K1 Wedding Planning -what is/was your plan?

[frankielove 5]

Since the process is running so long I am worried about how to approach this and was wondering how most folks managed their wedding planning. For example which approach did you do or are you planning to do?:

• Plan a civil ceremony
  
• Plan a big wedding and reception
  
• Plan a civil service and then a wedding with reception later
  

I would love to hear your recommendations as our projected approval dates could put our earliest opportunity in prime wedding season.

Thanks!

[VanessaTony 3,567]

Since the process is running so long I am worried about how to approach this and was wondering how most folks managed their wedding planning. For example which approach did you do or are you planning to do?:

• Plan a civil ceremony
  
• Plan a big wedding and reception
  
• Plan a civil service and then a wedding with reception later
  

I would love to hear your recommendations as our projected approval dates could put our earliest opportunity in prime wedding season.

Thanks!

We had a normal wedding (in a church) and a normal sized reception... I wouldn't say big because there were about 85 people in attendance at the reception and maybe 1/2 that at the wedding itself.

I bought my dress in Australia (and veil) and it came over with me when I did. I was emailing people back and forth for photographer, cake etc. We had a lot of family assistance (great-Aunt did the cake), great-uncle did vid, family friend did photos. That isn't to say we didn't pay people, it was just easier that way. Small country town meant no-one had websites to look at so I was relying on family opinion. Everyone STILL raves about the chicken at the wedding. I'll be honest, I didn't eat anything so I feel a bit bad about that but I was just too nervous.

We booked the venue about 9 months in advance and because it's a small country town no deposit was needed so nothing lost if we needed to change it.

If I could do it all again i would do a court house wedding and reception in Tony's home town, and another in Aus. The plan is still there for Aus. Nothing huge, just friends and family at the local RSL (basically a restaurant) so everyone can meet Tony in person, then either out on the town (small country town for me too.. so.. woohoo!) or going back to the family property to chill.

I think one of the reasons the wedding was so stressful for me is because I didn't know anyone, not really, so organising stuff was hard because I felt like i was imposing a lot.. asking a lot of people I didn't know. I'd seen them before but they pretty much meant nothing to me. only my sister and her husband were able to come from my side and the rest I had no idea. The civil service THEN reception later gives you time to get the official part out of the way, not spend too much money with AOS coming up, and then everyone is able to get a good amount of notice to fly in for the reception (or you can fly to Canada). Another reason mine was bad is by having the full wedding in the US, those that couldn't make it felt left out. If I just did civil then a reception in each country everyone would be equal.

Anyway, that's what I think now that I've been through it.

[VanessaTony 3,567]

.. duplicate sorry. Always have VJ issues after 3am

Edited January 20, 2011 by Vanessa&Tony

[Hendea3 4]

Seeing as I only lived 2 hours away we went and visited a bunch of venues before even knowing our interview date and picked a top 2-3 incase when we had a date our topo choice wasnt available. We then did the same with cake, photographer, videographer etc. I used www.theknot.com and google to get reviews about companies since neither my FI or I was from teh area we were going to get married in (Buffalo). BEWARE there are some sly people out there...my first hair/make up person turned out to be a con artist that really didnt have the qualifications or the tools or the man power to do what she said she was going to do....and I then found out that all the rave reviews about her were posted by herself!

Anywho ...While talking with vendors I made sure that everyone was ok with the clause ''this contract is conditional based on Jane Does K1 visa acceptance on XXX (my interview date) if for soem reason it is denied or put into additional admin processing all monies/deposits will wither be refunded to bride/groom with no penalty and/or will be used towards another mutually agreed upon date.'' As soon as I knew my interview date I then started signing contracts and giving deposits. I went back and forth to the US to try adn do planning etc right up till 2 weeks before my interview (only because Turkey day was the week before and we went to his hometown instead). Once I was approved at teh interview my FI had to do teh remainder of giving deposits and meetings etc but we were able to get most of that stuff done prior to the interview. My interview was Dec 6th , my POE Dec 30th and the wedding Jan 8th....the main reason why my wedding was so close to my POE is because of timing with family and friends, my best friend was home for christmas for teh first time in 2 years from New Zealand so we had to get married before she went back as I wanted her there with me. I do NOT recommend getting married within a week of POE.....there was too much to do moving wise that left no time to try adn finalize wedding ####### etc.

