K1 Wedding Planning -what is/was your plan?

[ryna 132]

We're having a civil marriage ceremony at the courthouse this Friday with just a few (local) family members and friends present. After all is settled with the AOS, probably in the late summer/early fall, we plan on returning to Colombia for the Church wedding and reception (to which my friends from the US will be invited also) so that her family can be there.

On top of the difficulty preparing for a Church wedding/reception here in the States in under 90 days (I don't even think it is possible), the odds of getting her quite sizeable immediate family here on tourist visas was practically nil so this was really the only way to go that would eventually involve all those who are important to us.

This route just made the most sense in our case.

[Messybrownhair 251]

We took a gamble and planned everything even before the interview and medical. I booked the church and reception 10months after filing coz I felt it would be enough time. We filed July and booked the places for April and it was a pretty good decision on our part because somehow it all worked out. We are having 100 guests and it will be in chilly Vermont. Do what you want, plan your dream wedding! And if you have to do civil first, no worries, you can always have your big wedding later on, but personally I wanted it just once and the way I want it A civil one wouldn't work for me or my family.

Goodluck and wishing you the best!!!

[matt y andrea 0]

Will go down to city hall and sign the legal paperwork as soon as FI arrives in US. Planning the wedding (ie religious ceremony and reception) for June 2012.

I like the way you think, our plans are similar. Get to city hall, do the paperwork, enjoy our time together finally, and then plan a real wedding in the future, with minimal stress. I think that's the best way to do it, I sure don't want to be planning a wedding while we are up to our necks in stress from this whole process!

[*Yankee Love* 15]

We had 2 Dates when we were booking venues and vendors,so we wud always have an option to push it back when we needed to. Which recently happened so now we just pushed everything back within almost 9 months after Filing the K1. We wanted just one big wedding, not the 3 minute City Hall ceremony.

[Al422 221]

By the time the Vermont Disservice Center issues my NOA2, we can have it on board the Starship Enterprise and have the ceremony officiated by Captain Picard.

[Al422 221]

Sorry about that last comment. Somebody just pissed me off in another thread with an arrogant remark directed at me.

Seriously, I am not religious, so whatever Elena wants is fine. I don't care, as long as it is iegal.

[JiaYou 22]

Doing the paperwork first at the courthouse the week she gets here because I know she doesnt want to be sitting around the apartment unable to look for a job any longer than she has to. I only told my parents and sister about this so that the rest of the family will be more apt to come to the wedding.

Were thinking of a small outdoor wedding either at Central Park or Astoria Park in NYC. Maybe 15 people. The tricky part is finding a place for people to stay. Putting people up in a hotel in New York won't be too cheap. After that a nice dinner and that will be the end of it. Who knows though, there is a whole lot of time before she even gets here so things may change completely.

[frankielove 5]

Thanks everyone for sharing your stories! It is really interesting to hear other people's perspectives. Quite a few of you planned to do a civil service. There are definite advantages to getting the official part over so we can file, but we would rather do the actual wedding with family and all first.

Someone told me that better deals might be negotiated when you book on short notice. I hope they are right. People are always so shocked when they hear how complicated the process is and how hard it is to plan a wedding. I hope to start putting more definite plans in place after we get our NOA2. Seems like the NVC/interview part of the process takes a lot less time. Like a lot of you mentioned, I miss my guy too. We've seen each other less since we've been engaged and want the waiting to be over already. I'm tired of getting asked if I am married already yet when I can't even pick a date.

@minkthecat - you are just a few days ahead of me so I will be watching your progress for inspiration

T

[Christine + Blake 18]

We decided to go ahead and make wedding plans. We filed at the end of November 2010 and got our NOA1 on December 2 2010, and have put a deposit down on our venue for November 11, 2011, giving us 11 months for the visa process. We already changed our date once (from September to November) with no problem from our venue, but thats possibly because it was so far off. I am EXTREMELY stressed about not being approved in time so I probably wouldn't recommend this method to others

[val_mc 1]

We are having a wedding celebration/party in my hometown March 5 (within his 90 days).

Went to a small, local bar that I used to frequent downtown and asked him to keep the event room open for that date.

Mom and Aunt sent invitations to my close friends and family. If so much time has passed that I didn't know how to reach them, they didn't make the list.

My friend was ordained online and ordered her credentials. Party starts at 6 p.m., she will marry us around 6:30, then buffet, drinks and dancing! The only thing that was important to me was open bar and good music. Mom's friend from work will DJ.

We are cutting it a bit close to the 90 day mark, but it is within 90 days. So it is. We sent invites to some of his friends and family, but because of distance, cost and VISA restrictions, they will more than likely not make it...

[rallybug 17]

We're aiming for a September wedding (anniversary of getting engaged), civil service at Gin's mum's house, followed by an evening reception at the local ward house which has a covered patio area with benches and tables, children's play area etc (I'm not Mormon, and Gin isn't any more, so no Mormon church wedding for us, thank goodness ).

I think that Gin is up to around 200 people from her side coming in and out of the evening do (big families ), but mine will be probably 10 or so - long distance and two flights from the UK to Utah, plus with me hitting 40 this year means my aunts and uncles are pretty much all in their mid to late 70s, so don't want to travel that far. Once I have my LPR, we'll be going back to the UK for a reception for all the UK people to come to. I could do it on the AP, but all Gin's vacation time for 2011 will have been used up anyway.

Road trip honeymoon

Edited January 26, 2011 by rallybug

[Messybrownhair 251]

I wrote a whole blog post about k1 wedding planning right here

[Richie Rich 70]

I am not planning anything until my fiancee physically has the VISA in her hands . I have read where many couple have had to push back dates and cancelled wedding arrangements because of long processing times .I have 90 days to plan and get married afterwards. I have a tentative date but no concrete plans .

[rallybug 17]

I am not planning anything until my fiancee physically has the VISA in her hands . I have read where many couple have had to push back dates and cancelled wedding arrangements because of long processing times .I have 90 days to plan and get married afterwards. I have a tentative date but no concrete plans .

More than that - from the date of issuing the visa, the overseas person has 6 months to enter the US using it, and then 90 days from entering to get married - so, in effect, from the day the consulate issues the visa, you have 9 months to get married, assuming you don't get on the plane for 6 months, as I read it

[Utha 10]

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!

I found ur post late, so it is not exciting to give the feedback when i see i will be on 4th page.

I wrote a whole blog post about k1 wedding planning right here

I opened both ur web and blog. Nice. True love story in early age. I found mine in my 30.