July '08 filers

[crs 0]

Approved!!!!!!!!! I randomly checked today and I see.... last update October 31..... and then I see..... Approval notice sent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!AAAAAAAA I wasnt expecting it at all yet!!!!!!

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!

[Aubrey 10]

Approved!!!!!!!!! I randomly checked today and I see.... last update October 31..... and then I see..... Approval notice sent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!AAAAAAAA I wasnt expecting it at all yet!!!!!!

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!

Congrats. Looks like you may be the first.

[jokalu 1]

Congratulations!!!! hopefully we are close too, vsc is more faster that csc....but its ok we have a little just a little bit of patience

[ErinMeetsJohny 0]

Approved!!!!!!!!! I randomly checked today and I see.... last update October 31..... and then I see..... Approval notice sent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!AAAAAAAA I wasnt expecting it at all yet!!!!!!

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!

Congrats awesome....I hope im in the same box that u were....lol

[ErinMeetsJohny 0]

Approved!!!!!!!!! I randomly checked today and I see.... last update October 31..... and then I see..... Approval notice sent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!AAAAAAAA I wasnt expecting it at all yet!!!!!!

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!

Congrats awesome....I hope im in the same box that u were....lol

Well there are a few July filers that have gotten approved if u take a look!!! I can smell an approval coming! I have jumped from 119 to 106 on Igors in two days....so i hope things continue to move right along.

[Cham 3]

You know what would be good if in 12 months time we all get together for a weekend so we can all laugh about the K1 visa process :bonk: :whistle:

ROFL...remember the time when...

[Terri and Seb 0]

More about my elopement, hey? Well, I hope you're in for a book!!

We're getting married here:

Bonus pics of the jacuzzi in their master room!:

It's an old mansion turned luxury spa/b&b. It was rated one of the top ten most romantic bed and breakfasts in the country and has a nice massage parlor. They offer an elopement package that includes the officiant, my bouquet, his corsage, a DVD of pictures taken by their receptionist, a bottle of champagne and a mini cake in whatever flavor/decor we choose. I'm so lucky that it's only a little over an hour away from where I live!

As for the day itself, our plan is to get married in mid-afternoon. As I mentioned earlier, we're writing our own vows and he's writing a song for me to walk down the aisle to since he's a wonderful musician. I'm a poet so I might also read a few poems that I've written for him and he might play me a song or something. We're trying to make it a ceremony that lasts more than just a few minutes, so we might also incorporate a wine ceremony. That's where the bride's family and the groom's family each give the couple a bottle of wine and a wine glass, along with pieces of paper or letters giving us their blessing. We'll read all of them, put them, along with the wine and glasses, into a wooden box and lock it. Then we'll open it on our ten year anniversary! He's British, but half Iranian, so we might also incorporate this awesome Iranian tradition where the bride and groom sit in a chair under a cloth and the guests rub sugar cane together to "sprinkle sweetness" over them. That one might be messy and difficult to execute, though. So far, we can't find any really cool British traditions except fruitcake and putting a horseshoe charm in my bouquet.

We both really want our heritages and our families to somehow feature in our wedding, even though it'll just be us. I found this awesome woman in the UK who makes bouquets out of antique broaches and pearls and I might copy the idea but use family heirlooms instead. Like this:

We're hiring an amazing photographer, too. Hopefully Kim Reed if we can do a little more price negotiating with her.

After the ceremony, we're not sure what we're doing. We both really love fondue so we're thinking of buying a fondue pot and making our own 4 course meal from it like they do at our favorite restaurant. That might get pretty messy and I just spent a fortune on my dress, though. Plus I'm not sure if the rooms will have a refrigerator and stuff, so we might have to skip it. I feel lame going to a restaurant in my wedding gown, but the mansion has a sister property that has a restaurant and they have elaborate 7 course meals there that look incredible. So I might change and we may just go there. Or see if they can set something nice up in our room.

As for honeymoon stuff, we decided to save money and not deal with flights, so we're driving to a cabin that's a few hours away. We thought about doing exciting tourist stuff in a big city but really, we've been apart for far too long, and the idea of snuggling in a secluded cabin that has a hot tub for an entire week sounds like bliss. We'll pack a few bottles of wine, maybe that fondue pot and some other groceries and get away from it all. Here's a few pics of the cabin!

I told you it would be long! How are you doing your Niagara Falls thing? Are you staying on the U.S. side or getting Advanced Parole beforehand? I stayed at the Embassy Suites once on the Canadian side and it was AMAZING.

[Shannon ♥ Nick 0]

Approved!!!!!!!!! I randomly checked today and I see.... last update October 31..... and then I see..... Approval notice sent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!AAAAAAAA I wasnt expecting it at all yet!!!!!!

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!

Congrats awesome....I hope im in the same box that u were....lol

Well there are a few July filers that have gotten approved if u take a look!!! I can smell an approval coming! I have jumped from 119 to 106 on Igors in two days....so i hope things continue to move right along.

congrats! here we go guys the rides gonna get faster......

[ErinMeetsJohny 0]

More about my elopement, hey? Well, I hope you're in for a book!!

We're getting married here:

Bonus pics of the jacuzzi in their master room!:

It's an old mansion turned luxury spa/b&b. It was rated one of the top ten most romantic bed and breakfasts in the country and has a nice massage parlor. They offer an elopement package that includes the officiant, my bouquet, his corsage, a DVD of pictures taken by their receptionist, a bottle of champagne and a mini cake in whatever flavor/decor we choose. I'm so lucky that it's only a little over an hour away from where I live!

