Well, on Monday when the UPS office opened I called them to check where our parcel was... they hadn't colleced it for some technical reason.
PANIC SETS IN
I then call the Legalisation Office in the UK and they then told me that the documents had actually been sent back to Alicante on Thursday and so even if UPS had managed to go there, there were no documents!!!!!!
I then called the Consulate and they said they THOUGHT they had them all, but weren't sure and they would call me back. Time was ticking away and it was now almost 1pm. The Consulate called to say, good news, they had all the documents and we could come and collect them. The problem is that it would take more than 30 minutes to get there and they close to the public at 1.30. They said that the would re-open just for us (bloody-well think so as they'd screwed up), and I politely showed my gratitude.
Off we dash. They were true to their word and re-opened just for us. We knew we still needed one more document - proof of where we had lived for the last two years. Well, of course, the Consulate can do this, while we wait, provided we may almost 300 euros. We bit the bullet and coughed up, collected the documents and went home. Opened the wine and beer and collapsed.
We then had to organise our translator and two witnesses to come to Formentera with us on Tuesday, so we went to our local bar and confirmed with our two friends (one owns the bar and the other is a waitress) that they would be ready to come with us for 1pm the next day.
I don't know why, but I decided that I'd go down to the Ayuntamiento this morning around half past ten, just to check that the person who would receive the documents was going to be there. He ALWAYS works from 1pm to 3pm ... except today when he was working from 9.30 until noon. I did a lightening dash back home, grabbed the other half and the paperwork, then off to the bar to collect our witnesses. We got there at 11.00am only to find he'd gone.
Luckily our Spanish witnesses, being local, did some fast-talking and got someone else to check and accept the documentation.
We are now waiting for the Judge to approve it, but I really do believe we are oh so close to completing the paperwork.
So, to recap, all the documentation so far has cost us just over 1000 euros. Yes, we could have got married in Gib or the UK for a lot less, but our hearts are set on marrying in the village we've chosen as our home for the rest of our lives... and the other half says I'm not romantic - what on earth do I have to do to prove it?