What kind of wedding are you having / did you have?

[amicablebride 25]

Our wedding planning started really a few weeks after filing the application. The first thing was really narrowing down what it was we wanted out of a wedding vs what everyone else expects you to do. The goal was to not give in to that and make it clear that our wedding was going to be our way or the highway. Bridal gear was all bought ahead of time. I used a lot of websites like WeddingWire to cross check reviews on venues and potential persons to use. Offbeat Bride contributed a great deal of confidence boosting to style ideas too. We used a local restaurant venue for our reception, and the adjacent park on a cliffside, overlooking the river for the ceremony site. No frills, no dancing, no music, a small guest list, and a tiny budget. Plenty of DIY. We worked with wonderful Etsy vendors for really specific décor. Color swatches were mailed to any guest in the wedding party ahead of time which was important because the wedding party all needed to fly in from out of state/out of country.

Every step of the way, I didn't make a decision without consulting my other half. Afterall, it was his wedding too. On the weekends I sent him out on wedding specific errands for me. I left him in charge of all the men's stuff as well as UK specific party favors. There were days both of us would be cranky and forget to approach planning the wedding without lightheartedness, and that of course was brought on by others trying to inject their opinions and control what we wanted. Our officiant was an absolute blessing to us, who understood the difficulty of planning everything while handling a visa process. She guided us every step of the way, and helped us write our ceremony. The venue and the bridal shop ended up being the two things that contributed the most stress of all. The venue was exceedingly unhelpful and caused me to go into full panic mode - thinking we would have to break our budget and change everything, until the last minute. The bridal shop lost and ruined(!!) several gowns, but I'd still give full credit to the alterations department that were a wonderful bunch of women who have all been through the immigration process one way or another. They understood the difficulty. The last thorn in my side was finding a photographer to work with that actually wanted to work with me (many just don't want you at short notice). I ended up finding an absolute dear that did a great job.

My sister worked with my husband to coordinate all the hotels and flights needed, and she also worked on the contracts for the vendors. So if you have someone who can handle many of these more difficult aspects to give the bride a rest, it's good to rely on them. The day of the wedding, it's also good to have someone by your side that has your back and best interests at heart, just in case there is any last minute input or nagging.

By the time my husband arrived here, the weeks leading up to the wedding were much easier. He helped put the kibosh on the meddling voices, clarified decisions, and helped put a lot of the DIY together. He also helped me approach things from a silly ''who gives a flyin' leap it's *our* wedding'' perspective. Of course the day of the wedding, the rain threatened to ruin the outdoor venue, but it thankfully held off until an hour later. Our best man came down with some sickness the whole week he visited, so that by that morning most of the wedding party also had it, and this bride had to walk down the aisle with the worst flu ever.

Despite those hiccups it all went according to plan. The bottom line, don't let someone else dictate your wedding. It's *your* wedding and not theirs, no matter whom they are or what they say. At the end of the day, what matters is the moment you spend with your husband (no matter how it's done or where it is).

My only regret was not wearing combat boots.

That sounds lovely and you're absolutely right! My wedding did get blown up to a size we never wanted it to be, and it's been very taxing on our relationship. I've become a bit of a bridezilla lol. I feel ridden with guilt that my family is traveling all this way to be at our wedding (rather than having us just have two small ones like originally planned). They want to come so that I don't feel alone <3. The stress is overwhelming though. Just in case another k1 couple is attempting to plan a big wedding within 2.5 months... here are just a few of the things I've been dealing with lol:

• finding transportation and hotels for 8 family members (very, very expensive... makes me sick thinking about it)
• learning my way around a new place
• spending endless hours calling around / google searching for the cheapest / best value vendors, photographers, hair stylists, etc.
• figuring out who to put in the bridal party and how to coordinate their outfits
• renovating our condo few nights a week (we live with my fiance's parents right now)
• stressing over the budget as I cannot contribute much now... been out of work since July 2015
• hearing fiance's parents explain to guests they invited why our invitations went out only a month before the RSVP is required
• not getting to enjoy the engagement! We went from being boyfriend/girlfriend right into full force wedding planning mode.

And that's just to name a few. I really wouldn't recommend it, unless you are financially well-off and have people physically there to help you and be excited with you.

