Planning a Wedding while waiting?

[Dave&Roza 748]

I was thinking of posting something similar before. In my case, i need to do the planning here. We are hoping that she can be here by October and get married by November (NOA1 April 4) I dont even know if this is even feasable.

Of course, i cant book anything but i think we can have everything more less picked out with a couple alternate venues according to the size of expected wedding.

However knowing my family, they would want this huge wedding where everyone could come and i honestly dont think organizing a big wedding in this small time frame is possible.

Thoughts?

When the visa is approved you typically have 6 months to enter the US and then 3 months to get married. You can start the planning, but set the date once the visa is in hand. I would like to think you can plan a decent wedding in 8 months time especially if all the big decisions are made. You could even plan on 8 months for the process to get the visa and 3 months to get married once entering the US and then play with the arrival date during the visa's 6 month validity. So now you are planning a wedding for 1+ years out; that should be doable. The problem is most people want to come to the US immediately after receiving the visa. My wife took 3 months to get her life in order to make the move.

Good luck,

Dave

[Olivia&Brock 0]

My family would be mad if they didn't get to witness the wedding either, BUT, they understand that it's part of the whole visa process. So what we're doing is a courthouse wedding as soon as I arrive in the US - my parents and his dad will be there. And we're planning our "wedding" wedding for May 18, 2013. We'll still do a ceremony, and say vows and everything. In fact, my dad was just telling us last night that in Italy (where he's from), back in the day, you actually had to do a legal wedding before your church wedding anyway, because priests didn't have the legal right to pronounce you married... So we're basically considering our wedding to be much the same.

Though technically we will be legally married by May 18, we will celebrate that date as our anniversary, and that is the date that we consider ourselves to be married. The courthouse wedding is just part of the paperwork process

Oh, and also, with the May 18 date - everything that we've booked to date, we've had them put a clause in the contract saying that should our visa not be approved by that time, we can move the date forward without penalty.

Thank you for explaining all that <3 That actually sounds like a better idea.

[Pinkrlion 2,724]

We are planning a small wedding, although our mother's want to change that. We are talking to vendors, and explaining issue. Right now, except photographer, we are not being asked for a contract, since it is less than 20 people. We were going to do courthouse, but decided to do the same at my church, so everything will be there.

Edited July 16, 2012 by Pinkrlion

[KTandTommy 31]

No problem - good luck!

[baron555 934]

So my fiance and I wanted to start planning our wedding now because we wanted to have a nice wedding where everyone could go and that takes a hell of a lot of time. So I've been trying to plan it with my mom and we're starting to realize how difficult it is. It's just really hard to set a date when we don't know exactly when it will be approved or if it wont be or what. I was just curious if anyone had any advice on it because we really wanted to start planning the wedding now so we can just have it done by the time everything's approved. Thank you <3

Plan everything but don't set a date.....meaning plan all the steps but just don't implement anything.

You only need a week or less notice to have a wedding at the county courthouse.

[islandgal 74]

Vegas baby! Same day marriage license, same day wedding... Small get together for friends and family next year back home...

[Freighthouse 10]

We started planning the wedding last October and was (optimistically (foolishly)) planning the date in April of this year. Well if you look at my timeline that was laughable. Fortunately for us, we are having a private ceremony and although we have a contract, the ceremony is so small we were easily able to reschedule for July (again - laughable). I realized soon that this date was also not going to happen. It was probably just annoying for them, but they allowed us to reschedule a 2nd time for the end of August. That worked out to be just over 2 weeks after the interview at the consulate.

So yeah, we are still pushing it, but I think that by honestly communicating our challenges with the hotel, they were accommodating given the advance notice. Just don't BS yourself and try to think that everything is going to move perfectly smoothly like I did. I think that if you use the timeline averages you can realistically plan for something and be relatively safe (barring any crazy things happening that would hold up your application any more than anyone else's) I think that a 90 day window of guess-timation could work out. But that is the irresponsible guy in me talking.

[Trishy_N_J 23]

Here's what I think:

Plan your 'family and friends' wedding only once USCIS approves and only then. Have a smaller civil wedding when you arrive in the US.

Why?

1. You don't want the big wedding to be planned for exactly around the time where you arrive in the US because there might be delays.

