STUCK @ NVC for AP

[Ellie-and-David 38]

YAY! It really IS a good week!!!

And.....I just recieved my engagement ring after it got stuck at customs a month ago....

Edited May 6, 2009 by Ellie-and-David

[Badgerella 5]

We're trying to figure out what we want for wedding bands, as well as when exactly we want to get married. Probably between August 21st and 31st, likely a Friday.

[Talyss 0]

My friends, I was released from NVC on 05/05/2009. Thanks for all the information and support.

Yeah! congratulations I do hope the rest of the journey is speedy and smooth

[Y's_habibitk 2]

Congrats on the releases and yaaay for found engagement rings

[Ellie-and-David 38]

Congrats on the releases and yaaay for found engagement rings

Hee hee....thanks. The whole time he was unemployed and dirt poor i couldn't care less about having one, but then when he got a job and bought it....well I probably would have sold my granny to get it here. Customs were quite fair. No import charges....but plenty of VAT....

Badgerella - what sort of wedding will you have? Just a civil or a proper "knees up"? I cant deal with organising a big one so we are going to do a civil - hopefully on the 25th of July and then a bigger one for family in April '10

The wedding bands....hmm....I hadn't even thought about my actual wedding ring!

[Badgerella 5]

We plan to have a civil wedding (at least that's what a wedding that does not include a religious ceremony is...), with a reception, for my fiance's family and friends and whoever who can come from Croatia, that being my family and friends. Considering the distance and expenses, . We'll do our best to organize it (my fiance and his family will do pretty much all the work) while I am still in Croatia - according to our current plans, I'll be arriving 10-ish days prior to the wedding (or more, if other circumstances allow it). Later, when I can travel, we'll be back to Croatia and we'll have a reception for everyone from here. There might be a catholic church ceremony, but we're not yet sure about that.

[scandal 951]

We plan to have a civil wedding (at least that's what a wedding that does not include a religious ceremony is...), with a reception, for my fiance's family and friends and whoever who can come from Croatia, that being my family and friends. Considering the distance and expenses, . We'll do our best to organize it (my fiance and his family will do pretty much all the work) while I am still in Croatia - according to our current plans, I'll be arriving 10-ish days prior to the wedding (or more, if other circumstances allow it). Later, when I can travel, we'll be back to Croatia and we'll have a reception for everyone from here. There might be a catholic church ceremony, but we're not yet sure about that.

Cool

Who else wants to share wedding plans?

In our case we already had a large Buddhist ceremony in Thailand last September. That was quite an experience! I had virtually no idea of all that was going on about me, but it was quite a commotion with 9 saffron robed Buddhist monks and lots of 'wai'-ing (a ceremonial bow that I still can't get the hang of). We did not register at the Amphur (roughly equivalent to the county clerk), so it's not considered a legal wedding and we are not married. VERY IMPORTANT for K-1 filers!!!

When Thanti finally gets here to the US (which should be, oh, any century now .... ) we have 3 options. The first and easiest is to have a quick civil ceremony at the county offices. The second is to try to find a Reform Jewish Rabbi who would be willing to perform a Jewish wedding ceremony for us, even though Thanti is not Jewish. And the third option is to take a mad-lark trip to Vegas and get married there .

The advantage to the first is that I already had a big fancy wedding years ago in my first marriage, and don't really feel the need for such a thing again. And we did have the big Buddhist event for her family in Thailand. So probably best to have a quick low-key modest ceremony just so we can get on with the AOS filing.

The advantage to the second is that I guess I still feel some latent attachment to my upbringing. I consider myself to be 'lapsed Jewish', culturally attached but not practicing. Maybe some inner voice is trying to tell me that our new Buddhist-Jewish household should start off with both Buddhist & Jewish ceremonies.

The advantage to the third is that it would be just a fun-crazy thing to do!! Take a few days off work, book a nice hotel on the Strip, see some shows, and get married by an Elvis impersonator.

We might even do a combination of these - maybe the second and third.

Ok, who want's to go next... don't be shy

[Badgerella 5]

That sounds awesome, the Buddhist ceremony! We're not sure about our Catholic one because neither is, actually, a religious person. We don't practice anything and I am the one who is, in fact, eligible for a church wedding (been through all the religious things that are required). The main reason we'd have it is that, with a church ceremony, the whole Croatian 'wedding', or, well, the wedding re-run, would make more sense. Otherwise, we'd just be inviting some people to a restaurant, pretty much.

We'll see what happens!

Church (Catholic at least) weddings in Croatia can, and usually are registered, which is why we chose not to go through it before I come to the US. Of course you can just simply not sign any papers and say that you're doing it only religiously, but I didn't want anyone, at any point, to either get confused by it, or to run into any and all proof that we've been through a wedding-like anything.

