Save the Dates?

[Ontarkie 14,369]

~~Moved to Off Topic, from K1 P&P - The OP is asking about wedding planning after US Entry.~~

[rrobin0609 387]

I have a date in mind right now, and I think once he books his flights I'll try and send Save the Dates out. I'm just inviting family to the ceremony so they already know its gonna happen at a moment's notice. Luckily, all my family lives within a 10 hour drive and they'll have more than a few weeks notice to make plans to try and make it. If not, oh well! We're already planning on a live stream for his family to watch. It will probably also be watched by older sister who will be living in Spain, and my Italian sister and her parents. Probably in the Spring or Summer, we'll have a reception with friends and family. Still nothing huge, but enough to celebrate. There will definitely be save the dates for that.

 

My mom and I were talking the other day after dress shopping how I'll make the wedding template that will be used when/if my sisters get married. If either of them wanted to have a big huge wedding, well, they aren't getting it now 😂

[Sarah&Facundo 599]

We had a traditional wedding, but waited until the six month mark after receiving the visa to enter the US. It also probably helped that I was living with my fiance for a few months in his country and then we backpacked Europe together all during our six months. Anyway, it is definitely possible. And just tell people when you plan to have it approximately, as long as everything goes to plan, so they can know in advance. I wouldn't worry about the cards.

[Dashinka 24,707]

52 minutes ago, TNJ17 said:

Would you really wanna be away from your fiance for 6 months just to plan a wedding? I was on the next plane out when I got visa in hand. 

In reality no, but not everyone can pick up their lives at the drop of a hat to move halfway around the world. My now wife had a lot of details she had to take care of before she came over and put her family life on hold for 6-12 months.  I don’t believe everyone would do it that way, but in the grand scheme of things, if it is the right person, 6 months is really not that much time.

 

Back to the topic at hand, it sounds like the OP has a good handle on the planning and knows the most important piece, not putting any money down on anything until the visa is in hand.

[Dashinka 24,707]

50 minutes ago, sweethrtt said:

 

It is totally possible then. But like both of you have mentioned keep it "fluid" which is exactly my intention. I will forgo the Save the Dates and when we have our Canadian Engagement Party and Our American Engagement party we will mention the process and why we won't be sending them out!

 

Thank you for showing that is it possible to do things like those "non-visa" brides!!

One word of caution.  Be careful with engagement parties.  In reality they should not be an issue, but many K1 applicants have been tripped up by having elaborate engagement parties that looked very similar to a wedding ceremony.  Make sure you keep them simple and free of any indication of any form of ceremonial or religious wedding.  Just because a ceremony is not official does not mean that USCIS or the DoS won’t treat it as such.  This is not meant to scare you, just giving some free advice from all the stories that have come around.

 

Good Luck!

[TM92 527]

1 hour ago, sweethrtt said:

We are doing a courthouse wedding upon me entering the united states and after that planning our traditional/religious ceremony/reception.

1 hour ago, sweethrtt said:

I will forgo the Save the Dates and when we have our Canadian Engagement Party and Our American Engagement party we will mention the process and why we won't be sending them out!

Congrats on your engagement! I'm just curious if you entertained the idea of the CR-1 before submitting the I-129F. With the CR-1 you could have a courthouse wedding anywhere (US, Canada, or somewhere else). Check out thread below:

Below is an analysis by @missileman:

Quote

This is my analysis of a K-1 vs a CR-1:

K-1

• More expensive than CR-1
• Requires Adjustment of Status after marriage (expensive and requires a lot of paperwork)
• Spouse can not leave the US until she receives approved Advance Parole (approx 3-4 months)
• Spouse can not work until she receives EAD (approx 3-4 months)
• Some people have had problems with driver licenses, Social Security cards, leases, bank account during this period.
• Spouse will not receive Green Card for many months after Adjustment of Status is filed. 

CR-1

• Less expensive than K-1
• No AOS required.
• Spouse can immediately travel outside the US
• Spouse can start work if desired Spouse receives Social Security Card and Green Card withing 2 or 3 weeks after entering the US
• Spouse has legal permanent Resident status IMMEDIATELY upon entry to US.

All-in-all, the CR-1 is superior to the K-1 imo.

