We will be flying off to San Francisco this November.
It’s time to seal the deal!

Last February, we promised each other that we would always be together.
And from now, it is just another two more months before the real deal happens!

I am so excited and so looking forward to everything I can’t even…

A is my best friend.

We got together on 3 May 2011 and since then, we (I’m serious lor) have spent every single day together
except for the few days when we really can’t.
We used to only meet each other everyday.
Now, we also work together. And we stay together.
But strangely, we are not sick of each other yet.

Surely things have changed after we started working together.
I mean, it’s not easy for couples to also be colleagues.
I think everyone has a working-self and a lover-self; everyone is different at work.
Like, when I’m talking about work, even the tone of my voice is different.

But that said, I am glad we managed to find a balance and
not let the unhappiness at work affect our personal lives (too much). Heh! I digressed lah!

WHERE?

For the last couple of months, we have been researching on how we can get married overseas.
We need to decide where we want to get married at.

There are many beautiful countries to choose from – France, Spain, UK, Iceland, Sweden, NZ, etc.
For some strange reason, we were both instantly attracted to the idea of getting married in San Francisco, California.
We thought, since it’s going to be a gay marriage, we just HAVE to do it in the gay city!
Nowhere else in the world is as rainbow as the lovely city of San Francisco!

We both see this as something small, yet something big.
(OK, maybe I’m the only person thinking it’s a small thing ya..)

Well, it’s a small thing because, to be honest, whether we are registered or not,
our lives in Singapore will remain exactly the same.
There will be no grand banquets, no walking down the aisle, no gate-crash, no new HDB for us.
After the trip, our union will still not recognised locally.

Yet to us, this is going to be a promise of a lifetime.
Something that I am going to do just once in my life (well, hopefully!).

No one else in the world will feel happier than the two of us.
The only two persons you need at a wedding is the bride and the bride!
That is why, those will the only two persons present at our wedding. (OK, and an officiant and witness!)
I always liked the idea of an elopement.

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I love City Hall weddings (perhaps because of Carrie and Mr Big in Sex And The City).
When I saw pictures of the City Hall in San Francisco, I can never look back!

It’s GORGEOUS!

We booked our tickets to USA in July and started reading up on how we can get the procedures done.
With that, I hope to also document how it’s all done so that this can be like a little crash course
for other couples (gay or straight) who would like to have a little San Francisco wedding or an elopement. :p

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HOW?

First and foremost, you don’t need to be a resident of California, nor a US citizen to get married in California.
Both parties need to be at least 18 years go age to apply for a marriage licence.

There are two different kinds of marriage license – Public or Confidential.
What is the difference between a Public and a Confidential marriage license?

Public: The ceremony may take place anywhere in the State of California, at least one witness must be present at the ceremony, and the record of marriage is made available to the public.

Confidential: The ceremony may take place anywhere in the State of California. Parties to the marriage must be living together, no witness(es) are required, and the record of marriage record is only available to the named parties on the marriage.

You can read more about the two kinds of marriage license here and here respectively.

You will need two separate appointments to get everything done.
One is for Marriage Licence Registration, and the second one for the actual ceremony.
OK, here’s the catch.
You cannot make your date reservations more than 90 days prior to the actual wedding date.
So in a way, us kiasu Singaporeans will not be able to have everything planned 6 months in advance. Hahaha!
Price is about 200 USD for both reservations.

This is all I have for now, and till more happens, I’ll keep updating!

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P.S. This is how A woke me up a week ago; by asking me to check my phone.
This is what I saw:

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GEES!
We’re really going to do it!!