be prepared to marry a mexican...

with all the bureaucracy and paperwork involved in getting married...jeez. it's no wonder couples run on to vegas!

just to give you a rundown of all the red tape, here is what i have to present at the civil registrar's office in cuernavaca:

• original and 3 copies of my birth certificate with the proper stamp or seal of the issuing authority of the country of origin OR legalized by the mexican embassy in the issuing country. documents must be translated into spanish by the officially designated translator of the municipality of cuernavaca.

• original and 3 copies of the authorization to contract marriage issued by the national institute of migration.

• original and 3 copies of my passport.

• original and 3 copies of my actual status in the country (as of now, tourist).

PLUS!!!

• blood tests for sexually transmitted diseases and blood type.

• medical certificate from an approved hospital or health center confirming health (and once you have this certificate, it's only valid 15 days, so rush rush!)

• copy of the id's of all the witnesses (4).

• certificate of attendance to a family planning course.

• all documents have to be presented with 8 days minimun in order to reserve a date for marriage.

do you have a headache yet after reading all that??? i hope not because there is more still...

to get the authorization from the national institute of migration, they need:

• original and copy of the application form signed and approved.

• original and copy of my passport and all pages.

• copy of my migratory card.

• original and 2 copies of the official receipt of payment for migratory services.

• a letter signed by both of us in which we declare that we have no legal impediment to contract marriage, and to indicate when and where we plan to contract marriage.

sigh. i don't even have the energy to write anything more after all that.

if you ever plan to getting married in mexico to a mexican, check out these sites for the exact information:

registro civil cuernavaca
instituto nacional de migracion

my chair obsession

as most other brides-to-be, i have my fair share of bookmarked "wedding websites" that i refer to now and then. but now i am starting to think that their sole purpose of existence is information overload. usually i end up more confused than when i started, and no where near the original idea i had to begin with.

case in point today: CHAIRS. have you really thought about the variety of chair styles that exist? i know, usually we don't pay much attention, but trust me, when the time comes to make a choice between this or that one, you'll start to care ;)

what confused me the most is that there were tons of photos with ideas, but no names for the chairs. so how exactly was i supposed to tell the banquet people which chair i specifically wanted???

thus, my afternoon long search on google images for all sorts of chairs. we'll stick to the typical wedding ones...




to begin with, let's start with the most popular chiavari chair, or better known as the tiffany chair. or sometimes spelled as the chivari chair. usually comes in all colors, including gold and silver for those metallic occasions.









then there is the chateau chair (and reason for my search) also available in all colors, with or without integrated padding.










and of course the typical outdoor folding chair. makes you think about spring garden weddings for some reason.









this one i had never heard of; the napoleon chair. i think i like this one the best though.










and to finish up my chair obsession for the day, here is the no name chair. i call it that because it was filed under the chiavari chairs, but is obviously different. i can find out if you want though.









thankfully, the people at Qingdao Aoxin Wood Industry Co., Ltd. helped me out by being the only company that popped up on a google search to have all these items on hand with exact descriptions and labels to clear up my confusion. You can check out their website here in case you are interested in buying wholesale furniture for events. and if you do buy, let me know. i figure my four years experience buying from china just may help you out ;)

so now the question remains...what will my caterer think when i call up demanding napoleon banquet chairs?

*thanks to my dear friend S. who listened to my chair rant!*

**all photos belong to Qingdao Aoxin Wood Industry Co., Ltd.**

get ready!

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April 21 - 11:10am - Shanghai

so this weekend will mark the beginning of what i am sure there will be many of: despedida de soltera a.k.a. bachelorette party: shanghai edition!!! hahaha!

who knows what's in store for me this saturday, but i'm super excited to spend some time with a bunch of lovely ladies who have all been part of making living in shanghai soooo wonderful...so i can't wait! woohoo!!!

details and photo evidence to follow...

besos!

*i'm sure rodrigo will get up to no good as well...

too busy

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March 31 - 7:40pm - Shanghai

i've spent the whole week dealing with moving agencies and their quotes to get our stuff across the pacific, so alas, not much time left for wedding planning.

but i'm waiting on some samples to arrive tomorrow. hopefully they will help me solve the 'illumination' issue i have to deal with, since dinner is out in the garden...we shall see.

aside from that,i can't think of much else that i have done the last few days that has to do with the wedding.

OH! wait, i remember (and this has everything to do with planning) - i started my workout routine again! hahaha. i MUST fit into the dress! i just remembered cause as i sit here typing, my triceps are killing me...uff.

i'm going to whip something up for dinner. be back soon...

besos!

our big move back

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March 21 - 2:14pm - Shanghai

i may as well start with the BIG news: we are moving back to MEXICO! crazy, huh? :O after giving it A LOT of thought, we have decided our adventure IN china (not with china) must come to an end for now...

so there you go...if you thought i didn't have enough piled on my plate, now i have to deal with packing up our lives and shipping it across the world. hahaha but i'm not complaining, in fact, it's going to be much easier to plan this wedding now that i don't have to do it across the pacific.

this last week we went to yiwu, about 3 hours from shanghai. we bought all sorts of fun stuff to decorate the reception. i'm excited about it and i want to get there already to see how it will look.

our printer FINALLY sent us the first proof of the invitation. i was beginning to worry we were going to have to find another printer. but the design she presented is actually perfect, we love it, and aside from the necessary minor changes, it's pretty much what we wanted. so we hope to get those printed soon and mail them by end of June maybe...

did you notice that we added a gift page to the website? we signed up for registries at pottery barn and at el palacio de hierro. we figured 2 different places gives people a choice, and really for those of you that are internet savvy, it will be easy to make the purchase online if you don't have physical access to the store...

so that was my week pretty much...it's rainy saturday in shanghai (big surprise), so we are going to sit on the couch, snuggle up, and pop in a DVD.

besos!

the beginning

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February 25 - 8:32pm - Shanghai

uuuuffff! i just got done trying update this website with more photos and info for guests...took me forever to figure out the photos, so i hope they are appreciated

anyway, so the idea came about to write some sort of a blog on here to let you know how the planning is coming along AND since i'm doing most of my planning from 10,000 miles away, i'm never that far from my computer, so i thought it wouldn't be too hard to keep this updated. we'll see how that goes...hmm.

so anyway, that is it for tonight. after battling with linking images, i'm done for now. rodrigo is ALREADY rolling his eyes at my constant whines for help. heehee =)

besos!