As for the day itself, our plan is to get married in mid-afternoon. As I mentioned earlier, we're writing our own vows and he's writing a song for me to walk down the aisle to since he's a wonderful musician. I'm a poet so I might also read a few poems that I've written for him and he might play me a song or something. We're trying to make it a ceremony that lasts more than just a few minutes, so we might also incorporate a wine ceremony. That's where the bride's family and the groom's family each give the couple a bottle of wine and a wine glass, along with pieces of paper or letters giving us their blessing. We'll read all of them, put them, along with the wine and glasses, into a wooden box and lock it. Then we'll open it on our ten year anniversary! He's British, but half Iranian, so we might also incorporate this awesome Iranian tradition where the bride and groom sit in a chair under a cloth and the guests rub sugar cane together to "sprinkle sweetness" over them. That one might be messy and difficult to execute, though. So far, we can't find any really cool British traditions except fruitcake and putting a horseshoe charm in my bouquet.

We both really want our heritages and our families to somehow feature in our wedding, even though it'll just be us. I found this awesome woman in the UK who makes bouquets out of antique broaches and pearls and I might copy the idea but use family heirlooms instead. Like this:

We're hiring an amazing photographer, too. Hopefully Kim Reed if we can do a little more price negotiating with her.

After the ceremony, we're not sure what we're doing. We both really love fondue so we're thinking of buying a fondue pot and making our own 4 course meal from it like they do at our favorite restaurant. That might get pretty messy and I just spent a fortune on my dress, though. Plus I'm not sure if the rooms will have a refrigerator and stuff, so we might have to skip it. I feel lame going to a restaurant in my wedding gown, but the mansion has a sister property that has a restaurant and they have elaborate 7 course meals there that look incredible. So I might change and we may just go there. Or see if they can set something nice up in our room.

As for honeymoon stuff, we decided to save money and not deal with flights, so we're driving to a cabin that's a few hours away. We thought about doing exciting tourist stuff in a big city but really, we've been apart for far too long, and the idea of snuggling in a secluded cabin that has a hot tub for an entire week sounds like bliss. We'll pack a few bottles of wine, maybe that fondue pot and some other groceries and get away from it all. Here's a few pics of the cabin!

I told you it would be long! How are you doing your Niagara Falls thing? Are you staying on the U.S. side or getting Advanced Parole beforehand? I stayed at the Embassy Suites once on the Canadian side and it was AMAZING.

That is beautiful where is that??? I wish that we could do something like that but I dont know of any places around there that do that....

[Terri and Seb 0]

That is beautiful where is that??? I wish that we could do something like that but I dont know of any places around there that do that....

The mansion is in Sharon, PA and the cabin is on Buckeye lake in Ohio. I STRONGLY recommend looking for vacation rentals in your state, regardless of how hopeless you think it might be. At first I was like, "Uh, yay? A honeymoon in Ohio? A wedding in ugly Sharon?" but there are literally dozens upon dozens of gorgeous log cabin rentals. You get way more for your money using vacation rentals instead of hotels plus the hundreds of dollars, and time, we're saving by not flying is amazing. That place I posted is only $159 a night for the entire house.

Edited November 2, 2008 by Terri and Seb

[Shannon ♥ Nick 0]

WOW it looks gorgeous guys !!

What date have you booked/ or do you have in mind?

[Terri and Seb 0]

WOW it looks gorgeous guys !!

What date have you booked/ or do you have in mind?

We haven't booked anything, we're going to wait until he's officially booked his flight here to make any kind of definitive plans. The great thing about this is we can be really flexible since there aren't any guests. We'll wait and see when he's here, and then see when the master suite + the photographer we want are available and just go! We're hoping it'll be in March or April and luckily those are still considered the off-season and most photographers we've called are totally open. Same with the honeymoon cabin, it's only booked for one weekend in March so we have tons of wiggle room. Did you guys set a date yet? I'm still very jealous of your beach wedding!

Also, congrats crs! Our NOA1 dates are pretty close and...wow...I'd be freaking out if we got it this soon. I don't have nearly enough stuff together.

[Ju&Ja 1]

well i hope they find the bad table and get us off of it....im sick of waiting...

so how long after we get approved does everyone think their loved ones will be home with us? visa in hand...

I think the current time from consulate receiving to interview , according to the VJ stats, is about 57 days plus the time for the petition to go to NVC etc so I reckon 8-10 weeks after NOA2 and we should be good to go.

I guess some consulates will process faster tho.......

My packet 3 is already to send back so as soon as I get mine in the post I can go straght out and post mine back overnight..... not that I'm impatient BUT I WANNA GO HOME!!!!

I wanted to prepare my packet 3 also, but do you know where to download the oficial PDFs ?

Juliette http://france.usembassy.gov/ is the embassy web address, in the search bar (top left )put in DS-230 and the no 1 link is the PDF file you need

you will also need ( i think ) DS 156 DS 156 K and maybe the DS-157 but dont quote me on that!!

Thank you my dear !!!

[Shannon ♥ Nick 0]

We were all kinda geared up for March 17th which would be our anniversary of the first time we met BUT if we can get an interview in December (has everything crossed here) then I might be able to get out there in January which would be fantastic for reasons we're keeping kinda secret (BUT if you wanna know PM US and Shan will fill you in )

Its just frustrating not being able to set a definite date as I know my mom and dad want to come over for the wedding and so do a lot of Shans friends from MN but difficult hence why we opted for the simple ceremony with just us and the kids and then maybe a huge "gathering" in March 2010 where we can renew our vows in front of friends and family....

[Rob&Dawn 1]

You know what would be good if in 12 months time we all get together for a weekend so we can all laugh about the K1 visa process :bonk: :whistle:

That would be fantastic,what a great idea...may take 12months to get my nerves back to a normal level!

Approved!!!!!!!!! I randomly checked today and I see.... last update October 31..... and then I see..... Approval notice sent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!AAAAAAAA I wasnt expecting it at all yet!!!!!!

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!

congratulations