Weddingbee Blog

My younger brother is now officially married. His story is a pretty great one…

In August 2003, my brother went on a guided tour of Japan. My brother’s wife (let’s call her Apple) was also on the tour with her aunt and grandmother. Because my brother and Apple were the only 2 young people on the tourbus, they were seated together. At first they didn’t like each other too much because both had very strong personalities. But they spent the entire week together on the bus sitting beside each other, talking for hours on end and discovered that they did like each other indeed. My brother also became very close with Apple’s aunt and grandmother who thought he was a fine young chap and took an immediate liking to him. My brother and Apple toured many cities in Japan together and soon they were very close.

After Japan, my brother continued onto China by himself, but went to Korea afterwards. For 2 months my brother and Apple hung out, had fun, and fell in love. My brother also became close to Apple’s parents who took an immediate liking to him as well. Life was good. Alas the time came when my brother had to return to America. But they talked on the phone every night for hours on end (my mom can attest to the exorbitant phone bills!). It was hard to be apart, so Apple having never been to America before, decided that she now had a reason to visit.

She needed to apply for a tourist visa so she trusted an elderly man who assisted people in getting tourist visas to the United States. However he turned out to be shuckster who really didn’t know what he was doing. As a result she was turned down for a tourist visa. Twice. It was heartbreaking, but they decided that she should apply for a student visa. She wanted to come study English in the the States for a year or so… and of course there was my brother. But their plans were foiled again and because she had been turned down for the tourist visa, her student visa was also denied. Twice. Having their hopes raised and dashed so many times was devastating. A vast ocean separated them and it seemed that they could not be together.

There was only one last hope left - to apply for an engagement visa. Meanwhile, my brother and Apple had been travelling around the entire world to meet each other since she could not come to America. They went to Vancouver, Bangkok, London, Paris, Venice, Rome - some of the most beautiful and romantic cities in the world. During this time, my brother came to realize that she indeed was the one. A year had lapsed since Apple had begun applying for visas and they were desperate to be together permanently. When my brother submitted his engagement visa application, he told their wonderful story and included pictures from all their adventures around the world. They continued to talk for hours on the phone every night and were very hopeful that this time they would finally be together.

In early June of this year, we finally got word that her visa had been approved. My brother and Apple were ecstatic. On June 24, 2005, Apple arrived from Korea with her parents. It had been almost 2 years since she and my brother first met and they had been going through the visa approval process for almost that long as well. They had been through a lot and now they were finally together. Our two families had dinner that night. Apple’s parents saw that she was becoming part of a good family and they trusted and loved my brother. Her parents left her with their blessing and returned to Korea.

In the past 2 weeks my brother and Apple moved into their own apartment and got married at City Hall. They’ll have another ceremony for family and friends later this year (which I’ll be planning of course ). They’re busy buying furniture and setting up the apartment so they’ve put wedding plans on hold for a little bit. They are very happy and I am happy for them.