moved! blurbed! not yet wedded!

It's been a crazy week/weekend. Friday night Neil and I finally moved to our new place. The weekend was spent unpacking and shopping for some furniture as well as other new household necessities like trash bins and hooks. He's been an absolute sweetheart with taking care of a lot of the unpacking, furniture deliveries, setting up of cable Internet, etc.

Sunday we shopped and moved some more, I interviewed a prospective applicant to MIT, and reviewed ceremony text with Jen. Monday was sort of a blur, but I did pick up the last of our engagement pictures (Photoshopped to perfection). I spent all day Tuesday working on our engagement picture book using Blurb. More about Blurb in a future post.

Up next: more unpacking and sorting in advance of my parents' and Galen's arrival next Friday, and then marrying in 2.5 weeks.

Even simpler photo collection

My Maid of Honor Zofia wrote to tell me a great way to collect photos at weddings in this age of digital cameras:

Another cool idea is to get a multi-format card reader and a laptop and download people's digital pix off their memory cards as they're leaving. This does require someone relatively computer savvy to man the computer downloading, but it's definitely a possibility for getting more pics from the wedding.

How easy is that?

DIY Photobooth

This is a *great* idea for those who love photobooths but can't afford to have them at their wedding (and are also technically inclined) - a DIY photobooth! I admit my eyes glazed over at the "Construction: Electrical" part, but I know many of my former schoolmates would be up to the task. Too bad WiFi-enabled cameras aren't readily available - I think it would be more efficient and reliable than the disposable-camera-at-every-table and polaroid guestbook concepts. Angela did the polaroid guestbook at her wedding, and Neil said it was a pain manning the table since the pictures take awhile to develop (long lines of guests waiting) and the picture quality wasn't that great (brownish).

Committment and cake blues

I've been depressed lately, I think because the weather turned cold and dreary, Neil's been gone, I'm still in temporary housing, and lastly, wedding planning is sometimes a very solitary process. Saturday I rode the bus for an hour to visit a bakery, only to arrive and find out the owner was out (even though I had called the day before). And, when I saw photos of past work, it was of the awful-80s-white-plastic-pillars variety. Thankfully, the owner did phone me later that day and was very nice, but was unsure if they could do what I wanted, and definitely not within my budget. It got me into a funk: I love cake, but it looks like getting what I love will be extremely difficult and out-of-budget...should I even bother? It's positively depressing having to stay late at work every night just so I have an Internet connection to get wedding planning done.

I started a feeling a bit better yesterday when I went over to Eric's for a great belated Thanksgiving dinner. A lot of turkey put me in a good mood. And I also went to concert of Gordon Shi-Wen Chin's music, sponsored by the Chilin Foundation. The piece I enjoyed the most was actually the encore, one he wrote for his wife on their 10th wedding anniversary. I swear he said (but I may have misunderstood the Chinese, and Jen wasn't paying attention) that love does not come down from the heavens, but is a choice. Anyways, the piece and the presence of the foundation's founders, Mr. & Mrs. I-Shiung & Su-Ming Lin, got me thinking. Particularly Mrs. Lin.

When you get married, you vow to be together, through sickness and health, through the good times and bad times. when you marry, it's a public affirmation that you believe in your spouse and what they stand for. But no one ever imagines that their husband will become a political prisoner of a authoritarian government, and that they will come home one day to find their twin daughters and mother-in-law stabbed to death by the same authoritarian government, and another daughter clinging to life. How do you carry on without your spouse physically present? How do you raise and help heal a daughter when you have your own grieving to do?

Photo shoot photos

Here are some photo collages I made from the photo shoot earlier this week:


I love this photo on the right 'cause I look skinny.


Neil getting ready and us hanging out before the shoot started.


Our lovely helpers, who were our makeup artists, hair stylists, fashion stylists, photojournalists, and more! To see larger pictures, right click (in Firefox) to view the actual image size.

Notes on makeup: I was really unused to wearing such quantities of makeup and was afraid I wouldn't look natural. Mei did a great job because everyone tells me I do look natural on film. Still, for the wedding I won't wear false eyelashes because I found them uncomfortable. I can probably achieve a similar look (at least, good enough for me!) with mascara. And for the wedding itself, I want a lip color that has more berry tones than peach.

Engagement Photos!

Yesterday Neil and I were very productive—we went to the Taipei District Court to make an appointment for the actual legal ceremony. After a lot of form filling, photocopying, walking back and forth from one office to the next to get things certified and paid, we finally got our auspicious court date.

Then, we went to Sight Reaction Photo Studio for an engagement picture session with Ivan. Neil's friends Mei and Carol were our stylists, doing hair, makeup, and outfit selection. Sandra came over to document the event. I wore false eyelashes for the first time (surprisingly heavy on the lids) which thankfully looked pretty natural on film.

It was pouring rain outside, so everything was done in the studio and in relatively record time: we were done in four hours. Here's a teaser:

Getting married in Taiwan as a Foreigner 101

I haven't posted in (gasp!) over a week as I've been busy moving (a subject deserving of its own post). Anyways, after checking several resources I now have all the steps:

1. Get proof that you are single from your local embassy-equivalent (AIT has a comprehensive page on obtaining a "Affidavit Regarding Marital Status" for American citizens). The cost was NT$1980 total for us at current exchange rates when we went.
   
   At AIT, you must make an online appointment for notary services in order to get it done. The link to the online appointment system is hard to find on their website, but the actual process itself is very quick - about 15 minutes.
2. Take the notarized affidavits (a.k.a. single certificate) to Consular Affairs Bureau at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to get it authenticated. After you get off the escalators at their Taipei Office, you turn 180° and get a number for counter 28. Each person wanting their affidavit authenticated must also bring:
   
   • their ARC,
   • a copy of both sides of their ARC.
   Both people must be present if you want it to be done in one trip, or you can take the form, sign it, and return it on another trip. The cost is NT$400 per affidavit.
   
   Then, after the forms are filled and money owed is paid at the cashier, you're given the option of either paying extra for delivery or to come again another day (I opted for receiving the forms by post, an extra NT$98).
3. The authenticated forms take about 2 business days to process. Then, take those forms, along with both people's passports, and a photocopy of both sides of two witnesses' IDs (should be Taiwanese citizens over 20 years of age), and go to the district court to schedule an appointment.
   
   The district court in Taipei that handles marriages is located in Hsin-tian (xin-dian):
   
   Taipei District Court
   248 Chung-hsing Road, Section 1
   Hsin tien, Taipei County
   (02)8919-3866×204
   8:30am-5:00pm, Monday-Friday
   
   
   Bring to the court:
   
   • both authenticated copies of the singles certificates
   • each persons' passport
   • photocopies of both sides of the two witnesses' IDs (should be Taiwanese citizens over 20 years of age)
     
   
   Apparently both parties do not need to be present to make an appointment. You must make the appointment at least 1 week in advance of the date you want to marry. Apparently auspicious dates (it's a superstitious country) get booked weeks in advance. Ceremonies on weekdays cost NT$1,000, and weekend ceremonies cost NT$1,500.
4. Return for the actual ceremony on the scheduled date, this time bringing your witnesses. Apparently marriages at the District Court get Chinese certificates with an official English translation - the Chinese one being legally recognized in Taiwan, and the official English one required for recognition in the U.S. The U.S. recognizes legally conducted marriages conducted abroad.

The process may be slightly different if you are a national of a different country (regarding the single certificate part). The British Trade and Cultural Office has it's own page on marriage in Taiwan.