Thoughts on the 90 day ceremony deadline

[thegovernor 0]

That's exactly what we did. in fact, we had a ceremony before we came to US, then a legal ceremony in the US with an elopement officiant on a day's notice 2 weeks or so after we got to the US, and then a bigger wedding, which we called a wedding but used "recommittment" language during the ceremony. I think you can do it however you want. We consider our anniversary to be our first ceremony before we came to the US, even though it wasnt the legal ceremony.

[danik713 21]

We are planning a civil ceremony upon arrival and possibly a more traditional ceremony at a later date.. but possibly just go with he civil ceremony. Depends on $$ .. recent college grads.. don't need to say more heh.

I am curious, which date are others utilizing as their wedding date? the official and legal date or the second ceremony? Just curious. Thanks, I enjoy reading everyone's different stories and experiences : )

[pursegal21 0]

Unfortunatley, this total process has taken that luxury and excitement of a wedding away from us. With the stress of this process I just would not be able to handle the stress of a big wedding without ending up in the hospital. My fiancee and I have been deprived of each other for so long, that we plan to go to city hall get married and have an intimate dinner with family and friends later on that evening and get on with our lives already. So no planning when he gets here (LORD willing) we will file for a license get married and enjoy each other. Its frustrating, but its the way it is for us anyway!

[Theresa0828 65]

We did the legal ceremony a couple days after my husband arrived with just our immediate families (his parents made it over from the UK). Five months later, we had a big she-bang with all of my (really, really, really big) family and his family/friends from Australia, Scotland, and England. It was great.

One note for the OP: I notice that your fiancee is from Phils. If you look through the Tourist Visa section, people from the Philippines sometimes have difficulty getting tourist visas (or at least they seem to based on this section, particularly young, single women). If it's really important for your fiancee to have friends and family present, it might be better to plan for her to come here, have the legal ceremony, then--once she has AP--go back to her country for the big wedding.

I agree 100%, this is what we are doing... We will plan something for my family on our first visit back home as husbands and wife...