speedy weddings

[sereia 0]

I hate the idea that my fiance and I have to get married within 90 days of his arrival. Ever since I was a little girl I have always dreamt of my wedding day. There is no possible way I could plan a wedding in 90 days AND help him adjust to being in a new culture all at the same time!

Do a lot of you have this problem? Do you have a quick civil ceremony just to be legal and THEN plan your future wedding? I think this sounds like a good option but I wish it could really all be done in the same day.

[Autumnchik 6]

I hear ya! We have been debating this too. We actually have a church wedding planned for the end of April. Hopefully, though, my fiance will get the visa Jan. 30 and then directly enter the U.S. We have decided for our peace of mind, we will have a civil ceremony right away and then the planned wedding later. That way, we can focus more on wedding plans and not have to worry about the timeframe ( for us, end of April would be SOOOOO close to the end of the 90 days). I think a lot of people who are dealing with immigration do end up having a civil ceremony first and then a more planned out ceremony later.

[RosaMystica7 0]

Yeah, I know what you mean. We've decided to have a quick courthouse ceremony with only my parents and my friend who volunteered as our co-sponsor, and a BBQ in my parents backyard. We'll have the big whoop-de-doo Church wedding later on.

Edited January 13, 2007 by Angilla

[Mags 112]

Well, I have never dreamed of a big fancy wedding (ick!), so my courthouse wedding was perfect for me.

[patiently_waiting 0]

From reading various posts, it appears that a lot of people have a civil ceremony shortly after the SO's arrival and then a big wedding later. We have run into that issue too. At this point I think we talked about hvaing a civial ceremony so that we can begin the next step and have our big ceremony with family and friends later on. It is way too crazy to plan such an event in 90 days and not too much you can do ahead of time since we don't know when we will get our approval,

[MairzyDoats 0]

I also never dreamed of a big wedding and being very introverted, I shrink at the idea of all eyes on me as I walk down the aisle. Meep! I would be happy with a civil wedding to fulfill legal requirements if needed before my church wedding. I will marry in the church because I'm Catholic, but it will be a very small ceremony and reception. I am still trying to figure out where to have the reception since I expect less than 25 guests and really don't have the means to rent out a hall/music/caterer...

[Fandango 1,439]

Your fiance will have 6 mos to use the visa once granted, and you also have the 3 mos when he gets here..so can you not estimate a date give or take 9 mos?

ETA: I see your future husband is Morroccan, so I dunno but some have been delayed due to security checks....you might want to talk to one of the ME/NA ladies on their k-1 experiences.

Edited January 13, 2007 by LisaD

[E&K 0]

We are in the same situation, the difference is that in our case it's him the one who wants the big wedding :b

He also wanted to have both ceremonies (civil and religious) at the same time US-style (in Mexico the priest can't legalize a marriage), but since we're having a mid-size celebration and people are traveling from different places we couldn't do this right away. And we really need to do this because my sister is getting married in early August this year, and I want to be able to come to her wedding (meaning I'll need to have AP our AOS done by then). Given my past experience with USCIS (I'm one of the IMBRA affected petitions!!) I want to give as much time as possible to get either one of them before the end of July and the best thing to do is to have the civil ceremony as soon as possible and the big party and the religious ceremony later.

His main concern with this was that the ceremony might change since the priest would only be doing a religious ceremony, but so far we've heard that this is not the case and we can still have the typical catholic wedding ceremony

[SoL. 0]

The plan so far for us is the civil ceremony and then on going to a restaurant with some close friends to celebrate. Our families are not here (mine @ PR and his @ NL) so there was not even a thought for a big wedding.

I personally prefer an intimate moment with our closest ones instead of the big thing. Plus after this process, with what money? LOL

Maybe you can do the civil on your deadline and then plan for the "big" wedding later with him here.

Edited January 13, 2007 by Sol-de-Verano

[Caladan 19]

Our plans are to get married in July or August if he gets his visa in February. Not a ton of time to plan a church wedding, but we'll squinch it in.

This is assuming the Second Most Annoying Bureaucracy in My Life (aka the Catholic Church), doesn't have too much of a hissy fit over not giving them a year.

[Mr and Mrs Bird 0]

We are dreaming so much about a big wedding with our famely.

This is not possible.

Instead of a big wedding we will take a very good honeymoon which we dreamed about also.

Nobody can take this from us and we still can't wait for this

[Cassie 8]

I entered the US 4 days after my visa was issued, and we were married 6 days later in a small, yet fancy/traditional religious ceremony in a beautiful, beautiful mansion.

The keys to our success? Planning and deciding on everything long ahead of time and having everything prepared to go when we found out some solid dates (this helped distract us while waiting during the visa process), having two extremely organized families that pitched in and helped out lots, and vendors (location and photographer) that were willing to work with us and our situation.

The prevailing myth out there is that you need a year or more to plan the perfect wedding. It's just a myth! You can do this in less time than you think, IMHO.

[ajames79 0]

My fiance is coming on the K-1 and we are able to plan the wedding that I've always wanted. We just worked it out so that it was within the 6 months that he has to enter and with in the 90 days we have to marry! So far things are working out to a T.

I would have done the court house wedding if it had been a must...with no issues. But I am please that it is going the way of a wedding.

I get to see friends and family I haven't seen in ages.

[Thingee 0]

We're getting married in my back yard. Planning on 30-40 guests which will easily fit in that space. We both wanted an outdoor wedding, both wanted small, so our plans weren't disrupted much.

[TracyTN 237]

Your fiance will have 6 mos to use the visa once granted, and you also have the 3 mos when he gets here..so can you not estimate a date give or take 9 mos?

My only dream was to find the right person for me. I did that now, so the rest is just gravy.