I?ve kept meaning to write this post, but I?ve never found the right words for it. I?ve searched high and low for some upbeat and funny way to talk about what it?s like to spend your engagement on a separate continent from your fiancé (not to mention your wedding venue). You can catch up on my story here, but to recap, I?m currently living in NYC, planning a move to join my fiancé, Ben, in London this spring (and slogging through UK immigration while I?m at it), and getting married in Oxford in August. But I?ve got nothing. The good part of all of this?well, the good part is that we?re getting married. As for the rest: it pretty much sucks.

While other couples live together, visit venues, go to tastings, and all that good stuff, Ben and I have had two measly visits in the past nine months. We?re usually only able to talk twice a week or so because of the five-hour time difference, and what time we do have has been almost entirely devoted to my immigration application lately. Our lives seem so different from the average engaged couple?s; while I try my best to focus on what I do have rather than what I don?t, I can?t deny feeling a little pang of sadness every time I see other couples doing wedding crafts or meeting with their florist?or even just going out for dinner. And speaking of immigration?at the back of my mind every time I set my mind to doing some wedmin is the all too real thought that my visa application may be rejected. The immigration process has been massi...