Today starts my last month as a free man because in one month I will be married. The countdown has started and it leaves me with a strange feeling about a strange ritual called matrimony. In one month I will promise to be faithful, although I already am. After this promise we are officially faithful to each other and are expected to spend the rest of our lives this way, although in recent times with some money and a lawyer it is easy to break this faith. Sill, we are confident we’ll be together for a good portion of time, enough to make a commitment.

The ritual is so important it will be celebrated by our families, friends and acquaintances. In fact there are entire industries relying on this ritual and providing every service you can think of, naturally for a good price. I send it is a strange situation what almost seems un real… a strange dream where you are working and looking forward to something for months… a big party and for what exactly? A ritual that really does not mean so much.

Still, we hope for a good party and afterwards… we’ll see. This month of freedom will undoubtedly be the same as the months to follow, so there is no need to sowing my wild oats. On the other hand, there is nothing wrong with having some good old fun.

It is only one month more to our wedding date. The big day is approaching fast and we can notice the stress accumulating slowly but surely. I have selected and bough a nice suit and here are just a few still quite a lot of details that need our attention. The final selection of the menu, the rings, the music, some small details like cufflinks and a belt, the little pillow for the rings, the setup of the tables for the dinner, calling friends and family to get the final confirmations, translating the plan for the day to have it available in both Spanish and Dutch, translating the menu, finding little thank-you presents, etc. etc.

It is still pretty manageable. The annoying thing it that then suddenly all plans can make a turn for the worst. I received two delicious smoked sausages!! Really fantastic of course, and in the stressful time it offers the perfect way to relax and wind down by eating a very tasty Dutch smoked sausage. Sadly it was not meant to be. Enclosed with the sausage I found some instructions stating that we had to wait before eating the sausage. Oh NOOOO! For sure there is some reason to it, and I’m curious to find out. For now I’ll attempt to not eat the sausage.

Little by little the preparations for our marriage are leading us towards the final day. Our marriage is slowly taking form. The invitations and the lists of people to invite are almost ready. The city hall in Alcala has been reserved and the Parador has been booked for the party. The wedding dress has been selected and ordered and I already have a stack of accepted invitations by friends and family whom will participate in the celebrations.

I have even started to look into a possible honeymoon. We are considering a visit to Argentina. In November the weather will be fantastic and we both speak the language.

Yesterday we stand a big stack of papers to the wedding location. We went to our appointment with the justice department accompanied by two witnesses. After signing all the papers everything was finally ready to be send by post. If everything goes well it means that almost all the formalities have been completed.

In Spain it is a familiar term, a Parador. A Parador is a monumental property or a property with some important history bought by the state and converted to a luxury hotel.

Usually the properties are cloisters, castles, big luxury houses and villas. Paradors can be found everywhere in Spain, usually at very nice locations outside of the city centers.