estimating time of K1 process to set wedding date

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

thanks for the replies, we want to get married at a beach house with a private beach. The place has to be reserved in advance because it is always booked as much as a year in advance. I wanted to try to make a gamble on it. There is a weekend open in August.

I also heard that the guayaquil, ecuador office has been known to ask about wedding dates, asked to see wedding invitations, etc... It is one of the most difficult consulates so i also thought it would be a good idea to have it planned with wedding invitations. but maybe have only a few of the invitations made and printed, even just print a few on my computer. then if there are more delays I won't be out much, just the cost of my own paper and ink. But if there is a longer wait time that would mean having to find a different place to be married.

anyway, I am overthinking everything as I have to keep waiting for so long. I just want this process to be over!!!

looking at the times it seems like

5 months to process i129f - that would be by the end of March

then NOA2 and by the time the guayaquil gets the info and processes ,, maybe May or June

Then interview in July?

Then to US in late July/early August?

if all goes smoothly, are those estimates about right? Since we have 90 days to get married I wonder if a September wedding would be better to plan?

In the K-1 process you do not always get what you want. Deal with it.

When she arrives, whenever that is, go to the courthouse and get married. THEN make your plans for the romantic beach house wedding. If they ask tell them you will get married at the courthouse when she arrives. There is no requirement to have a fancy wedding...only a legal one.

OR

Do what we did. Buy romantic lakefront property with a view of the mountains and get married 8 days after she arrives on your front lawn by the neighbor that happens to be a Justice of the Peace.

Making plans before the visa is in your hand, ESPECIALLY with a difficult consulate like Guayaquil is super-foolish

Edited March 10, 2013 by Gary and Alla

[bigdog 377]

The general forum recommendation is that you do NOT make any non-refundable, date-specific wedding plans until the beneficiary has their passport, with attached visa, in their personal possession. Other responses have voiced similar sentiment.

Do all the pre planning, don't do any deposits or hard cash. The system is to iffy now and before. Try and get organized to change your life, clean out a closet, fix the home and keep busy on Skype. This too will pass.

[seafoodman 0]

we havent planned anything yet,our petition went to vermont august 24th,its still being processed but we are expecting and hoping we will hear something this month ? i havent sold my house yet,i may have to rent it,we have looked at places to marry but havent booked anything,its safer to wait till the visa is issued we think ! its tough for the family because friends and family who want to come to the wedding work, and they are all wanting to know when to book time off work,i tell them we are in limbo and its safer not to book anything till the visa is issued ! as some here have advised you and i echo it, DONT book anything that you will lose money on if there is a setback ! a nice wedding is good but a good start to marriage is better !

[Andrea&Henry 311]

In 7 month I was absolutely done with my k1 but that was last year. This year is taking tooo long to get a noa2 not less than 6 or 7 month. Even when my process was pretty fast we could plan a wedding so my husband and I got married in a court and LATER with plenty of time, we prepared a beautiful wedding! I think is not worth it, to book and pay fir something if you are not sure you re gonna be able to make it!

[Azsara 110]

we havent planned anything yet,our petition went to vermont august 24th,its still being processed but we are expecting and hoping we will hear something this month ? i havent sold my house yet,i may have to rent it,we have looked at places to marry but havent booked anything,its safer to wait till the visa is issued we think ! its tough for the family because friends and family who want to come to the wedding work, and they are all wanting to know when to book time off work,i tell them we are in limbo and its safer not to book anything till the visa is issued ! as some here have advised you and i echo it, DONT book anything that you will lose money on if there is a setback ! a nice wedding is good but a good start to marriage is better !

yeah we are having the same issue with the bloody wedding date people want to know asap when to book it off and when to buy flights. Im so tempted by a court wedding but my mum would be devestated. With the ceremony etc. do you still have the vows and everything as u would of anyway?

[NY_BX 397]

In the K-1 process you do not always get what you want. Deal with it.

When she arrives, whenever that is, go to the courthouse and get married. THEN make your plans for the romantic beach house wedding. If they ask tell them you will get married at the courthouse when she arrives. There is no requirement to have a fancy wedding...only a legal one.

OR

Do what we did. Buy romantic lakefront property with a view of the mountains and get married 8 days after she arrives on your front lawn by the neighbor that happens to be a Justice of the Peace.

Making plans before the visa is in your hand, ESPECIALLY with a difficult consulate like Guayaquil is super-foolish

Sorry, this was too funny. I love how this panned out for you!

[agrabs 250]

yeah we are having the same issue with the bloody wedding date people want to know asap when to book it off and when to buy flights. Im so tempted by a court wedding but my mum would be devestated. With the ceremony etc. do you still have the vows and everything as u would of anyway?

You can have it how ever you want. When my fiance ( now hubby) had his visa in hand,and was on his way here, I called the county courthouse who put me in touch with a justice of the peace and we made arrangements to have a small ceremony in a park. We got married on a rock under the trees overlooking a beautiful stream. He asked me if I wanted to use my own vows, any music, etc and gave me lots of choices for the ceremony. It turned out to be the best day ever - with so little planning and no stress over it. WE have the best outdoor pictures. Most of all we had a blessed stress free wedding. you can have a "courthouse" wedding without it being in the courthouse.

[Love's JAA 100]

Some people initially have a simple civil service marriage to fulfill the visa requiriement and plan their religious wedding and reception later, so they have more time to do it properly.

