby’s monthly salary to apply for an extension that I.Might.Not.Get!

So we decided to go for the quickie wedding! We se the date for the Friday 6 days before I had to be out of the country…thinking this would give me enough time to get my visa sorted out.
Wrong Again!

A typical wedding with a pastor and all could cause us to wait up to 30 days for our official marriage documents. This meant that I’d still have to leave the country and not return for….6 months!!

This was not something we were willing to risk. We were young and in love (we still are!) and refused to be separated.

So we made a new plan! We held to the June 5th wedding date. We planned it out, sent the invites, and had a wedding ceremony on the beach that day!

What almost all of our guests did not know….
We were already married!! ;-)

Yep, we went to Home Affairs in Park Rynie on May 15, 2009 and got married in front of a magistrate with our Ma and Tannie as witnesses. Tannie Driekie and her husband, my then boss and Hubby’s best friends mom Tannie Eurika, and our Ma and Pa were the only 5 people our secret was disclosed to.
 
Photo from when we actually got married....having lunch next to the beach
Us the night we got married with Ouma Lou, Tannie Driekie, Pa and Ma
And it was kept a pretty good secret for a while. When our first anniversary came around, we let it slip to our brothers that our actual anniversary was in May not June and since then a few friends here and there have learnt what we did.

The idea was not so much that we were doing anything scandalous but that we didn’t want to subtract to the meaning of our wedding ceremony. We didn’t put our rings on until the ceremony and remained that we weren’t married yet. For us, until that day that we had our ceremony…we weren’t actually married.

So now… we celebrate two anniversaries (poor Hubby!). One on May 15th where we just remind each other how much we love each other, maybe give biltong or flowers and let it go. A second one on June 5th where we typically go to dinner, get a babysitter, and celebrate another year together and laugh at all our memories!

Here’s to four years…
Cheers!!




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XOXxx
Shana Danae..


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