Rings, Prospects and Wedding Prep

Now that we've returned there are a couple last steps before we get married. The first is to attend a premarital appointment with a translator a couple days prior to getting married. Second is to pick up our wedding rings and third is to attend the ceremony with a translator and two witnesses.

We had found a translator that was suggested to us by the US Consulate in Italy which was 300 Euro per appointment. When you do the math (€1 = $1.70) and see why we weren't about to spend €300 per appointment. We tried a couple other outlets, but couldn't find someone less than €200, so we decided to try another route. We went up to the reception desk of the place we are staying and asked one of the women there to help us. As soon as we said marriage, her eyes lit up and she agreed. The next morning when we met up with her we found out that she was Venezuelan and had married an Italian in the last year and had since moved to Florence with him. Fortunately her Italian was good and she was excited to help us again for our ceremony. We felt very lucky to have found such a sweet person who was able to get excited with us.

As for our rings, it has always been our dream to get them on Ponte Vecchio, the oldest bridge in Florence. This bridge was once where the meat markets but when a prince came by in the middle ages, he was disgusted by the smell and ordered the shops along the bridge to become gold shops instead. We explored this "gold" bridge for the perfect rings, and the perfect price. The rings we chose are le fedi comede, which translates to comfortable ring. They are rounded on the inside for a perfect and smooth fit. They're exactly what we were looking for.

Our last obstacle was to find 2 witnesses. We sat down for dinner and game of cards, at the bar/patio tables where we are staying, and scoped out the prospects. Our witnesses had to be the right set of people. They couldn't be those who would drink too much and forget what they had agreed to, they had to look like they would enjoy being witnesses and not be cynical towards marriage, and they had to be able to speak English, so they would understand what we needed. We scoped out a couple looked to be enjoying eachother and we had run into her in line at the restaurant and knew she spoke English. When we approached them the first thing the woman said was, "Really? Well I could take pictures, I'm a photographer." Plus, her boyfriend's name was Chris. Can you believe our luck?!? Plus they were excited for us and more than willing to help us out. (We were of course going to give them money for a good dinner, which no traveler can pass up.) We can't believe our luck and are so excited to get married. 8-8-8 here we come!

Love
Chris and Jessi (almost Grass)