Our wedding was sort of small as winter in Buffalo wasnt appealing to most family and it was an 8hr drive for both families (in opp. directions) so we had about 75ppl including a 12 person bridal party...we had our ceremony in a church and then a regular reception aferwards.

I didnt want to do a civil wedding with a reception later because I would feel like a) it was fake and no point to do it a second time and b) probably would never end up doing the reception and spent teh $ on something more practical.

Goodluck!

[^_^ 5,021]

This is not a poll.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Moving to K1 Forum as this is not a poll.

[Jason & Sheri 5]

Since the process is running so long I am worried about how to approach this and was wondering how most folks managed their wedding planning. For example which approach did you do or are you planning to do?:

• Plan a civil ceremony
  
• Plan a big wedding and reception
  
• Plan a civil service and then a wedding with reception later
  

I would love to hear your recommendations as our projected approval dates could put our earliest opportunity in prime wedding season.

Thanks!

We're planning a civil ceremony a month after I get there and then planning our reception for September. That gives us time to plan everything without rushing. For me it will be easier to be there to do the planning, etc, I didn't want to try to do everything from here. The only thing I did from here was book the hall, I wanted to make sure we got one of our two dates we picked.

[Ab44 3]

Well first off they say not to plan anything until you have visa in hand. That being said I went against that. I'm in the US and my fiance is in Venezuela. We talked about plans when he was here..I booked things in mid November (after he had left at the beginning of Nove), filed in November, for a planned wedding of end of October 2011, so gave ourselves 11 months for the entire K1 process. About 75-80 guests. As for his home we will just go there over new years and have a little party, nothing major. As for deposits, I made them knowing full well that a major glitch could happen with the K1 and I could lose them; it's a risk I was willing to take..I think many wedding vendors will not like the idea of making the deposits conditional..they may lose out therefore on another guaranteed client. For me, my fiance says he trusts my judgment so it's not a big deal he isn't here to plan, although it would be nice of course!..also the most important I'd say is talking about what you BOTH want, and setting a budget and STICKING to it. Good luck with the process!

oh ps- we may do justice of the peace before the ceremony in the church in front of guests, just depending on timing so that we can start the paperwork for him working rather than him just waiting at home for several months so that the October date falls in the required 90 days after arrival in the US.

[iampatricias 17]

Neither my fiance nor I wants a "big" wedding in the first place, and both sides of our family are going to have to travel considerable distances to attend, so we've "planned" a little church wedding within days of crossing with the K1.

We don't have an interview date yet (not even an NOA2, actually...grrr), but I have a dress and have started to make plans with a church across the border. I've enlisted several friends to help with flowers, music and the like, and I have an amazing matron of honour who just got married in the fall so she is a great resource for ideas, but we're not having a formal reception, so we won't have a DJ or dance, and are still deliberating about whether to cater a lunch in the church's hall or book a section at a restaurant for dessert in the evening... Either way, if 35 people attend, that'll be plenty for us.

My fiance's mom has talked about having a reception for his side of the family out west after the wedding but I think we'll avoid it unless it becomes a source of conflict.

[DiZZyLoX 114]

This is always a big question here. Like Ab44 we totally disregarded what they said and started planning. Our wedding is pushed out 10 months to allow time for visa and every single vendor knows and is aware that we may have to move the date. We haven't gone with any vendors that made issue with that. They key is keeping in contact with your vendors and letting them know your story.

To be honest, we haven't run into any issues once people understand what's going on. I've actually found that they are awe inspired by the story and happy to help in any way they can.

Also - i guess it's important to mention that your guests may have to travel, so they need to understand as well the costs of changing flights, etc. I am in Florida and his family will be traveling from England. That was an easy (and exciting) decision for them...after all it is beautiful sunny Florida *smug* but that has to be understood too. It's tough, not impossible

You'll be fine. Just make sure it's enough in advance to allow for hiccups and also dont get too attached to your date <3

Edited January 20, 2011 by DiZZyLoX

[TwoCats 55]

My brother and his fiance' are planning on getting married this year, and they probably will end up doing the whole huge church wedding with bride's maids and a gargantuan reception. My soon-to-be sister-in-law's family is huge. (She was one of my longest term friends before she started dating my brother.)

