Big Ceremony after Civil Ceremony

[laurenbahia 0]

Hi. I am new to this forum and have been doing a lot of research about bringing my fiancee to the USA with me. We both currently live in Japan, and I am from the US and he is from the UK. We are planning to send off our application for the K-1 visa this week and we have been talking a lot about weddings. I really want to have a big proper wedding, but there will not be enough time to plan a wedding within 3 months of getting to the US, especially since we both live in Japan.

So, I am curious. How many of you plan to, or have had, a big ceremony after your civil ceremony? Did it seem strange to get technically married and then have a big wedding? Were you pleased to take the time to plan a real wedding? Did you do a ceremony with a wedding dress and walking down the aisle and everything, or just a reception type thing?

[bowhunter 0]

Hi. I am new to this forum and have been doing a lot of research about bringing my fiancee to the USA with me. We both currently live in Japan, and I am from the US and he is from the UK. We are planning to send off our application for the K-1 visa this week and we have been talking a lot about weddings. I really want to have a big proper wedding, but there will not be enough time to plan a wedding within 3 months of getting to the US, especially since we both live in Japan.

So, I am curious. How many of you plan to, or have had, a big ceremony after your civil ceremony? Did it seem strange to get technically married and then have a big wedding? Were you pleased to take the time to plan a real wedding? Did you do a ceremony with a wedding dress and walking down the aisle and everything, or just a reception type thing?

We are planning on a civil ceremony when Evelyn arrives in the states. That will give us time to prepare for a formal church wedding in the Philippines. I don't think it will seem strange because they will be such completely different events. As for will we feel like we are getting married twice? Hmmm . . . actually, we already feel we are married, and have both said that when we are finally legally married, it will not change anything.

[oakwell 0]

I think the most important thing is to get married within the allowed 90 days of the visa. If you plan on a big wedding then civil is probably the best way to go. There will be a lot of stress leading up to and after the interview process at the US consulate. The last thing you want is the stress of planning a big wedding. After you are married legally, then you can relax and plan the big event down to the last detail. That's what me and my Mira plan to do.

[sunandmoon 450]

Hi. I am new to this forum and have been doing a lot of research about bringing my fiancee to the USA with me. We both currently live in Japan, and I am from the US and he is from the UK. We are planning to send off our application for the K-1 visa this week and we have been talking a lot about weddings. I really want to have a big proper wedding, but there will not be enough time to plan a wedding within 3 months of getting to the US, especially since we both live in Japan.

So, I am curious. How many of you plan to, or have had, a big ceremony after your civil ceremony? Did it seem strange to get technically married and then have a big wedding? Were you pleased to take the time to plan a real wedding? Did you do a ceremony with a wedding dress and walking down the aisle and everything, or just a reception type thing?

We are planning on a civil ceremony when Evelyn arrives in the states. That will give us time to prepare for a formal church wedding in the Philippines. I don't think it will seem strange because they will be such completely different events. As for will we feel like we are getting married twice? Hmmm . . . actually, we already feel we are married, and have both said that when we are finally legally married, it will not change anything.

My fiance and I will have a civil ceromony here and are also considering having a formal church wedding in the Philippines after a couple of years.

[tachy 0]

we are doing the same thing:

my fiance has a friend who has a license to marry people so we will just get married by him real quick. then we will have the big wedding a little later. we will exchange rings and do the vows and all this ceremony-stuff right before we start the reception at the same location, because we don't care much about church.

the important thing is to just get officially married asap, you can have the wedding a couple of months later or even much later if you want.

cheers

[babybunny 2]

we are planning a big wedding once Javed arrives..

[zyggy 9]

We had the Civil Ceremony and had a big wedding 10 months later... it made no difference at all...

[MHandMB 0]

We were civilly married by a notary here in SC shortly after Amed got here. We're having our big wedding in about 3 1/2 weeks. Only my immediate family (and USCIS) knows we're already legally married, and we don't present ourselves as married yet. We're having the wedding, ceremony and all, in front of family and friends, because we didn't have time to plan it within the 3 month time period given by USCIS, and wedding venues in my town book up months and months in advance.

We're going on our honeymoon the day after the wedding, and I'm so excited! This is the way we see it: why shouldn't we have the wedding of our dreams because we're having to deal with immigration timelines? Neither one of us has been married before, we've had a long distance relationship for five years, and we're finally able to be together and want to celebrate our union in front of family and friends just like other normal couples.

Whatever you decide, I hope you have a wonderful wedding!

[sophyie 0]

We had a small yet wonderful wedding in Denmark, just us and our best friends.

My husband's family is the bigger one and that is why we'll have our big party next September in the US- and I'm already organizing!

We have talked about the "ceremony or reception"- question and have decided to do something in between.

Everybody is (or will be once the invites will be send out) aware of the fact that our legal wedding has happened already, so all we'll do is say our own vows. That's something I've always wanted to do and think it might be nice to do so after having been married for just a little over a year, especially with this year being a very busy one...

The one thing I'm thinking about but can't decide on: what should I wear? The more I think about it the less I want to wear a "real" wedding gown because it won't be our wedding.

On our wedding I was wearing a simple white linen summer dress, maybe I should just wear that again.

Any thoughts on that, anybody?

[CarolineM 0]

We had a small ceremony at the registry in Melbourne Australia with 30 of his fam and friends...and one of my friends, LOL. My fam couldn't afford the trip.

Then, in August, his fam made it here, and we had a 50 person dinner reception! my whole fam and friends were there and it was GREAT!

It worked out perfectly. My only regret was my dress at my wedding. I hated it. It was a proper wedding dress, just an informal, not a huge frou frou dress...

[TracyLuis 0]

My husband and I had a beautiful formal wedding in Lima, Peru 3 months after our civil ceremony in Texas. It was like a fairy tale, and for me, a dream come true.

We are actually planning another wedding here in the states once he returns so that all my family and friends can attend. I can't wait!

(I'd marry him a thousand times over )

[trey 0]

We've been planning our wedding for a year now. My fiancee arrives Sunday and in less than 3 weeks, we will have our church wedding. Nothing extravegant. A small simple but nice wedding. Then we plan to make a trip to Philippines in a year or so and have a biggie there.

[no name 1]

Doing a legal one (immediate family only, 4 people, no wedding dress), a week after he arrives.

Big fancy fun wedding in February with friends & family!

Not ideal, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

[Inlove_tx 0]

When we got married the first time we had a VERY small, civil ceremony in the US, we were barely 10 people in total, but it was very nice and romantic nonetheless.

Then we got married again this past summer and we had a BIG church wedding in Italy, with all of our family and friends...it was beautiful, just like I had always imagined in my dreams.

We still consider the first wedding as the "real" one, but the second one is just as important to us, since we re-confirmed our love and renewed our vows in a church and in front of all the people we love.

...But now we have two dates and two different anniversaries to celebrate, lol!