January Filers at the CSC - How are you doing?

[MissYoko 4]

hey guys!

Just to say hello from Chicago

I'm with my love and all is perfect.

About the POE at JF it was pretty easy.

My daugther and I we land at 11:30 am. We waited not more than 10mn at the POE. The officer was nice. He asked :

How many days you'll stay?

about twelves days

You'll fly to Chicago now right?

Yes

You'll stay all the time in Chicago?

Yes

He was looking about the green form, he showed me Richard address i wrote on it.

What's that address?

My Boyfriend address

What is he doing in US?

He is an US citizen.

Oh OK, have a nice stay.

And that was all.

So pretty cool, pretty nice, pretty fast.

The only bad point was that my little one was highly excited, she was almost jumping everywhere and trying to climb the POE officer desk. lol

I will be not so often online those following days.

Lot of kisses to you all

Yoko

[dbears 1]

HAPPY EASTER!!!

Fortunately his doctor rang him back and said he just wanted specialists to look at an abnormal vein, but that it's nothing too serious and not to worry

It must be a relief hearing that. Hope everything really turns out well.

hey guys!

Just to say hello from Chicago

I'm with my love and all is perfect.

Have a grand time with your fiance Miss Yoko

[BlakeandOlha 0]

hey guys!

Just to say hello from Chicago

I'm with my love and all is perfect.

Yoko, it's great to have you in town, I hope the weather warms up a little so you can enjoy some outdoor activities. I hope your time with Richard is as wonderful as you dreamed it would be. Welcome!!

Blake

[MissYoko 4]

hey guys!

Just to say hello from Chicago

I'm with my love and all is perfect.

Yoko, it's great to have you in town, I hope the weather warms up a little so you can enjoy some outdoor activities. I hope your time with Richard is as wonderful as you dreamed it would be. Welcome!!

Blake

Hey Blake, there in Carpentersville weather is pretty nice, cold ok, but, really sunny. So its ok. Btw, i don't care a lot about the weather.

Being at home with my love is the more important thing.

kisses

Yoko

[BlakeandOlha 0]

Btw, i don't care a lot about the weather.

Yoko

Yeah, you say that now...but give it a couple of years. It is the God given right of every Chicagoan to complain about the weather - especially in the Winter. I'm so glad that you two are together right now, and so, are appropriately distracted

Have fun!!!

[Cecile and Bryan 0]

I'm back! It was great to have a long weekend, without having to think of work. Of course I never stopped thinking of the approvals and I spent the weekend thinking of the wedding and when I'll be back in the USA, because... I got my wedding dress! I'll write a longer post about it, right now I have several things to do.

hmm...people are talking about weddings here eh? i love that!!! hehehe! wat r u guys planning to have for a theme??? me and fiance plans to have a "carribean" theme.. colors of the carribean, aqua green, blue and white..tho its a church wedding not beach. hehehe

We haven't thought of a theme yet and I'm not even sure there will be one. I think I'd like something red and black (though finding black flowers is not going to be easy )

Fortunately his doctor rang him back and said he just wanted specialists to look at an abnormal vein, but that it's nothing too serious and not to worry

Good to hear that he'll be ok!

hey guys!

Just to say hello from Chicago

I'm with my love and all is perfect.

yeah you did it! Have a nice stay over there

[BlakeandOlha 0]

I'm back! It was great to have a long weekend, without having to think of work. Of course I never stopped thinking of the approvals and I spent the weekend thinking of the wedding and when I'll be back in the USA, because... I got my wedding dress! I'll write a longer post about it, right now I have several things to do.

hmm...people are talking about weddings here eh? i love that!!! hehehe! wat r u guys planning to have for a theme??? me and fiance plans to have a "carribean" theme.. colors of the carribean, aqua green, blue and white..tho its a church wedding not beach. hehehe

We haven't thought of a theme yet and I'm not even sure there will be one. I think I'd like something red and black (though finding black flowers is not going to be easy )

Fortunately his doctor rang him back and said he just wanted specialists to look at an abnormal vein, but that it's nothing too serious and not to worry

Good to hear that he'll be ok!

hey guys!

