So it has been 4 months since I last updated this blog. And guess what? Vicot and I didn’t actually complete the Borang Nikah within the couple of weeks but rather we dragged it for almost 4 months lol. And in the mean time we accidentally found out that the forms we got were no longer valid so the Syariah Court issued us new ones.
So we had to fill out the new forms, gathered the required accompanying documents, which can be such a pain to obtain depending on circumstances (refer to previous post). I returned to the Syariah Court on a Thursday morning (Victor can’t come along because he had work) to hand in the documents. Luckily it wasn’t a busy day so I was immediately attended to by the staff. Once the attending staff confirmed that everything is in order I was told to make the payment of B$20 at the payment counter (and collect the payment slips). Then they told me to proceed to another counter for further instructions. After 5 minutes of waiting at the counter I was given a slip of paper instructing Victor and I to return to the Syariah Court with the skip of paper 13 days before the Nikah ceremony.
I was puzzled by it since when it comes to dealing with the government, there’s always a bunch of documents needed so when the staff told me to simply bring that 1 piece of paper, it caught me off guard. I reconfirmed with the staff and they said, “Yes, just that paper.” Feeling semi-assured I left the Court and headed back home. At home I re-read the slip of paper and near the bottom, there’s a small piece of paper attached to it. It’s a notification to inform every couple who wish to get married to register for Kursus Pra-Nikah (Pre-Nikah Course) – basically it’s a 4-day course that MUST be attended by every couple in order to prepare them for married life.
The notification paper didn’t specify any documents we need to bring along during the registration (oh boy was I wrong). So on Saturday morning (2 days later) Victor and I went to the Khidmat Nasihat Keluarga (Family Consultation Services) unit (just a couple of blocks away from the Syariah Court) to register for the Kursus Pra-Nikah. It was not a busy day so once again we were immediately attended to. I handed over the slip of paper (given by the staff in Syariah Court) along with the payment slips and after a minute or two, the staff asked for a copy of our Identification Cards (I.C). We didn’t bring any along because nobody said we had to. So Victor and I went off to make copies of our I.Cs (at a copier shop miles away) and returned to the KNK unit to complete the registration. Luckily it went well after that and we were issued a couple of papers to bring along during the 4-days course (which is set for a month before the Nikah ceremony). The standard is that the couple has to attend the course prior to the wedding. However, in some cases, a couple may not be able attend the course in time (usually due to no available slots) so they would have to attend the course after the wedding.
In my next post I will talk about the actual wedding preparation so stay tuned 🙂