2. If you plan too far ahead, your wedding might be past the 90 days (also not good).

3. Too much stress. You're better off focusing on the interview and the move. Once that's settled plan the big one. It needs your full attention.

4. You don't want to get married BEFORE you get the paperwork done with. If you're already married you're no longer asking for a K1 visa but for a K3 visa (I think, I'll let someone else confirm).

[X Factor 1,112]

We are plannig a medium wedding. Already got most of the guest list down. Wedding attire is being finalized and we have a flex schedule for a wedding day. That way I can manuevere things depending on my fiancee's arrival date. Probably get married after she is here for 2 months.

[DaisyD 12]

Another variation for you all:

We're planning an engagement party in UK for my friends and family this autumn to allow us to celebrate with those that can't travel and to give me something to plan and focus on!

Then we'll have the wedding sometime next year in America when the visa comes through. I'm hoping that we can shortlist venues etc in the mean time and then if I spend 6-8 weeks packing up my life once i get my visa before i move should give us 2-4 months in total to book the wedding once I've the visa in my hands. I've promised my parents to arrange it for when they can attend and other UK guests will have to fit in if they can, but at least we'll already have celebrated with them.

We've only just started out so nothing is definite yet but this was the best compromise we could come to so far.

[Lorenzoid 12]

. . .

You could always have a small wedding in front of a justice of the peace and then plan for a big celebration later. That's what a lot of couples do to save some stress.

We did it the other way around: While waiting for a K1 visa, we had the fancy affair in front of a real minister, with all of our families present, but stopped short of signing any documents like a marriage license, so it wasn't a legal marriage. Of course, this meant that I, the USC, had to travel to her country, but that wasn't a problem. Then we had a quickie legal ceremony a couple of days after she arrived in the US and got the AOS process started the next day.

[amykathleen2005 441]

I would not count on arriving in October. You aren't even estimated to receive NOA2 until the end of September. Then NVC and the embassy things. I think you will have a longer wait then October.

[habibi11 16]

So my fiance and I wanted to start planning our wedding now because we wanted to have a nice wedding where everyone could go and that takes a hell of a lot of time. So I've been trying to plan it with my mom and we're starting to realize how difficult it is. It's just really hard to set a date when we don't know exactly when it will be approved or if it wont be or what. I was just curious if anyone had any advice on it because we really wanted to start planning the wedding now so we can just have it done by the time everything's approved. Thank you <3

its hard u cant really set a date i just also received my Noa1 today JUly 16 2012 my attorney says it will take 5 months but reading everyones experiences looks a little longer what i have done is just start to look at places get pricing and ask them how far in advance do they need for booking seeing u only have 90 days to get married... what i have done i found a place got my price and now im just saving and i also buy little things at a time for the wedding... we will be having a small one 40 - 50 people seeing this is my 2nd and its not a big deal to him just as long as he can marry me... and also told my bridal party we wont look for dresses until we get an approval.... Good Luck.. hope your process goes smoothly

[Que Saudade 284]

Yeah the only problem I have with getting married at the court is that I KNOW my family is going to be mad lol. They all want to be there to see us get married and not just to celebrate. But I'll post some more of my timeline stuff too

You can always "reaffirm" your vows with all of the family in attendance. That way you have the best of both worlds. Get married within a quick timeframe, plan your celebration with friends and family and have a wonderful reception. Best of luck to you two. Hope it goes beautiful for you!

[Dave&Roza 748]

its hard u cant really set a date i just also received my Noa1 today JUly 16 2012 my attorney says it will take 5 months but reading everyones experiences looks a little longer what i have done is just start to look at places get pricing and ask them how far in advance do they need for booking seeing u only have 90 days to get married... what i have done i found a place got my price and now im just saving and i also buy little things at a time for the wedding... we will be having a small one 40 - 50 people seeing this is my 2nd and its not a big deal to him just as long as he can marry me... and also told my bridal party we wont look for dresses until we get an approval.... Good Luck.. hope your process goes smoothly

You have 90 days to get married once the beneficiary ARRIVES in the US--not after the visa is issued. You can buy yourself a few months by not rushing to the US as the K-1 visa is typically good for 6 months. So you have up to six months to enter the US and then 3 months to get married. That's 9 months. Why can't you plan a wedding in 8 months? This is after the visa is in hand so you are not relying on the USCIS for anything.

Dave