Just to say hello from Chicago

I'm with my love and all is perfect.

yeah you did it! Have a nice stay over there

Welcome Back - congratulations on getting the dress, I'm looking forward to your post. I've been thinking about wedding stuff too, theme? Oh boy, back to the drawing board on that one. There is so much to learn.... This will definitely be the last time I do one of these!

[Cecile and Bryan 0]

Here is a sum-up of my"wedding dress journey" (so far) It might be helpful for some people here to read this, I would have liked to find such a post, that's why I'd like to share it now.

I started thinking about it a few weeks after we sent the petition. I wasn't sure what the best way to do it was. I had different possibilities: I could buy it in France, in the USA, or on the Internet. I knew someone who did this (as I said in a previous post, she bought a dress and customized it, since she is a seamstress) and she told told me that she would alter it for me if it needed alterations.

Buying it in the USA seemed impossible since I won't go back there until we get the visa, and what if I couldn't find the perfect dress on time?

I went to several stores in France, the cheapest ones were 500€ (~ $750). I do have money. I can afford to spend that amount of money for such a dress, and probably more, but since there's also all the immigration costs to deal with, the plane ticket for my return to buy, the moving in and the ceremony wedding to think of, I also thought that it would be nice to pay less than that. Moreover, in French stores, it takes them more than 6 months to get a dress and alter it. Even though I know the visa process is long, there is still a small possibility that it might go faster than we think (yes, still hoping )

I started looking at dresses on ebay. I wasn't sure what I was looking for and I was also thinking that if I couldn't find anything nice I would have bought it in one of the stores where I went the week before. After hours without finding anything interesting, I saw the picture of that wonderful dress. It was simple but beautiful. I only had a few hours to decide if I wanted it since the bid was almost at its end. So I did it.

After the end of the sell, the Chinese seller (most of the wedding gowns on ebay seem to come from China) contacted me and asked me to pay him and asked my measurements. I went to 2 different seamstress and also asked a friend to help me measure me, to make sure I would send them accurate numbers. The Chinese person I talked to spoke little English and little French, but we managed to communicate well enough.

Then they told me that since no-one works on the Chinese New Year, they would not start making my dress until the end of February (a month after I bought it). Then they made it in 2 weeks and it took a week to ship it to France. That went pretty fast.

I got it last Thursday.

First, when I opened the package, I was disappointed because it didn't look exactly like the picture (I'm not going to tell what it looks like here, in case Bryan would read it someday). I tried it and the top was way too big! I was deceived. I tried to forget it for a while because I had to go to work. A few hours later, I realized that I shouldn't focus on what it looked like on the photo and that I should take it for what it is and try to see what alterations would need to be done in order to make it the right size and the perfect dress.

When I came back home, I tried it again and looked at it closely. I wrote a (small) list of what needed to be altered. Really, the list is small: there's only 2 or 3 things to alter. The more I looked at it, the more I loved it. It is a beautiful dress. And I'm going to make it my perfect dress.

I left it at my parents' house. I tried it everyday this weekend. We will give it to a seamstress next month (my seamstress friend is pregnant and I'm probably going to end up coming back to the states on her last months of pregnancy, so I'm not going to bother her with that). The cost of the dress (did I mention it was cheap?) + the alterations still makes it cheaper than wedding gowns in wedding stores.

And really I like it a lot.

To those who were thinking of buying it online, there are lots of "stores" on ebay and I can't tell you that it will be as it was for me. Just remember that you have no idea if it will be as nice as you'd like it to be. Don't focus too much on what it looks like on the picture because, as we know, pictures can lie! and expect to have several alterations to do on the gown once you get it.

It might have been a better idea to buy it in a real store, but I'm glad I did it this way because even though it's not perfect yet, I Love My Dress!!!!!!!!

[Cecile and Bryan 0]

Welcome Back - congratulations on getting the dress, I'm looking forward to your post. I've been thinking about wedding stuff too, theme? Oh boy, back to the drawing board on that one. There is so much to learn.... This will definitely be the last time I do one of these!