As for me, my family is actually pretty small. We don't have much contact with cousins/extended family and generally it's my parents who get invited to the extended family's events, not us. So it's likely that we'll just be doing a small courthouse wedding with just my family (mom, dad, brother and sister-in-law) along with my one cousin and her daughter and some of my friends. Maybe 10-12 people total. I'm not sure if any of his family will be able to attend, but it seems unlikely for now. We may go back and have a reception there afterwards.

After that, we'll probably just go back to my mom's for dinner and then head off to a hotel. We both agreed on honeymooning nearby (so we can get back and work on the process quick), and that we wanted to go to a water-park hotel.

Edited January 20, 2011 by TwoCats

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

K1's are far from a sure thing at the consulate in HCMC, so we didn't plan anything in advance. About a week after she arrived, we walked into the county clerk's office, filled out a marriage license, asked for a JP that could speak Vietnamese (they found one!), and had our bilingual civil ceremony in a small wedding room they provided. My mother and daughter were witnesses. Total time was about 45 minutes. We forgot to take pictures of the actual ceremony. Heck, we forgot to bring a camera. We snapped some cell phone pics outside after the ceremony.

FWIW, this is my third and wife's second marriage. The wedding was a mere formality for both of us. We pretty much considered ourselves married after the big day-long engagement ceremony and celebration in Vietnam.

[Aztec&Taino 144]

Since I do not when or whether my fiance will be able to get his K1 visa, we have not made any actual plans. However, I did ask one of my best friends if I could have the wedding in her backyard and she happily agreed. It will be a fairly small affair since I am not interested in inviting people out of obligation, but I am only interested in having the presence of my actual friends at my wedding. I also do not want to spend lots of money (the process and the traveling back and forth to see him has already been too much!) and mostly just want a few friends to be present, eat, drink, laugh, and DANCE lots!

[Channah&Aaron 51]

; First of all, it is soooo interesting to read how other people are trying to "plan" their wedding, even though the BIG day is like mooooonths away and still waiting for our dear NOA2.

I really like your post, something refreshing

OK, here is my story :

I am an October filer and hopefully Aaron and I will receive our NOA2 this March (keeping our fingers crossed)!!!

We got engaged last August 28th. And I really would like to get married on the same date, but a year later, this year

Because I don't want to feel the pressure to plan the wedding of my dreams, and actually plan this big wedding within the 90 days after arrival in the US with K1 Visa in hand, we decided to have 2 weddings!! There are also other reasons why we have two.

Aaron, his stepdad, his mom and I are going to Las Vegas for 5 days. The first two days, I am going to spend with his mom (girly stuff, like shopping for the wedding, hair do's, nails, etc etc etc). Aaron and his step dad will go gambling (hopefully he won't loose all of his money, lol).

Then we are going to get married in a wonderful fancy chapel, with photographers, official wedding speecher, releasing doves, cakes and all that. Just with the four of us.

Our second, BIG wedding will be on May 5th, 2012, 8 months later. We will get married in Orange, (south) Texas.

My fiance now lives in Pittsburgh, PA for 2 years because of his company.

Our big wedding is going to be huge with around 250 people, his family and my family (my mom, my oldest sister with her husband and their new born baby, my twinsister and her boyfriend and my grandma).

I'd like to have an orange wedding (orange flowers, and orange decorations, with lots of white, since orange is THE color of the Netherlands/Holland). First we will have a garden ceremony, then we all go eat and have some drinks, then it's time to partaaaaaayyy.... The day after we put everybody on the plane, cuz then it's time for our Newly Weds first days and our honeymoon.

The reasons why we have a small wedding first, just with him and his parents;

* my oldest sister got maried and they just bought their dream house and have their first new born son and their son is too young to travel such that long of a flight.

* my twinsister is in a project, so she can't leave for another 8 months

* Aaron's company is located in PA, so he had to move to PA

* Aaron's house was struck down by a hurricane, so we are planning to rebuild the house this summer. And we're moving back to Texas, but don't like to be stressed if we aren't done before everybody is coming in. And we don't want to fly back and forth just because of the wedding in his home town.

So, thats why we have a small wedding first in Las Vegas after I arrived and have OUR REAL WEDDING 8 months later.

=)) Is it August yet??????????????????

[baron555 934]

Married at the courthouse with only the judge and the three year old as witnesses.

Then many months later had a open house reception with only snacks and drinks served.

Rather than a big diamond ring she wanted a new big canoe.

We are both very practical and live our lives for ourselves and make no pretenses based on what others may think.