Like having Barbecues on people's roofs, it represents the warm breeze of spring replacing the sharp snap of winter. It conjures images of experienced ocean men gliding across the Thames after an age at sea. You can hear the sirens of the metropolitan police service, singing their crescendo in the distance, probably on the way to save the good people of London from peril, more likely on their way to profile innocent people based on their differences.
Oh London, how you will be missed.
In contrast to the wonderfully warm weather we are now experiencing in the big smoke, Prague was somewhat colder than we could have anticipated, but nevertheless more beautiful than we could have imagined.
 |
| Instax photos are a great way to show that you have been places and found novelty pissing statues. |
Now although if one can one shouldn't need a reason to travel to the city of a hundred spires, we did have a reason. Glorious bureaucracy. Paperwork is the basis of all civilisation and however much we would like to romanticise the great achievements of Men and Women, without stacks of dotted lines and scribbled signatures it would all have been for nought.
After Vanda and I decided on Prague as our preferred city for the wedding, I got in contact with a very old friend from my school days, who just so happened to have lived in the ancient Bohemian capital at one point AND got married there himself. He was unbelievably helpful with explaining how the process went for him and what to expect. Social media, in ways that might seem obvious to some, has a way of painting people's lives in bright colours, illuminating the desirable aspects and masking the hard or delicate realities of life. So even though Prague still holds all the romance and intrigue a city of such rich history, it was always going to require work.
I am not entirely sure how other countries operate their marriage laws and am well aware that we have the advantage of both being EU citizens (for now at least), but I will give you a quick run through of what was required:
This friend who had lived in Prague, gave us the details of a Czech wedding coordinator, named Ladka, who specialises in organising English language weddings in the Czech Republic. After contacting Ladka and confirming the personal details and finances that would entail, we had to collect a number of documents for the Czech authorities. The most important of which was both of our Birth Certificates and Certificates of No Impediment. The first is obvious I suppose, after all Czechia would hardly be expected to find the details of a British and Hungarian citizen that don't live in the country and they obviously need to make sure that they aren't signing off on a sham wedding for any reasons beyond their borders. A Certificate of No Impediment however is a little more confusing; it is a statement of declaration from your government confirming that you are not in fact already married.
 |
| Various Kafkaesque imagery to set the tone of the next paragraph. |
So here is where the fun begins: For Vanda to get said document, she had to collect it from Hungary, as from this year, no embassy can issue the document on the governments behalf. This was a large part of the reason we were in Hungary last month. For me, it was a little bit trickier. The British Government, this time played by my local registry office, needed a months notice to produce the document for me, OK fine you understand this surely? and a month isn't too much of a pain. BUT the British document expires three months from the date of issue. So the earliest I could have had this document was February 11th, I was in Hungary for February so decided to order it on the 1st February to pick it up on the 2nd March when I was back in London. But two problems that I was previously unaware of arose:
1.) British Documents require what is known as an Apostille Stamp for documents to be legal outside the UK, this requires the document to be sent to the UK and Commonwealth legislation office for the stamp. This can take anywhere up to ten days before they even send it back to you.
2.) The document had to be in the hands of the Czech authorities on an office working day at least one month before the wedding, in this case 8th March.
As you might have deduced, this posed a problem. So after a mild panic about whether the wedding can even happen, I found out that companies that are registered in the UK can do a same day Apostille stamp service. If you Google Apostille stamp, you will find a lot of different companies and law firms who will stamp your documents for you with this service for a price of around £170*. I decided to use Edward Young Notary Public London (www.notarypublicinlondon.com) and highly recommend their services. In the end, by no small miracle, the day after we returned to London I managed to collect the document, get it stamped and have it in hand by 1:30pm. After all of this we were hardly going to trust our documents to a courier service, so decided there was nothing for it but to travel to Prague and deliver the documents ourselves.
 |
| Vanda doing Prague things, including the gentle rubbing of a Bishop. |
We saw the wedding venue (it is going to be pretty special, will explain in another post), sampled the local food and of course beer, explored the hills and endless streets and squares with their Gothic towers and Baroque facades, and last but certainly not least, had the famous Trdelník. Now I will probably go on about this surgery explosion to the senses in other posts under another name, Kürtőskalács, as they are in fact Hungarian in origin and I am well versed in their digestion. However the Czechs have decided to stuff them with ice cream and Nutella...So I just had to give it a bash. FYI It is delicious and will make you feel like Adam after biting that apple that one time.
 |
| I borrowed a Trdlník picture from imgur but the melting Hot Chocolate is definitely us, to my shame. |
All in all the trip was fantastic. It was 0 °C and it rained in the evenings so it was hard to spend too much time outside, and I would suggest having a plan for the day before you leave your hotel as there are many tourist traps throughout the city, but if you are keen on exploring a place without maps, we managed to find a couple of amazing cafes off the beaten track. Finally the Kafka Museum is a must for any fans, as it is genuinely one of the best curated Museums we have ever visited and really brings the feeling of his writing to life.
 |
| Prague Prague Prague |
Maybe Kafka put it best when he said 'Prague never lets you go… this dear little mother has sharp claws' and although one shouldn't need a reason, we certainly have one to come back!
If you are interested in a Prague wedding, you can find Ladka and her company here: www.weddinginprague.eu She really is great!
Puffer
