How A Holiday Romance Could Become Love For Life
When you’re overseas enjoying the warm weather and the exotic flavors all around you, it can be so easy to fall in love with everything. Life there is so different and enticing. Being on vacation can help you feel carefree and relaxed. It’s no wonder so many people have holiday romances. But sometimes, that loved-up feeling doesn’t end there.
These days, it is so easy to keep in touch when you have to leave. Social media and video calling mean you can further your relationship into something quite special. And travel can still be quite cheap. Flights back and forth so you can both see each other again and again helps your love to blossom. Before you know it, you’re in love, and you’ve met ‘the one’.
This is the part where life gets complicated again though. You’ve committed to a life with each other but live in different countries. All you want to do is wake up in each other’s arms every morning. Your fiance is ready to commit to you and come to the USA to live with you. It’s time to meet everyone and prepare for your wedding.
Planning a wedding with a foreign national can be a little more complicated than marrying a local. The first thing you need to do is decide where you want the wedding to take place. Do you want a destination wedding back where you met? Or would you like to use your local chapel? You may not share the same faith, so how will you overcome this? Will your religious differences be in the way of the wedding of your dreams?
This wedding may also prove more expensive than you had originally thought. Your fiance’s guests will have to travel thousands of miles to be there. Their documentation will need to be in order for their passports and visitor visas. Then, of course, you need to be ready to cope with the families. There may be family members on both sides who are more than wary of your holiday romance becoming a commitment for life. Just remember, they all love you both very much, and can’t bear the thought of you being hurt.
Your spouse-to-be will also need to arrange a new visa if he is to live with you as a husband in the USA. When you apply for a USA spouse visa the process can take a long time and become very complicated. Before you pay deposits and commit to a date, it is worth discussing it with a specialist. You need to determine a realistic wedding date based on this. Many people marry first, and then have to live separately for months before the visa process is complete.
With the union of two different cultures, your wedding may be an exotic mix of local values and international traditions. This can create a very unique wedding. Some wedding planners are not well-versed in this kind of wedding. Instead, it could be up to you and your fiance’s family to plan the wedding entirely. You may have differing ideas about the wedding menu, and even the order of events for the ceremony. Some couples have two weddings. One legally binds them in matrimony. The other celebrates their love in their traditional customs for marriage.
Even your choice of wedding dress may be affected when you marry someone from another country. You might choose to wear a dress from their culture. Or you each may take your own wardrobe choices from your respective countries. Either which way, it can create a stunningly beautiful wedding day. It’s always worth spending the time to research the wedding customs of your spouse’s country. You may find there are some lovely traditions you would like to bring to your own wedding.
It’s not always easy to be apart from the man you love. Indeed, planning a wedding when he isn’t physically there to input his ideas can be a challenge. You may only be able to see each other for a few days every six months. Some couples are apart for even longer. It will be a true test of your love. But it is also a test of your patience with a process that is long-winded and unpleasant.
Does love conquer all? That depends on you and your fiance. If your love wasn’t strong enough, you wouldn’t have committed to going through this to marry him. And your big day will be a huge celebration of your love for each other, as well as your tenacity! The honeymoon will be your big chance to sample married life together, as you may need to go back to your home countries after that.
So how do you keep the love alive? There may be several battles between your head and your heart over this one. Just don’t let go of those feelings of love, even when you encounter those feelings of despair! Your wedding planning will keep you busy and occupied during the months leading up to your union. And video calling is a very good second to being together in person.
Keep communicating as often as you can. Talk about your lives as individuals as well as your plans for the future together. Discuss wedding cars and cake decorations. Let your family and friends video call too. It’s a great way to get to know the family you will all become a part of. They will be able to see how happy you two are as a couple. And they’ll work even harder to help you make this the wedding of your dreams!
Whether you marry at home or at his home, having everyone help out is essential. You may be able to find a specialist wedding planner. But in these circumstances, it can be much better for everyone involved if both families help out. If language is a barrier, try using a checklist template to translate. Or find some YouTube videos to demonstrate your preferences. And keep in touch with your visa specialist to ensure formalities are on track.
Of course, one day, your dreams could become a reality. The visa process will be over, and you can be in each other’s arms for life. You can plan a family and settle into a home of your own. But best of all, you won’t need to be apart anymore.
