K1 and wedding preparations

[Sunnyland 639]

Do NOT make ANY plans until you have the visa in hand.

Just because CSC approves fast, it does not mean that your whole process will be.

Unforseen things happen, you could have a long wait between NOA2, medical, interview.

You could be placed into AP, and some people have been in that for years after having an easy process and great approval.

Do not make ANY set plans until you have the visa in your hand.

The best thing to do, which is what 99% of us do, is have a simple court house wedding once you arrive.

Plan something bigger for later on when you have your Advance parole, or green card.

Anything else is just risking it too much.

Exactly how we did it. Something simple at the courthouse and a small gathering at a hotel restaurant after the legal ceremony. We will do something bigger and "fancy" later on. OP keep in mind that you will have to save money to continue the process of AOS, etc. All that is time consuming and money. Wait until visa in hand or get ready for possible headaches.

I know of some people that first did the courthouse wedding and a couple months later they did a more big and probably religious wedding when the k1 holder had their AP/EAD already.

[Bee2015 7]

I think that it is too optimistic to think that time between NOA1and NOA2 is going to be just one month , or end of April, as you said.

[ChicagoSarah 127]

Unfortunately, marrying someone from a different country comes with some trade-offs, and the wedding of one's dreams is usually top of that list.

My husband and I decided to have a smaller wedding with close family and friends. We put out invites that had *visa permitting typed on them. We then talked to vendors (fall is a bit less busy than summer to have open dates) and booked a date with the contract stating that we could change the date at no extra cost. We had our reception at an Irish pub and had the same date stipulation in our contract. We had a small rehearsal dinner that we catered from the grocery store (ordered a week in advance) and had our cake custom made at the grocery store (again, ordered 1-2 weeks out).

Since we had kept the invite list smaller, we told everyone as soon as his visa was approved and we knew we'd make our wedding date. They were able to book tickets about 2 months out and make it to the wedding (flights aren't really going to cost that much more 2 months out than 5 or 6).

You have to decide what is most important for you guys and your wedding. If it's a big, traditional wedding with all the bells and whistles, then you need to plan to marry legally and plan a wedding for next fall.

Talk to vendors. Some of the smaller ones are more flexible, especially in the off season. We managed to book a hotel ballroom and restaurant in downtown Chicago without issue since late October was a down time for them (post wedding, pre holiday party).

Good luck with whatever you choose! Flexibility is definitely key when working through any part of the immigration process!

[cdneh 3,112]

Well ...I wouldn't plan on anything you have to lay out big money to book. Our K1 was approved fairly promptly for the way things were going back then. But after we were sent from VSC to NVC we ended up in AP there for the best part of two months. Instead of getting to the USA for Christmas, I didn't arrive until early March.

You can't count on anything involving the Immigration process to go to plan.

[Dashinka 24,504]

I can say that my fiancé and I did not actually start any planning until the visa was in hand. We did have some discussions about venues and such before, but nothing concrete. You really cannot do any specific planning until you know the exact date. For us we set the date within a few days after the visa was received. We decided to have it at my brother's house locally so that meant getting a tent, and caterer set. There are many companies to choose from, so when the date is set, you should have no issues. We decided to have a small family affair although I have a big family, so it was more like 90 people. Katya did not plan to come immediately so it gave us the Summer to do all the little things such as invitations, flowers, cake, etc. once she arrived, we went for the dress almost immediately, and finalized the flowers. We helped my brother and sister-in-law ready the yard, and took care of all the final details. Since we got married here, it was difficult to include her family and Russian culture, but we set up a webcam, and set the time so her family could reasonably join, and we added a lot of Russian music to the ceremony and the reception. Fortunately for us, we had the most wonderful day for an outdoor wedding on September 27th, and the rest is history.

If I were you, keep doing what you are doing, but don't set concrete plans. This board is full of stories of delays that may end up costing you if you lay out any money.

Good Luck!

[Ms Hogan 295]

I haven't read ALL the responses. But I think that you would serve your situation best by NOT planning a specific date but by putting your efforts into finding a location that could accommodate you on short notice, a pastry chef that can create your cake with not a lot of notice, etc etc etc. I think that would give you a better scenario than trying to plan an actual date that you may not be able to make happen.

Start doing the research. Tell them each your situation and let them know you're looking for ways to pull things together in shorter notice than normal. I think many of them will be happy to work with you in this way. It will just take some patience from you to find the right people to work with.

Do a bunch of stuff yourself. If you know a theme or your colors and such then start prepping stuff now that can be put aside and ready for when you get the green light. You can buy your dress and work with your bridesmaids on their stuff. You can have wedding showers and send out cards to everyone letting them know you're getting married... you're just not sure of the date... but that you want everyone to guess on when you'll be done with immigration and whoever is the closest wins something at your wedding.

