License to Wed

According to the state of Virginia, Mike and I are fit to tie the knot.

I was off work today, so it was the perfect opportunity to stop by the courthouse and get our marriage license. I listened to the tipline before we went and brought all the requirements: our birth certificates, IDs and $33 exactly, in cash. If there is anything I have learned in this whole marriage process is that you come prepared.

We get to the courthouse amidst a torrential downpour and yours truly forgets that she has a pocketknife in her purse. The security guard not-so-kindly reminds me that knives are not permitted in the courthouse. I'm not sure how intimidating I looked at 5'4" in my West Virginia hoodie and flip flops wielding a bright pink Swiss army knife but they sure weren't taking any chances.

The process was surprisingly easy. There was no wait as we walked up to the counter; I won't go so far as to say that the clerk was helpful but she did point us to the forms we needed to fill out. We did question the wording of the form when it asked "Number of marriage"....was it 1? 0?....and also why they needed to know what level of education we had completed.

5 minutes of paperwork and 5 minutes of waiting later we were scanning the certificate for any mistakes. The Z in my middle name was left out on the first draft (Yes, there is one in my middle name too....) so that needed to be fixed, but shortly thereafter we were raising our right hands and swearing that all the information we had just submitted was true.

Guess it's real now!



The license expires in 60 days - good thing the wedding is only in 26!