Yayyy 2010!

Happy New Year!!

The year 2010 will be quite splendid for my family - TWO WEDDINGS and A BABY! Yes ladies (..and gents maybe?), the reason why I havent been updating  much is because we are focusing on my sister's wedding this month (eldest sister). And my middle older sister is due to give birth in March :)

During this down time however, I managed to complete the papers needed to book the Justice of the Peace (penghulu) and Civil Registry submission. The only things left are the Certificate of Islam and the CNI Letter (Certificate of No Impediment to Marriage) from the Canadian embassy.

We are trying to see if Andrew still need to get the Certificate of Islam because he converted almost 20 years ago, before we even met. Unfortunately, the Certificate of Islam is not automatically given to Muallafs, it need to be formally requested at the time of conversion. According to the Indonesian mix marriage procedure,  (technically) the Certificate of Islam is only needed for new conversions.

I mean come on, look at this adorable pak haji -  Aaaawwww :)

We're hoping a statement letter from Andrew's best friend, whom was a witness at his conversion will do. If not, then obtaining a Certificate of Islam in Jakarta wont take anymore than a couple of days - some even said it can all be done within an hour at Mesjid Sunda Kelapa.

I have directly contacted the Canadian Embassy - they confirmed that the processing time for the CNI letter is one to five business days. It cost only Rp. 275,000. Required documents can be scanned and emailed. Application for the CNI letter should be submitted no sooner than 2 months prior to the wedding.