It's Monday. I woke up very early that morning. It was supposed to be an exciting day: I was going to authenticate a last document to then send all the paperwork for our wedding. The documents needed from me were quite easy to get and were only two; my SO on the other side, had to get at least 4 documents, an apostilla for each of them and translations from german to spanish of every document. Now, the translations done in Germany are not accepted, so we needed to find an official translator in Colombia, mail her the documents, pay and so on. All in all this process was a pain in butt, but we planned everything so well -or so we thought- so that we could get and send all documents in time.

Since my SO and I don't live in the city we are marrying in, we need to write a document where we authorize our wedding planner to hand in all the documents and sign the marriage license petition. I went to the notary to authenticate the document and to my surprise, the woman behind the counter told me it was only possible to authenticate my signature and not my SO's (even if I had an authenticated copy of his passport, with apostilla and official translation). She said he needed to get his signature authenticated where he is at. I was speechless and started to panic, I couldn't believe that was happening. My SO works Mon-Fri, the closer colombian consulate to him is 3+ hours away, he's busy this whole week. We won't be able to get this document in time, and nothing can be done without it. -so were my thoughts-

I however, went to the post office and mailed all documents to our wedding planner, including the one I had issues with. Even though I knew it is not valid with just 1 authenticated signature. When I got home, I sent him a message telling him what happened. He didn't answer that day. I also told my SO and he of course got concerned, but somehow we decided to wait for the wedding planner's answer. That monday I also went to buy a simple but cute jewelry set I had my eye on. It was the set I wanted to wear on our wedding. It was gone when I got to the store. Someone had bought it on friday I again couldn't believe my luck!

It's Tuesday. The wedding planner (whom we have already had some issues with) is supposed to get the documents that day. SO and I were skyping when all of a sudden we got an email from the WP. He was letting us know he got the documents but nothing can be done if both signatures aren't authenticated. Great! He never told us anything about that or how things should be done. I promise you I never saw my SO so mad as he was that day. I felt awful! at that point he got really concerned, there were only 19 days until his departure, he had compromises at work. It was not going to be something easy to do and things were not 100% clear. We started to brainstorm. I told him we needed to calm down and look at different alternatives. I emailed the notary and asked about this particular situation. She simply said what the WP had already said, plus that it also needed an apostilla. Which was confusing as fuck because why would it need an apostilla if it is a document written in spanish and authenticated at a colombian consulate in Germany? We were sure it didn't need the apostilla, but the WP and the notary said otherwise. My SO tried to reach the colombian consulate it Berlin. It was in vain. Damn!

To make things worse than they already were, that day I got an email from the german embassy in Bogotá. The message said they were confirming my appointment for the 21st of August had been canceled. Whaaat? My SO and I booked that appointment early in february. The embassy recommends you to book your stuff ahead of time and blah blah. We did things exactly as stated in their website and keeping in mind the days we needed to have all paperwork ready after the wedding. This appointment was for my family reunification visa. Months before we had booked our flights to be there for the appointment, reserved the hotel and had bought the insurance we need to present as part of the paperwork. There was only one way of this appointment to be cancel: clicking on a link that only my SO and I knew about. I didn't click on it and my SO also didn't. So I went to the embassy's website and noticed they have recently changed their system and the data needed to book appointments. It also said if the passport number was not provided, the appointments will be cancel without warning. So this was why my appointment was cancel, because back then the passport number was not needed, so I didn't provided it. But hey, why do you have to screw people who booked their appointments way before the new changes were made? why do you arbitrary cancel an appointment without warning and without knowing how much money the persons have invested into it?. Again, this crap was unbelievable. We were getting screwed all over! My SO contacted the embassy via email right away. He told them if they didn't give us a proper answer/explanation, they would have to pay for our booked flights, hotel reservations, insurance and all the money we invested.

It's wednesday. There is no other choice, My SO must go to the colombian consulate in Berlin and authenticate the document. But: he needs an appointment and they don't pick up the damn phone! Phone calls were made in vain, they never picked up. And the issue with the embassy was also not resolved and they hadn't answered to the 2 emails he sent. SO called his parents and they suggested he writes to the german Ministry of Foreign Affairs telling them how the german embassy in Bogotá was screwing us. While he is typing the email, I called the embassy in Bogotá and an arrogant, unhelpful woman told me she can't help me or can't explain why the appointment was canceled. That I should email the visa department. I told her we already did and got no answer from them. She just said: sorry I can't help you. I told my SO and then he also wrote that in the email to the german MOFA. My SO hadn't slept well the last days and that wednesday we were left playing the waiting game from both: the consulate and the embassy.

Early morning on Thursday, I woke up to a Viber message from my SO. He was playing a joke on me. He wrote something like: "They finally picked up the phone at the consulate. But we have a big problem". And that was it. I messaged him back asking to please tell me what had happened. He said: "the big problem is, we can't talk today. I got an appointment at the consulate friday early morning on friday, so I must drive to Berlin this evening". I was so relieved and at the same time I wished I was there with him, I wished I could help and support him. It's been too much! That thursday he also got an answer from the embassy. The MOFA had forwarded his email to them and of course they did something about it right away. We got a new appointment on the day we initially booked ours, only that at a different time. But it doesn't matter. They never explained why the first appointment got cancel, they just gave us a new one and that was it. The SO made it safe to Berlin and then I took a deep breath. He went to bed and I started to work on some pinwheels we are using during the ceremony. I needed to make 20 more.

It's friday. There was a viber message from my love. He got the authenticated document and was on his way home already. At the consulate, they confirmed what we always thought and still don't understand why the other people told us otherwise: an apostilla was not needed. The people at the consulate have the faculty to authenticate documents as a notary does in Colombia and all of them are registered here. I'm anxiously waiting to talk to our wedding planner. I have so many things inside that need to be told and so does my SO. Yet I should remain civil because the wedding is in 22 days. SO will be here in 17! 17! 17! Hurra!

It was a hard and stressful week for us. More to my SO than to me, but I suffered as much as he did. Some people say there are times in which such situations take place to somehow test the couples way to resolve them. We don't know if it was a test or not. If it was, until now he have dealt with it quite well, even from a distance. I love my SO, he shows me in every possible way that he loves and wants to spend the rest of his life with me. I was before, but I am now more than sure that I am marrying a wonderful guy, friend and lover. I can't wait!