Have some fun with the mystery of it and don't obsess over having the perfect wedding. The wedding doesn't need to be perfect. Your process needs to go smoothly and perfectly so you can have the peace of mind that you'll be able to start your life with your love as soon as possible.

[TanguyAndJuliet 8]

Like everyone else has said, nothing is certain until the visa is in your hand, so don't make any concrete plans.

My wedding "dreams" have changed several times since I started gathering our documents in August. I was hoping for a Christmas wedding (lol), then a summer wedding. My fiance just got a job with a six month contract, which he really wanted and needed. Now I'm back to planning for a late fall wedding- we are most likely going to go to the court house and celebrate together before we tell anyone. Easy, inexpensive, and very romantic

Time will tell and you'll end up figuring out what will work best for you. Be flexible depending on what is going on in your life at the time! It's perfectly fine to have something small or private and have something "bigger" later- lots of people on here do that!

[KayDeeCee 4,893]

I haven't read ALL the responses. But I think that you would serve your situation best by NOT planning a specific date but by putting your efforts into finding a location that could accommodate you on short notice, a pastry chef that can create your cake with not a lot of notice, etc etc etc. I think that would give you a better scenario than trying to plan an actual date that you may not be able to make happen.

Start doing the research. Tell them each your situation and let them know you're looking for ways to pull things together in shorter notice than normal. I think many of them will be happy to work with you in this way. It will just take some patience from you to find the right people to work with.

Do a bunch of stuff yourself. If you know a theme or your colors and such then start prepping stuff now that can be put aside and ready for when you get the green light. You can buy your dress and work with your bridesmaids on their stuff. You can have wedding showers and send out cards to everyone letting them know you're getting married... you're just not sure of the date... but that you want everyone to guess on when you'll be done with immigration and whoever is the closest wins something at your wedding.

Have some fun with the mystery of it and don't obsess over having the perfect wedding. The wedding doesn't need to be perfect. Your process needs to go smoothly and perfectly so you can have the peace of mind that you'll be able to start your life with your love as soon as possible.

This is good advice and basically how we planned a wedding ceremony. We did not want to have a courthouse wedding because I had been married before and that is how I wed the first time. We both wanted an actual ceremony for our wedding day.

We chose a tentative date far enough out that we thought could work, but if not, we would push it back. We researched venues, photographers, officiants, invitations, etc. together via the internet, phone and webcam. I went out and looked at the venue that interested us most to get a feeling for the place and meet the people to see if they could work with us. As soon as we knew for sure our date would work, then we ordered the invitations we had already chosen, the flowers, secured an officiant and photographer and placed a deposit on the venue. Once he arrived in the US, I took him to see the venue in person, we bought our wedding attire, ordered the food, worked with the officiant on the ceremony, and tied up all the loose ends. Buying the decorations and setting things up ourselves worked out for us, and we were able to have the small intimate wedding ceremony we wanted.

[raven52 233]

There are thousands of combinations of things that can happen.

When we first started using this site, 3 tears ago, we were told by the moderators,

""GOLDEN RULE"".,.,.,.., never, ever plan, or pay for anything ""UNTIL you have a visa in hand!""

No exceptions.,.,.nothing!

Plans, back-up plans.,.,.,etc., fine, BUT they are, or should be just plans, and not paid for or "set in stone!"

[CowBoE 429]

Listen to everyone's advice on not locking down the wedding date during K1 visa processing.

Simplest is to do civil marriage ASAP after POE so that you can start the GC and Work Permit

processing ASAP, and then schedule wedding ceremony at a suitable date.

Otherwise, if you lock down the wedding date too early,

then your stress will double and triple during K1 processing.

[Cody and Daisy 373]

One couple I remember paid over 40 thousand already for their wedding. It was crazy.

They got so worried because it deffinately looked like they wouldn't be approved before their set date.

No clue what happened to them. I'll try and find the topic.

[Cody and Daisy 373]

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/498304-wedding-in-april-1st-noa-recieved-yesterday/

Im not sure if this is the exact one as this person was set to lose 30 thousand.

Read it.

In the end the noa2 arrived 38 days before she was due to fly out for the wedding.

Not enough time to complete the medical and interview and wait for delivery and not know how long she would be in AP.

It's just a kind warning.

Never plan anything until you have the visa.

I don't care what anyone says about re arranging plans, or postponing. At the end of the day you are losing money which will be needed once you move and risking your friends and family losing their money from traveling and it just spirals into a ball of hell.

I will always tell people on here, it does not matter how badly you want a big fancy wedding with all your friends and family.. You can still do that after a courthouse wedding.

Wait for the visa.