Our way to Stykkishólmur to meet with the county official for our final paperwork became a bit of an adventure. Thanks to ‘Garmina’, our Brittish GPS tour-guide we ended up in the mountains, on a road where we could hardly turn back until we had to drive through a river and our earlier suspicions of being on the wrong path were confirmed. We should have listened to our hearts but we were so preoccupied with excitement and nerves that we let Garmina guide us.

Up until Borganes everything was fine but about 10 minutes out of the last ‘big’ town before one hits the middle of nowhere we ended up on a mountain road toward… who knows. On our way we were first greeted by handfuls of the cutest little lamb and their protective mothers. They are so curious and yet so shy. They make the sweetest noises and above all, they wag their teeny tiny tails when they drink.

A lot of potholes later we were stopped by a group of horses that were grazing off the side of the road and drinking from the water that filled the potholes. We stopped, rolled down our windows, and were stared straight into the soul by these friendly beauties.

Not long after our meeting with the Icelandic horses we literally couldn’t drive any further. We checked Garmina and, oh yes, we were on our way to the complete wrong place! As a last sign, we came upon a totem marking the road as it forked—in one direction through a rushing river, the other up the mountain over a potted road. A slight panic set in as we were actually on a deadline. It is hard to imagine that one can be on a deadline in the countryside where time seems to stand still and the light is just as bright during midnight as noon. I jumped out of the car. Twenty turns later, we were finally turned around (the road was tiny) and on our way back to the main road. We were quiet, focused and even the horses sensed that we were in a rush this time.

The county official, Dadi, would be present at his office until 4pm. We arrived at 3:36 PM and rushed inside. With a serious look he asked us to sit down and hand him our paperwork. Without a word he left the room and came back with a very serious look, sat down, told us that everything was perfect and then—only then—he smiled. We looked at each other and sighed with relief. We were going to get married tomorrow!

We drove around Stykkishólmur for 10 minutes, stopped into a little store where I bought some lace to pretty up my shoes (which was eventually done with a hairpiece…) but then headed to the car, we were ready to go to Budir.

After we ate a real Icelandic Hotdog, with questionable crunchy bits in it, on our way to Budir, we laughed about it all. We also decided that from now on we will listen with our eyes while on the road and using a good old road map.