[wasabi 4]

We plan to have a civil wedding (at least that's what a wedding that does not include a religious ceremony is...), with a reception, for my fiance's family and friends and whoever who can come from Croatia, that being my family and friends. Considering the distance and expenses, . We'll do our best to organize it (my fiance and his family will do pretty much all the work) while I am still in Croatia - according to our current plans, I'll be arriving 10-ish days prior to the wedding (or more, if other circumstances allow it). Later, when I can travel, we'll be back to Croatia and we'll have a reception for everyone from here. There might be a catholic church ceremony, but we're not yet sure about that.

Cool

Who else wants to share wedding plans?

In our case we already had a large Buddhist ceremony in Thailand last September. That was quite an experience! I had virtually no idea of all that was going on about me, but it was quite a commotion with 9 saffron robed Buddhist monks and lots of 'wai'-ing (a ceremonial bow that I still can't get the hang of). We did not register at the Amphur (roughly equivalent to the county clerk), so it's not considered a legal wedding and we are not married. VERY IMPORTANT for K-1 filers!!!

When Thanti finally gets here to the US (which should be, oh, any century now .... ) we have 3 options. The first and easiest is to have a quick civil ceremony at the county offices. The second is to try to find a Reform Jewish Rabbi who would be willing to perform a Jewish wedding ceremony for us, even though Thanti is not Jewish. And the third option is to take a mad-lark trip to Vegas and get married there .

The advantage to the first is that I already had a big fancy wedding years ago in my first marriage, and don't really feel the need for such a thing again. And we did have the big Buddhist event for her family in Thailand. So probably best to have a quick low-key modest ceremony just so we can get on with the AOS filing.

The advantage to the second is that I guess I still feel some latent attachment to my upbringing. I consider myself to be 'lapsed Jewish', culturally attached but not practicing. Maybe some inner voice is trying to tell me that our new Buddhist-Jewish household should start off with both Buddhist & Jewish ceremonies.

The advantage to the third is that it would be just a fun-crazy thing to do!! Take a few days off work, book a nice hotel on the Strip, see some shows, and get married by an Elvis impersonator.

We might even do a combination of these - maybe the second and third.

Ok, who want's to go next... don't be shy

I'm also culturally Jewish and my soon to be wife is Buddhist. I was married to a Thai woman before and had the full Buddhist ceremony as you describe. It was indeed a very memorable experience, and even though I speak Thai very well I had no idea what was going on too. This time around we decided to skip the ceremonies though I did hook her up with some gold which she feels is a completely satisfactory substitute to the full ceremony. Now I have to consider how to take care of the marriage business in the USA, perhaps Vegas is in order?

[scandal 951]

I'm also culturally Jewish and my soon to be wife is Buddhist. I was married to a Thai woman before and had the full Buddhist ceremony as you describe. It was indeed a very memorable experience, and even though I speak Thai very well I had no idea what was going on too. This time around we decided to skip the ceremonies though I did hook her up with some gold which she feels is a completely satisfactory substitute to the full ceremony. Now I have to consider how to take care of the marriage business in the USA, perhaps Vegas is in order?

Cool! Are you processing your visa through BKK as well? I don't know how Laos processes. I know that Cambodia now goes through Pnomh Penh (they used to go through BKK). Does the US have an embassy in Laos with an IV unit? I know I could look it up, but I'm lazy

Anyway, if you are processing through BKK, you may want to monitor the Sawasdee 3 thread. We are having some active discussion there regarding processing times through the embassy, including these long delays for Packet3/Packet4/Interview handling.

[Matt & Bing 56]

... another week goes by ... still in AP

[spikeyflip 0]

Just called during lunch and got the good news !! our case is forwarded to the US embassy this week. Weird thing though is that the guy can't give me the specific date when it was sent

Thanks for this thread and the info I'll be checking in to cheer you guys still stuck in AP !!

[scandal 951]

Spikeyflip - congrats!

Matt & Bing ... :crying: don't worry you're not abandoned... you will get out ... hopefully next week!

[flicker 5]

called nvs today but sad to say we are still there!!!congrats to all who have been released

[wasabi 4]

I'm also culturally Jewish and my soon to be wife is Buddhist. I was married to a Thai woman before and had the full Buddhist ceremony as you describe. It was indeed a very memorable experience, and even though I speak Thai very well I had no idea what was going on too. This time around we decided to skip the ceremonies though I did hook her up with some gold which she feels is a completely satisfactory substitute to the full ceremony. Now I have to consider how to take care of the marriage business in the USA, perhaps Vegas is in order?

Cool! Are you processing your visa through BKK as well? I don't know how Laos processes. I know that Cambodia now goes through Pnomh Penh (they used to go through BKK). Does the US have an embassy in Laos with an IV unit? I know I could look it up, but I'm lazy

Anyway, if you are processing through BKK, you may want to monitor the Sawasdee 3 thread. We are having some active discussion there regarding processing times through the embassy, including these long delays for Packet3/Packet4/Interview handling.

Yes even though she is Lao we are trying to do it all through BKK since we both live here. I have heard the Thai embassy is easier to deal with than the Laos one.