[sweethrtt 124]

2 hours ago, Bill & Katya said:

In reality no, but not everyone can pick up their lives at the drop of a hat to move halfway around the world. My now wife had a lot of details she had to take care of before she came over and put her family life on hold for 6-12 months.  I don’t believe everyone would do it that way, but in the grand scheme of things, if it is the right person, 6 months is really not that much time.

 

Back to the topic at hand, it sounds like the OP has a good handle on the planning and knows the most important piece, not putting any money down on anything until the visa is in hand.

Thank You!! I truly appreciate your kinds words! I love planning lol so its all a very exciting process for me... but I am doing so with the visa in mind lol

[sweethrtt 124]

1 hour ago, TM92 said:

Congrats on your engagement! I'm just curious if you entertained the idea of the CR-1 before submitting the I-129F. With the CR-1 you could have a courthouse wedding anywhere (US, Canada, or somewhere else). Check out thread below:

Below is an analysis by @missileman:

Thank You! I do appreciate your input however seeing as we are very traditional and we would like to have the wedding in the United States (he has a bigger family) it made more sense to do it this way. We would have to wait a year to plan the wedding then the entire CR-1 process. We have looked at both options extensively and the K1 route seemed to fit us perfectly. Albeit it is more expensive and it has some downsides, but we like this route as we can actually enjoy being engaged instead of rushing to do everything. Call me old fashioned but it works for us.

[sweethrtt 124]

15 hours ago, Bill & Katya said:

One word of caution.  Be careful with engagement parties.  In reality they should not be an issue, but many K1 applicants have been tripped up by having elaborate engagement parties that looked very similar to a wedding ceremony.  Make sure you keep them simple and free of any indication of any form of ceremonial or religious wedding.  Just because a ceremony is not official does not mean that USCIS or the DoS won’t treat it as such.  This is not meant to scare you, just giving some free advice from all the stories that have come around.

 

Good Luck!

The only elaborate engagement party is here in Canada which means I don't have to worry about crossing the border. The American engagement party is at his familys house which will be very low key. So this shouldn't be an issue. I did include an invitation to our engagement party in the K1 as it is solid evidence that this is a true relationship. 

[Paul & Mallory 1,398]

It's definitely possible. The process may not look like others who get married without immigration involved, but it's possible. So are Save the Dates, if you really want them.

 

My husband came on his K1 visa in May. We got legally married the same month. I was in Sweden at the time that he had his interview at the embassy and got his visa, so before I left we set a date in October for a traditional wedding so that his parents in Sweden could make the trip. Once I got home from Sweden, I was able to start planning the traditional wedding in October. We made our own Save the Dates to send out since we knew the date but were still finalizing details, and we are currently putting our official invites together now to send out by mid August. No, it didn't give us a year or so to plan a wedding. Maybe to some, that isn't enough time. But our wedding is going to be small and maybe that's why this worked for us.

[JunkTardis 183]

I'd personally rather avoid save the dates altogether as I think it's a terrible idea and a poor way to plan a wedding of this nature. For an every day wedding it would be excellent, convenient and would make life easier. For a K1 wedding though, I firmly believe that the dates need to be flexible and fluid, and you need to be able to change things at a moments notice which is why I'd rather to a basic and simple wedding ceremony, and then a larger get together and vow renewal further down the road where the plans can be more fixed and elaborate. 

[debbiedoo 2,339]

we'll get married when he gets here and will be sending save the date and then wedding invitations for our wedding.

 

because i dont care what the government says.... were not REALLY married till we have a wedding LOLOLOL

[AshMarty 360]

We planned a small semi traditional wedding. I did not love the wedding planning process but I appreciate those that do love it. (I feel like I make decisions and coordinate at work all day and that is the last thing I wanted to do when I was not working.. haha.)

 

We did not send out save the dates but all our international friends and family knew our plan and our situation so they could tentatively plan and then pull the trigger to start purchasing tickets/hotels once we had the visa approved.

 

However, I do not suggest putting deposits down on anything, if possible, but I did have advice from a friend who was planning a wedding while her fiancé was on a unpredictable deployment overseas.

*** She said: if you do put down a deposit put in a clause in the contract that you will not lose the money if the date falls through but you will be able to use the deposit towards a future date to be determined.*** Which her date fell through before her fiancés deployment was extended but she didn't loose any money on her wedding.

Edited August 10, 2018 by AshMarty