A wedding does not need a theme, but it's more and more common to have one. An "easy" idea of a theme could be the home country of the foreign spouse: foreign food, small flags everywhere (), and then I don't know what else. Oh well that's just an idea.

I don't think we'll have a theme. We'll probably only choose one or two colors and do everything using these colors.

[BlakeandOlha 0]

Welcome Back - congratulations on getting the dress, I'm looking forward to your post. I've been thinking about wedding stuff too, theme? Oh boy, back to the drawing board on that one. There is so much to learn.... This will definitely be the last time I do one of these!

A wedding does not need a theme, but it's more and more common to have one. An "easy" idea of a theme could be the home country of the foreign spouse: foreign food, small flags everywhere (), and then I don't know what else. Oh well that's just an idea.

I don't think we'll have a theme. We'll probably only choose one or two colors and do everything using these colors.

I've been thinking about having the receiption at a restaurant in the Ukrainian Village section of Chicago, more for my friends and family than Olga (I mean she already knows what that's like ) and the wedding will be at a gothic church down at the University of Chicago where I sang in a choir when young. Thankfully it will be a small wedding party so elaborate invitations, floral arrangements, etc. will probably not be needed. I say "probably" with a great deal of caution though

I like your story about your dress - the great thing is that it was made for you and you alone - not for a store maniquin. That makes the dress very special and one that you can treasure always.

[shes 0]

Welcome Back - congratulations on getting the dress, I'm looking forward to your post. I've been thinking about wedding stuff too, theme? Oh boy, back to the drawing board on that one. There is so much to learn.... This will definitely be the last time I do one of these!

A wedding does not need a theme, but it's more and more common to have one. An "easy" idea of a theme could be the home country of the foreign spouse: foreign food, small flags everywhere (), and then I don't know what else. Oh well that's just an idea.

I don't think we'll have a theme. We'll probably only choose one or two colors and do everything using these colors.

hehe..yeah, i think the brides are more excited talking about themes though. in our wedding wel be doing all men wears royal blue and all women will wear aqua blue green.

all brides are said to be always the most beautiful in the wedding day

[BlakeandOlha 0]

all brides are said to be always the most beautiful in the wedding day

That's not a rumor, it is a fact

[Cecile and Bryan 0]

I've been thinking about having the receiption at a restaurant in the Ukrainian Village section of Chicago, more for my friends and family than Olga (I mean she already knows what that's like yes.gif ) and the wedding will be at a gothic church down at the University of Chicago where I sang in a choir when young. Thankfully it will be a small wedding party so elaborate invitations, floral arrangements, etc. will probably not be needed. I say "probably" with a great deal of caution though

I like your story about your dress - the great thing is that it was made for you and you alone - not for a store maniquin. That makes the dress very special and one that you can treasure always.

yes, that dress is MINE!

As for the wedding, people with a religious background are lucky: you have more possibilities for the location of your ceremony! and the choice seems to be easier too.

We do not want to be married in a church. We are definitely not religious people. Therefore it's going to be harder to find out where we will go.

oh well, let's just hope the backyard where we will be living will be big enough

I also read somewhere that some churches take care of the floral arrangements or can tell you where you should get them.

Edited March 25, 2008 by Cecile and Bryan

[BlakeandOlha 0]

Many cities have botanic gardens that have areas where people can be married. This was for me a very close second to the cathedral, and it may still happen that way. Getting married in the midst of a rose garden seems very nice to me. I agree that having a "church" to go to makes it easier, but I am not a member of a church so the University catherdral is nice in that it is non-denomiational and you can design the service to meet your needs - religious or non-religious based. That might also be an option.

The funny thing is, with all the planning and organizing and worrying there is only one thing you'll truely remember from this day, and that is when you partner looks into your eyes and says "I do." That's why having a good photographer is important - to provide pictures of what you missed when you were walking 6 inches above the earth on that special day.

[BlakeandOlha 0]

And a backyard is perfect - as long as the dogs are tied up. Just kidding.....