Christmas Love Story

We are happy to inform all our customers – those ones who have already found their love through our agency and other ones who only intend to join our service – that another couple united their hearts. And it’s a special pleasure because this joyful event took place on the eve of Christmas – because it’s time when all people look for the realization of their desires and special events, which will change their lives.

We asked Mr. Charles Jacobs to tell his love story. He was very kind to agree, and we hope his story will help those people who has not met their happiness yet to make the first step.

Also Mr. Jacobs kindly agreed to publish his e-mail charlesfjacobs@msn.com so you can contact him in order to ask questions or advice.

Between November 16th and December 15th, 2003 I met my wife in Poltava, Ukraine, with the assistance of the Alice Marriage Agency. I chose the Alice Agency because it is situated in a smaller city, rather than a larger one, like Kiev or St. Petersburg or Moscow. I wanted to find a soul mate who is accustomed to life in a smaller city because I live in Phoenix, Arizona. And while we are the sixth largest city in America, our lifestyle is more like a small city than a large one.

My first contact with the Alice Agency, and the Manager of the Agency, Vera, occurred almost two months prior to my arrival in Poltava. I wrote to Vera and told her everything about myself, and my life. This began a two month period of almost daily emails, which Vera answered promptly and thoroughly. With her help and advice, I knew exactly what to expect during my visit. She told me about the City of Poltava, and her Agency. I could see on her web site that her Agency included many attractive, intelligent women interested in marriage.

During our initial conversations before my arrival, I made it clear to Vera that I was serious about my visit and the purpose for it: to find someone to share my life with. I told her that I was completely prepared to marry when I was in Poltava. I told her that I was going to bring my tuxedo, and I did.

Finally, the day for my arrival in Poltava had arrived. My trip to Poltava involved almost 24 hours of continuous traveling, the majority by air to Kiev, and about four hours by car from Kiev to Poltava. When I arrived at the Kiev airport, and entered the terminal arrival area, I was immediately met by Natasha, who was to be my guardian angel for my entire stay in Ukraine. She and the Agency driver, Sasha, took me and my luggage to the Agency car for the drive to Poltava. In the car, they welcomed me and asked me if I was hungry, or if I had any other wish. After about one hour of driving, I fell asleep in the back seat, and awoke three hours later when we arrived in Poltava.

I was taken directly to the apartment where I would be staying while I was in Poltava. The apartment is a newly constructed one bedroom apartment, with washing machine, shower, several balconies, eat-in kitchen, and living room with satellite television. The apartment was fully furnished and I enjoyed it completely.

Poltava is a pleasant city of 400,000 residents, clean and well-run. The Mayor of the city is held in high regard by its residents. There are numerous nice restaurants, which are very affordable. I did not do much cooking myself, though I did enjoy several home cooked dinners in the home of my wife and her parents. I enjoyed Poltava so much that I would enjoy visiting there again.

While in Poltava, Vera, and her terrific staff (most notably Natasha), organized everything for me, and accompanied me everywhere I went. Whenever I had to go some place, Natasha always made sure that there was a taxi or Agency car waiting for me at the entrance to the building where I was staying. And Natasha was always in the car waiting for me. Natasha speaks English perfectly, and she also doubles as a psychologist, giving advice when needed. Natasha worked every day with me, and was always just a telephone call away. We went food shopping, to restaurants, and to nightclubs together. Many times, we went more than 12 hours a day without stop. Vera and Natasha were always available to me, and repeatedly demonstrated a desire to help me in every way that they could.

Prior to my arrival in Poltava, I did not have any communication with the woman who is now my wife. She knew that I was coming to Poltava to meet her, but that was the extent of our contact. I met her within a few days of my arrival, and we met numerous times over the coming three weeks before I asked her to be my wife.

After Valentyna agreed to be my wife, then Vera and her staff went into overdrive to try to get us married before I would leave in one week's time. On the very next day, Valentyna, myself, and Natasha visited the Poltava office of Zags to determine which documents we would need in order to get married in Poltava. It helped that Natasha's sister works part time at Zags. Having this information, at 5 AM the next morning, the three of us plus Sasha departed Poltava by car to travel to Kiev to visit the US Consulate to obtain a 'Letter of Non-Impediment' that the Zags representative said was required to get married there. Getting this document from the Consulate was easy, but getting it stamped by the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry was not. We did not accomplish this until 6PM. Apparently, the Ukrainian Foreign Minister felt it necessary to be the one who would stamp my document. After we got it stamped, we headed for a seafood restaurant situated on a boat in the Dnieper River, which runs through Kiev. After a great meal, we headed back to Poltava. Within a short time in the car, every one was asleep, except our expert driver, Sasha. He delivered all of us back to Poltava safely and in comfort shortly after midnight, completing a 19 hour marathon.

The next day, we went about the task of meeting the other requirements outlined by Zags, primarily getting my documents translated into Ukrainian. On the third day, we revisited Zags, presented our documents, and scheduled our wedding for two days hence. On the next day, we visited the shop to select our rings, and my wife's wedding dress. Vera arranged the wedding photographer, the reception, and with my wife, selected the menu.

On the following day, we married. It was a great day, and everything went smoothly. The reception was held in a beautiful Ukrainian restaurant. We did not really have a honeymoon, because we spent the very next day completing the forms required by the Consulate for my wife to come to America. We also got the required Visa photos, and translated my wife's documents into English.

On my last day in Ukraine, we left Poltava at 4 AM, with Sasha driving, my wife, myself, and Natasha. Again, we slept in the car while Sasha drove us safely to Kiev. We arrived at the US Consulate at 8:30AM when it was just opening, and spent the morning submitting all of the documents for processing. We left the Consulate around noon, and visited a shop to buy some English books and CD's for my wife to study while she waits to join me in Phoenix. Then we went to the airport for my departure to America.

This journey was one of the most memorable of my life. I could not have accomplished any of this without the active support and assistance of Vera and her staff. I will be forever indebted to them. If my wife and I are fortunate enough to have children, when they ask 'where did we come from?', it will be very easy to answer them: Vera and Natasha!

Charles Jacobs