His family is very worried about feeling "embarrassed" so they've spent a ton of money on catering at a nice venue (and proceeded to invite everyone they knew). So that puts a ton of pressure on us to decorate and dress our best. We would have preferred inviting only the people who know us as a couple to a small dinner after our elopement, but all we heard was, "you can't do that!!! you need a proper wedding!!! people are gonna think we're broke or don't care about you" lol.

But nonetheless, the end goal in all of this is to get married and once that's done, I'm hoping we can return to our normal and happy relationship

[Caryh 5,206]

We had a wedding and reception. She had a wedding dress made and brought it from the Philippines. She also brought me a barong (traditional formal wear for men in her country). There is a wedding chapel in the Mall of America that does weddings on fairly short notice. It is pretty much a full blown wedding, although the venue can hold only about 60 people max. I think we had between 40 to 50. Then we had a reception at a night club not far from our home. The nice thing about this is we had a band without having to book one separately. We also had a separate room and a buffet style dinner. So basically we had a full wedding and reception organized very quickly. We were married about 5 weeks after her arrival, so getting it all set up took some real work.

[MeredythB 38]

We got married in my parents' living room, with them, a family friend as the officiant, and his wife as the witness. That's it. We didn't tell anyone, didn't have any kind of reception, just eloped. We'd gotten engaged nearly a year before, and I'd moved to Ireland 2 months previously to start graduate school, but we found out that we were expecting (another big surprise-I didn't think I could have children naturally) so instead of going on holiday to Germany and Denmark, we flew to the US to get married. We didn't start our visa application for nearly a year and a half after that.

[russandraquel 86]

My mom is daydreaming about it...

I have no idea. I just want her here!

Raquel gets to decide the wedding stuff. Fortunately, she is more frugal than me!

We got married in my parents' living room, with them, a family friend as the officiant, and his wife as the witness. That's it. We didn't tell anyone, didn't have any kind of reception, just eloped. We'd gotten engaged nearly a year before, and I'd moved to Ireland 2 months previously to start graduate school, but we found out that we were expecting (another big surprise-I didn't think I could have children naturally) so instead of going on holiday to Germany and Denmark, we flew to the US to get married. We didn't start our visa application for nearly a year and a half after that.

I think that is so sweet!

[blondedoc 35]

Mine? Hahaha I think it was the fastest planned wedding ever!

We decided to marry in Bahamas in March 2015 and in May we were married already! He was in US and me in Brazil.

I planned and scheduled EVERYTHING by Internet... Husband/fiancée just scheduled the flight after I scheduled everything. In laws gave as a gift the hotel stay.

Met for the first time in-laws at the airport! They live in Germany! (And with a huge story of almost deportation from Bahamas... I almost didn't got married because they didnt wanted to allow me to enter in Bahamas... :\).

Marriage after 3 days on the beach, just me, hubby, kids and in-laws. Some flowers, wedding planner, my dress from the Internet, a bottle of champaingne, my personal cam, the amazing light blue ocean and white sand from Bahamas and after a great dinner in an Italian restaurant!

My mom couldn't go...

At least I discovered that I have the best in laws ever! I love them soooo much and my mother in law is more like a bff than an in-law!!!

I can't wait to make our religious and party wedding!!! Even that I see that is stressful!

[Roy&Chanel 109]

We only did a court wedding due to finances. We didn't want to spend much because of the rentals and bills. But I'm hoping after getting a job, we can save up some amount of money and go for our honeymoon and take wedding photography pictures next year. It will be a good time for me to lose some fats. I bought my dress online, it was a HUGE disaster, dress does not fit at all, too tight on waist, too loose on the chest!

[N-o-l-a 7,167]

We were skyclad out in a rainy field and we had a beautiful wedding ritual in front of our friends.

Just kidding... we had a courthouse wedding in Denmark. It was short and uneventful.

[MandEJ 46]

We're hoping for an October wedding quite soon after I arrive.

The plan so far is to get up early and have a pre-wedding breakfast with family and close friends, head to city hall, get married, take some nice pictures around New York (and make it *super* touristy and just have fun with it). And we'll rent a rooftop somewhere in Long Island City probably and have a fun party with friends at night.

I've never really been into weddings, so a casual set up is a lot more me, and my fiancé doesn't really care that much. Neither of us is religious, either, so we don't have that aspect to consider either. We just want to get married and start building our life together

I've already bought my outfit (it's a two-piece, grey and pink, which I'll actually get to wear again, which is nice) the other week, and now it's slowly starting to feel real: we're getting married (before the end of the year, all things go well!)