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A very quick update

Well it’s been a while since I last wrote something, and I’m not about to write much right now.

Since the last post, I’ve finished my vietnamese class, so there’s definitely a lot I can write there in the future, however I’m still not able to speak it, but I understand it better.

Also, I’m now officially married, we’ve been through the engagement and wedding ceremonies here, end of january, early february. Once again, a lot of things to write and images to share. I will get there eventually. I have about 40 GB of photos and videos, of these events, so I need to start sorting them. This was followed by a week in Laos and a long weekend in Phu Quoc, which is a vietnamese island in the Thailand Gulf.

And last, I’m starting a new hobby: photography! I just bought myself a Canon EOS 60D with the following lenses: the EF 50mm F/1.4 USM and the EF 24-105mm F/4L IS USM. These 2 lenses should help me get started and find my way. So expect to see some pictures popping up once in a while.

So that’s it for now, nothing very interesting right now, but a lot to look forward to. I have a lot of writing ahead of me!

Interview with Vietnamese Administration

Well, that’s it !

This afternoon we went for our individual interviews with the vietnamese administration about our marriage. This is only needed when a foreigner wants to get married with a vietnamese. They do these interviews to try to screen out any marriage that might be a fake one, such as those organized by “agencies” to find wives for example.

For this interview, I had to hire an interpreter to translate questions and answers back and forth. I was a bit stressed about it at first, as it’s not just any “job interview” … this is my marriage we are talking about here! And from some comments we had read from people going through this procedure, some people had actually failed the interviews! But after a few minutes in there, everything was going alright, I even noticed the women smiling as I was explaining how I proposed to N. Which I hope is a good sign …

The interview was also shorter than I thought it would be, I believe it lasted around 20 minutes or so, and I was expecting to have to into much details , but that wasn’t necessary after all.

Here is a list of questions I’ve been asked, I may have forgotten a couple :

How and when did I meet N
When did I fall in love with her
How many times did I come to Vietnam
Have I met N’s family
Has N met my family
What do our families think about our wedding
What do I do for a living
What does N do these days
Have I been planning the wedding
When was our wedding
Will my family come to my wedding
Where will we live after our wedding
Was I forced into marrying N

That’s all I can remember for now. I will update the list if I remember any others.

Another positive note about our interviews, the women doing them is the mother of one of N’s friends who is currently living in Lyon in France. So that might get us some sympathy ^^

With the interview over, we have now finished the administrative paperwork, all that’s left on this side now, is waiting. I believe they will be publishing our names for a few weeks, and if everything goes well, that should be it !

Now we need to continue to organize the engagement and wedding days.

Cheers!

Wedding administration, almost done !

Well well, 2 posts in 2 days … who would have thought !

Anyway, a quick update, I “survived” the mental check up we went for this morning. Of course, it didn’t have anything to do with me being crazy or not, go figure. It was quite straight forward, if not a little awkward in fact. After filling a little form to say who I was, we were measured and weighed. Then, a little heart beat check to make sure I was still alive … and then … I had to take my pants off, for the doctor to “peak” to see if I had any sexual diseases … awwwkwaaard.

And that was it, 30 mins later we received our “mental” check up approval letter! This was the last document we needed to be able to finally apply for the marriage. So, that’s what we did just after this “joke”.

The marriage application, will take between 30 to 40 days to be processed apparently, and we were booked for individual interviews. I will need to hire a translator to get through this one though. Our interviews are early next week, so we are almost done with the all the administrative part. All that will be left will be some little waiting!

Next week, I will need to look into renewing my VISA for Vietnam. I initially got a 3 month one (which is the longest you can get for a tourist visa), and it’s been 2 months already, time flies when you are having fun !

That’s it for today, don’t want to be writing too much or you will get used to me giving frequent news, and expect some more often ^^

Cheers!

Wedding Photos Sneak Peek

So, wedding preparations, we are getting there !

In vietnamese tradition, a wedding album is made prior to the wedding day, so that guests can actually go through the album. So last weekend, we went for a photo shooting session in various locations in Hanoi. We started the day very early, by heading to the dress designer studios so that we could get changed, and get N ready (hair, makeup, …), then we set off for the Temple of Literature. I had already visited the place last year, so I knew it was really nice, and we spent most of the morning there. Although there were a few tourist bus pouring people in, we did manage to get a few scenes which were mostly empty.

