After months of jumping through legal hoops, we finally got married. It should have been a joyous occasion followed by a nice, relaxing honeymoon, but nooooooooooooooooo! We got married in a New York minute and then dashed off for the Brazilian, British, and US consulates in an attempt ensure that all 3 countries were satisfied with the documentation provided by the Standesamt. The US and British consulates had no problem with the marriage certificate per se, but we did discover that the British consulate was only open to British citizens in the afternoon, forcing us to return the next day. The Brazilian, would not recognize the legitimacy of the wedding until we produced a notarized prenuptial agreement.

Vivian, Gustavo, Vinicius

Fred, Vivian, Vinicius, Gustavo

Vivian, Fred

Paul Severin, our German translator and second witness

Mr. Christian Welles, chief (and sole) bureaucrat in charge of weddings , divorces, and changes of name.

Mr Welles, Fred, and Vivian

Paul Severin (our translator), Vivian, and Fred

Vinicius, Vivian, Fred, Paul Severin (our translator)

Vivian!

Vinicius, Vivian

Vivian, Gustavo

Vivian, Gustavo

Vinicius

Second floor of the Standesamt

Where we were married

Vivian, Vinicius, Gustavo, near the Hotel

Gustavo, Vivian, Vinicius

Gustavo, Vivian, Vinicius

Gustavo, Vivian, Vinicius

Ground floor entrance of the Pension Andreas, our Hotel

Vivian, Gustavo, Vinicius, near the Hotel

Well, after the ceremony we forsook the traditional limosine ride to the airport to catch a flight to a honeymoon hotel in the Carribean, and instead went charging off to various embassies and consulates to make sure we had all of our documents in order such that our marraiage would be legal in the UK, USA, and Brasil. The requirements of the Brazilian consulate were the most challenging.

In Brazil, when 2 people get married, there is a statement of distribution of marital assets in the case of divorce, incorporated into the marriage document. The Brazilian consulate was not going to recognize our marriage until we mentioned that we had a signed, witnessed, prenuptial agreement. Of course they made us go out and get it notarized before they would accept it. By the way this next two pictures are taken in the Brazilian consulate in Vienna. That's it, just about the size of a dentists waiting room.

Wow! Until you pay to notarize a document in the UK or in Austria, you have no idea how good we have it in the US. We had to pay 76 euros to get our agreement notarized in Vienna. (Subsequently I would discover that the service is about twice as much in the UK)

Anyway we showed up at the Brazilian consulate in the morning, and then had to run out and do our notarization things. And then come back in the evening to pick up the 'official' acknowlegment of our state of matrimony!

And wait and wait and wait.....

It was dark by the time we set off for Bratislava. (Yes Bratislava! Yes in Slovakia! It costs about a fifth as much to use a discount airline to go from the UK to Bratislava and then take a train the 60 or so kilometers to Vienna.) We arrived in Bratislava in the dark (literally and figuratively), took trams and busses to the hotel where we got up the next morning and headed for the airport. The boys flew back to the UK, and Vivian and I headed back to the railway station and caught a train to Prague.

Next: Prague