Once upon a time, a shy boy moved to Finland from a city called Riga with a head full of ideas and a heart full of dreams. In Finland, he met an Indian girl who made his head feel like it was floating in the clouds, and the rest was history.
As a couple documenting our lives and adventures in Finland, we're thrilled to share that we've embarked on a new journey – our journey as a married couple! On August 11th, 2023, after a bit over a year of being engaged, we got married in Finland. As we had dreamt of having a big wedding party in India, our affairs in Finland were relaxed and modest. In the presence of Kristaps' family, who traveled to Finland from Latvia to be with us on our special day, we said "I do."
Since we live in Finland, we mutually agreed that Finland is our natural choice for getting officially married. To do so, we initially had to submit a document from our respective countries to verify that we were not already married in our home countries, often called a Single certificate or Bachelor certificate. Upon submitting this document to the Digital and Population Data Services Agency in Finland, we waited for our documents to be verified. This process, also known as the "Examination of impediments to marriage," can normally take 2 – 3 weeks or longer (3 – 5 weeks) during the summer months when there are longer queues.
After the examination is carried out and you receive the green light, it's time for the fun part! It was interesting to find out that in Finland, one can get married completely free of charge. Additionally, it was possible to request the marriage ceremony to be held in the English language, and we received marriage certificates in both Finnish and English. The ceremony itself lasted 3-5 minutes, and we were given the option to exchange rings and/or wedding vows. After the ceremony, the family congratulated us, and hugs and kisses were exchanged.
We both didn't know what to expect from getting married in Finland but were delighted to experience that the process was simple and straightforward. Our expat journeys have already given us so much to be thankful for. And now we're blessed to add each other to the top of the list of things we're thankful for. Many expats find love abroad, and we are excited to take our expat adventures to the next level – married expat adventures!