I will restrain myself of publishing too many photos for now, as the album is not ready yet, but whenever we get the album, I’ll try to post it online also. (There are a couple more on Facebook, posted by N)

Anyway, we went to several places, and some cozy cafes. N and I really had fun, but it was exhausting! Oh, and did I mention it was a beautiful day, a bit too hot for my taste (30°C), especially when having to wear a suit, luckily my suit was tailored using a very light material!). We treated ourselves in the evening with a very nice Japanese dinner! (sushi, okonomiyaki, … no umeshu unfortunately).

Monday (Oct 24th), I was also able to pick up my Certificate of No Impediment from the British Embassy. This certificate is a ‘must have’ to be able to get married in vietnam. It basically says that there’s nothing preventing me from getting married. And then we got it certified by the vietnamese administration, which took a couple of days.

We only have 1 thing left to do (as far as we know at least), before we can apply for our wedding, we need to get a mental checkup! We are planning to go there tomorrow morning, so if you don’t see me coming back, I guess they’ll have had me locked up somewhere ^^

To be continued …

Starting the Wedding preparations

Well, let’s start writing again, see if I’ll finish this article, it’s been a while since my last one.

Quite a few things have happened recently. I have applied for my certificate of no impediment (CNI) at the british consulate in Hanoi. This is a document I need to get married in Vietnam. It’s a certificate saying that I’m not already married etc.. It takes 3 weeks to get, so I should be getting it by October 24. It was surprisingly easy to apply for it, considering I’m not living in The Netherlands anymore, and I haven’t registered myself back in France, that I’m in Vietnam on a 3 months tourist visa, however N’s father did register me at the local police (after some bribing, because the guy was too lazy to do his job, yes, that’s how it works here), so it’s kind of a strange situation. However, all I needed to apply for the CNI was my passport with my visa, the local police registration and N’s family book. I filled in 3 forms which all asked the same questions, but it in a different format (yeah, administration …) and of course pay the fee. We were in and out in 30 mins.

N also got a similar document, which only took a day to get. Once we get mine, we’ll be able to apply for the marriage documents. Ha and almost forgot, we will also have to have a medical checkup … but not a physical exam … a mental one, see if we are not crazy (hum, yeah no comment!), and if we actually know each other. We need to show them pictures of us, and answer questions about each other’s family. We might try to do this next week, not sure yet.

For vietnamese weddings, the couple needs to get some photo albums made, that will then be available during the wedding day for the guests to see. This is something quite different from french/UK weddings, where the photos would be taken in the afternoon after the official ceremony and the signing of the papers. So, we’ve been looking into photographers, and we picked one which seems quite good. We’ve discussed quite a bit with him, and worked on ideas for the shootings and the album decoration.

We are planning to shoot the photos on October 22nd, if the weather is good. It’s the raining season here, so rains are quite frequent and quite heavy. But we are getting some very nice days too, so we are hoping it’ll be a nice one (and not too hot if possible) !

Ok, so we got someone to take pictures, but I need a costume and N needs a few dresses! So you can imagine how the last couple of weeks have been occupied with. After looking at a few suit shops, it seemed no suit would fit me here, so I’m getting a suit tailored. I went in to try it on today, so the tailor can adjust and finish it, I should have it ready a day or two before the shooting day. N however has been looking into wedding dresses, trying on quite a few, from different places. She like the top of one, the lower part of another, the trail of yet another, etc.. so a designer is making one for her too! You might have seen some of these dresses on Facebook. For the shooting she’ll have a few dresses, different styles, different colors. She’s going to look amazing!

Last weekend, we did a tour of hotels near the reception place in the center, to get an idea of the rooms and prices for my family and friends who will be making the trip here. (yes mom, the “report” is coming!). I think we visited a total of 10 hotels. Not something I want to do every day!

We’ve also been thinking of the engagement day, with the lacquered boxes, and the wedding day. Things to organize and plan.

For the engagement day, there will be a procession, lead by my father, followed by myself, and then 7 friends of mine carrying gifts for N’s family. The people carrying the gifts should be (non-married) friends of mine. However I’m not sure how many friends are going to make it yet, so not sure what to do about this yet. Any volunteers ?

The procession ends in front of N’s parent house, where the gifts are given to 7 women, friends of N. The rest of the engagement ceremony includes praying at the family altar to get the blessing from the ancients, getting our parents blessings, and exchanging rings. It will then be followed by a reception.

The wedding day will take place a few days later in the center of Hanoi, in the Government Guest House near Hoan Kiem lake. It will be a big reception. The unusual part for me here is that this reception takes place over lunch time, and during the week, so a lot of the guests will be coming during their lunch break. I find this a little strange, but well, that’s how they do it here, so I’ll go with it.

Well, I think I’m going to stop here for now!

To Be Continued …