[Wade&Carito 0]

ok, so it seems like last year it was taking 7 months total time. I was planning a wedding for 10 months.

So if the California Service Center is taking 2 months longer, but nothing has changed with the Guayaquil, Ecuador office, she should be coming here in 9 months. I am just curious what the most recent times have been.

I will take the advice and not put a deposit on anything. Also it is a good idea as someone suggested to do a simple courthouse wedding then the beach wedding later.

[Azsara 110]

You can have it how ever you want. When my fiance ( now hubby) had his visa in hand,and was on his way here, I called the county courthouse who put me in touch with a justice of the peace and we made arrangements to have a small ceremony in a park. We got married on a rock under the trees overlooking a beautiful stream. He asked me if I wanted to use my own vows, any music, etc and gave me lots of choices for the ceremony. It turned out to be the best day ever - with so little planning and no stress over it. WE have the best outdoor pictures. Most of all we had a blessed stress free wedding. you can have a "courthouse" wedding without it being in the courthouse.

Wow that sounds so beautiful! I would definitely not be adverse to the idea as I think the stress of planning it may well ruin the experience for me on the day, plus im a private kind of person and dont like the thought of there being hundreds of people there. What state did you get married in?

[Bayareaguy 156]

ok, so it seems like last year it was taking 7 months total time. I was planning a wedding for 10 months.

So if the California Service Center is taking 2 months longer, but nothing has changed with the Guayaquil, Ecuador office, she should be coming here in 9 months. I am just curious what the most recent times have been.

I will take the advice and not put a deposit on anything. Also it is a good idea as someone suggested to do a simple courthouse wedding then the beach wedding later.

If CSC doesnt change how they are processing, the time will continue to extend. Starting next week, a large chunk of people will begin entering 8 months for NOA2 (those unlucky post July 18 people). But it is unknown if or when it will change. Maybe this week, maybe not.

[agrabs 250]

Wow that sounds so beautiful! I would definitely not be adverse to the idea as I think the stress of planning it may well ruin the experience for me on the day, plus im a private kind of person and dont like the thought of there being hundreds of people there. What state did you get married in?

We live in Missouri but we got married in Wisconsin. It was beautiful and private and so stress-free. We had so much fun - we have great pictures of us in the stream and on a little bridge in the woods - There was nothing to go wrong or be disappointed about because I had planned so little.

Kind of a long story made short - I choose Wisconsin because my sister lived there and she could be there with us.

It was so easy to plan - i called the shawano county courthouse, they gave me a phone number to a judge, we agreed on a location ( i had made a trip up to see my sister a few months prior and found what I thought was the perfect park) and about a week before the wedding I called a florist in shawano and asked them to make me a wedding bouquet I told them i didn't care about the colors just make it pretty - and also ordered a cake from a bakery - with the same instructions.

Total wedding cost:

dress - 170.00

suite - 300.00

judge - 100.00

flowers - 15.00

cake - 20.00

champagne -30.00

I wasn't trying to go for a budget wedding - I honestly thought we would do this and then have the real ceremony that we would plan later - NOt going to do that anymore - nothing could be better than it was - the day was perfect - I would rather use the money we saved to go back to Romania and celebrate with his family

[Wade&Carito 0]

If CSC doesnt change how they are processing, the time will continue to extend. Starting next week, a large chunk of people will begin entering 8 months for NOA2 (those unlucky post July 18 people). But it is unknown if or when it will change. Maybe this week, maybe not.

What happened on July 18 that started causing the delays?

[agrabs 250]

We live in Missouri but we got married in Wisconsin. It was beautiful and private and so stress-free. We had so much fun - we have great pictures of us in the stream and on a little bridge in the woods - There was nothing to go wrong or be disappointed about because I had planned so little.

Kind of a long story made short - I choose Wisconsin because my sister lived there and she could be there with us.

It was so easy to plan - i called the shawano county courthouse, they gave me a phone number to a judge, we agreed on a location ( i had made a trip up to see my sister a few months prior and found what I thought was the perfect park) and about a week before the wedding I called a florist in shawano and asked them to make me a wedding bouquet I told them i didn't care about the colors just make it pretty - and also ordered a cake from a bakery - with the same instructions.

Total wedding cost:

dress - 170.00

suite - 300.00

judge - 100.00

flowers - 15.00

cake - 20.00

champagne -30.00

I wasn't trying to go for a budget wedding - I honestly thought we would do this and then have the real ceremony that we would plan later - NOt going to do that anymore - nothing could be better than it was - the day was perfect - I would rather use the money we saved to go back to Romania and celebrate with his family

sorry - it wouldn't let me edit - but i was going to add that we filed in NOV 2011 ( processing times were maybe a little faster then - not sure cos it felt like forever) but we didn't have any RFE's and got our NOa2 in APR and by the time our petition went thru NVC and we had the interview and he got here and we got married about one month later it was about 10 months total, and we really didn't have any delays - other than we took about a month to get married - which we needed... just to get settled in and get SS#, get him fitted for a suit...etc

[BaBamSam 239]

What happened on July 18 that started causing the delays?

Nothing happened on July 18th - that's just the date that they've been "processing" for 2 months now. Basically, applications that were received after July 18th are not be processed yet (there are a few that have come through, but not many at all)