When should I book our chapel for the wedding?

[Mocana87 0]

Hello everyone!

Thank you first off to those taking the time to read my question and give advice I really appreciate it!!

- I have started planning things for our wedding ( I know its seems really really early but I was surprised to find out that its isn't) I filed in september and I still did not recieve my NOA2 yet but I am trying to do the impossible and estimate when I should book the Chapel that we want to get married in. I decided that since we filed in early september that he should be here before June 2009. I know that it is very well possible he will however not be here untill after June but I just dont want to even think about that. I was surprised to find out when I called that already the chapel is almost booked! So I have a decision to make as to whether or not to put down a deposit to hold June 13th 2009. I figure I should just do it because if worst comes to worst I will get my 300 dollars back but I would just like to know if my estimate seems logical. Does June 2009 fit what I think the average is? I was hoping for some advice from all of you smile please

[YuAndDan 153]

For K-1 visa never set any wedding dates, you never know if visa will be denied, or id something comes up requiring additional evidence delaying the visa.

You have 90 days after arrival on the K-1 to plan things, you could even do a legal courthouse marriage withing the 90 days, and then a full religious wedding after the 90 days.

[~Laura and Nick~ 5]

Every case is different.

Some take 6 months from filing to visa in hand and some take 10.

Ours took 7 months from filing till I had my visa.

There is no "average" really, it's all different.

If you are really worried about the chapel I guess you could book it but you will be chancing missing the date or being too early.

Most people who go through this immigration stuff don't really plan a big traditional wedding. They come into the country, have a legal ceremony within the 3 months and either leave it at that or plan a bigger event later on down the road in a church or whatever.

If you can get your 300 bucks back, book it but just know that nothing is set in stone here. You probably will be okay with that time line but you never know.

Best of luck.

[pushbrk 12,882]

Hello everyone!

Thank you first off to those taking the time to read my question and give advice I really appreciate it!!

- I have started planning things for our wedding ( I know its seems really really early but I was surprised to find out that its isn't) I filed in september and I still did not recieve my NOA2 yet but I am trying to do the impossible and estimate when I should book the Chapel that we want to get married in. I decided that since we filed in early september that he should be here before June 2009. I know that it is very well possible he will however not be here untill after June but I just dont want to even think about that. I was surprised to find out when I called that already the chapel is almost booked! So I have a decision to make as to whether or not to put down a deposit to hold June 13th 2009. I figure I should just do it because if worst comes to worst I will get my 300 dollars back but I would just like to know if my estimate seems logical. Does June 2009 fit what I think the average is? I was hoping for some advice from all of you smile please

You cannot reliably predict visa issuance within the required 90 day window for the marriage to take place after US entry. As such, I always advise folks not to make arrangements that require forfeiting a large deposit. If you can get your deposit back, yes June 13 is a reasonble target.

[jle930sl 0]

Hey.

I just wanted to let you know that June 2009 sounds okay as far as I can guess...but where did you file at Vermont or California?

A lot of people are for having a civil ceremony followed by a religious ceremony later (if they choose), and this makes perfect sense!

My fiance and I have decided against this option for us, and were thus left with the same issues - how do you plan a wedding that is only tentative? It's tough, and different for everyone, but I thought I'd share how we are doing it to maybe give you some ideas.

- Ceremony Date: We chose a date far enough in advance that he could feasibly have his visa (we applied in June, the wedding is in March - 9 months later), but early enough in the year that we might be able to still have snow on our wedding day (if it were up to us completely, it'd be a day full of heavy snow fall for our wedding in midwinter). Lastly we chose a Friday ceremony so that we can both save on costs and also have more probability of rearranging the wedding date if needed at the last minute.

- Ceremony Location: Small church I attended in high school. Will let us rearrange our date however and whenever necessary. Only does 1 or 2 weddings a year, so has a lot of openings even at the last minute if we need it. Especially since we have a Friday ceremony. If you really want that site that is really booked already, I would make sure you can get your deposit back if you need to and have alternate ideas - things that aren't booked up full early. Maybe a park or something. That way if you find out on May 31st, that he won't get his visa until the end of June, you already have ideas in mind for new locations - this will help you not scramble at the last minute trying to come up with something.

- Guest List - Do as you please, but make sure you tell guests about the tenative-ness of the wedding. If your guests are anything like a lot of others they will just think that it's easy to get married to a non-citizen and won't realize that the date might have to change - so make sure to tell them! We sent a letter explaining the process (briefly) with our save-the-date cards and asking them to hold off wedding travel plans until we give them the okay.

- Reception Site - Everyone is different. We will have dinner at a restaurant somewhere. Our guest list is small (under 50, probably only 20 or so will attend) so worse case scenario we will call and make reservations for our party at whatever restaurant we can. Not ideal or romantic, but feasible and realistic.

- Others - Your wedding dress, grooms' wedding attire, invitations, etc etc can all be planned as usual!

Whatever you do - REMEMBER THAT YOU MAY HAVE TO RESCHEDULE! If you have a deposit that you can't get out of after a certain date, then keep that in mind! We have nothing like this, but we have already agreed that if we don't know when his interview is by Feb 1 2009 then we will reschedule to a later date. That way our guests (and us) won't have to pay horribly large flight costs to still make the wedding on March 27th, just because we want to have it then.

I know this was long, but hope it helped. I feel confident in our plans that we've made and the ability to reschedule them. We are hoping to have our NOA2 w/in the next month and I really am beginning to hope that our wedding date really will go through as planned, but in the back of our minds we still know that it could change.

Whatever you do - good luck! And enjoy as much of the planning as you can. We only get married once (that's the hope anyways)!!

And wa - la.. a no fuss wedding that doesn't make us have to wait for

[Mocana87 0]

Thanks to all of you for your advice

[rheanick 42]

You could get an insurance for your wedding expenses. This input is based on the experience of a friend (USC). The fiance was denied on the POE.

Hello everyone!

Thank you first off to those taking the time to read my question and give advice I really appreciate it!!

- I have started planning things for our wedding ( I know its seems really really early but I was surprised to find out that its isn't) I filed in september and I still did not recieve my NOA2 yet but I am trying to do the impossible and estimate when I should book the Chapel that we want to get married in. I decided that since we filed in early september that he should be here before June 2009. I know that it is very well possible he will however not be here untill after June but I just dont want to even think about that. I was surprised to find out when I called that already the chapel is almost booked! So I have a decision to make as to whether or not to put down a deposit to hold June 13th 2009. I figure I should just do it because if worst comes to worst I will get my 300 dollars back but I would just like to know if my estimate seems logical. Does June 2009 fit what I think the average is? I was hoping for some advice from all of you smile please