@ behopeful & all, I don't remember if I've explained this before... yes, my husband and I met here in Canada... he had a 1 yr removal and bought his own ticket and left before the date they gave. We were not married then but in a committed relationship with definite plans for marriage and we have a lot of proof of our relationship and support from family and friends. Of course during that 1 year removal, was when they changed the visa requirement for St. Vincent. That is a very long story that was summarized very quickly. Neither of us were married before and we don't have children so despite the complications of him having to leave in the first place, we're quite confident in our application and are confident that the VO will see that we're the real thing. I knew within weeks of meeting him that he was the one I was meant to spend my life with and he felt the same way-- we just clicked.
This time has been really hard because of the stress of him having to leave and then taking the time after he left to work out our plans for the future. We really wanted to have our wedding here in Canada on the east coast (where I'm from) and so making the decision to get married in St. Vincent was not one that we took lightly especially because it was really hard for me to agree to get married somewhere that my gramma couldn't be there but unfortunately she passed away while I was down in St. Vincent on my first trip to go see him (I had to cut my trip early and come home for the funeral and say goodbye to my gramma -- that was a really really hard time); my grammas whole life was about family and love and so that triggered me to stop holding out to get married at home on the east coast and just take life by the balls and live it so we got married in St. Vincent in December. We're planning a really nice renewal ceremony and party for when he gets back. There are really important people in my life (extended family and friends) that would have really loved to be there. As it was, it was expensive for my parents and sister to get down there, but I"m so so glad they did, it was a really special day and couldn't have been so without them. OK, you've all broken the seal and now I can't stop talking.
