September 23rd!

After three months of researching and processing papers Patricia has opened a marriage file for us to be married on September 23rd at 1:00 pm in a city hall. In Peru, the ceremony is done by a government official and lasts twenty minutes. A file must be opened weeks prior to the wedding and also an ad must be put in the national newspaper of the couple to be wed. I will be traveling to Peru the last two weeks of September and then returning back to Minnesota to start researching immigration and its processes. Thankfully I was able to get certain documents before the Minnesota government shut-down such as the apostilles that would not have been available to obtain during this state of anarchy. 

My documents to open the file included a copy of my passport, a certified copy of my birth certificate, a letter of no record (which says I'm not already married), and a letter stating that I give Patricia all authority to open this file without my presence. My written letter had to be notarized by the public notary here, and then each of these documents had to have an international document attached to them called an apostille. The apostille is a document that says each of my other documents are genuine U.S. papers. The apostilles are obtained by the Secretary of States respectively. So, I had to get an Iowa apostille for my Iowa birth certificate. This was all rather easy and we didn't have much difficulty. My only mistake was not getting an apostille for the letter I had written. I didn't think it was necessary but the Minnesota public notary had to be authorized by the state government. I had to reprint the letter, renotarize it, and get another apostille and mail it again. Once Patricia received all the papers they had to be translated into Spanish by a government translator.

The only other bump we just had was when Patricia opened the file her medical exam had already expired just by a few days. We'll just get our medical exams when I arrive in September.

Whew...so confusing!

The total cost (so far) has been obtaining the letter of no record 10$, four apostilles 45$, postage 10$, translating all documents 75$, Patricia's birth certificate 3$, stamps at Ministry of Exterior Relations certifying all the documents 35$, opening our marriage file and newspaper ad 40$, our Peruvian marriage medical exams 20$, and finally the civil ceremony will be 100$. 

When Patricia opened the file she had to take someone to the city hall that knows me as our witness. She had a witness representing me and one representing her. Thank you Danny and Dolly! The file was then opened and the date was set and our ad will be published this Wednesday! 

March 24th is still the date for our wedding ceremony. We are still trying to decide on a location and which catering business to use. It will be in a place where we don't have to drive from the wedding to the reception. Family and friends from the states are going to stay an average of 7 days. If you're someone like my friend Guy, you can plan a trip and travel around the area for a couple weeks and go see Machu Picchu. I'll have events planned from Sunday the 18th through Friday the 23rd. Come and enjoy that week with us if you'd like! There is plenty to see and do in Lima for that week. 

I'm creating a list for invitations. Please let me know if you'd like an invitation and if you're planning on coming to the wedding! 

We are so very happy and very very excited!

Mucho Amor,

Steven y Patricia