How to have a K1 wedding

[KP0515 7]

Hello everyone. 

 

My fiancé have applied for the K1 visa and I was just wondering what other K1 couples have done in terms of wedding planning and ceremonies. Obviously the most important thing is to start a new life with the person that you love, but I would still like to be able to celebrate that milestone like other couples. However, we can't have a wedding "ceremony" in the 90 day window because it does not give his relatives in India enough time to plan the trip and my parents, who have graciously offered to help pay for the wedding, do not want to put deposits down before we know for sure that he will be allowed to enter the States. So our plan is to have our pastor marry us within that 90 day window and then have a ceremony and reception later. I think it's kind of silly to have a ceremony once we are actually married but he wants his family to be able to share in that experience with us, which I understand.

 

I guess my question is -- how have other K1 couples chosen to celebrate their wedding (legally wed, exchanging of vows in the 90 day window)? Has anyone else had a ceremony after they were technically married? Did you enjoy it or did it feel silly?

Edited December 11, 2020 by KP0515

[yuna628 9,671]

We had an actual real wedding, ceremony and all within the 90 day timeframe.

How did we do it? A lot of pre-planning.

Would I ever recommend someone to do this? Absolutely not. K1 is never guaranteed and things can and do go wrong.

Would I do it again? We were both firm in our belief that we wanted one wedding with no do-overs but looking back we may have done it differently, and there were plenty of times under enough stress we threatened to just elope.

 

Basically we started planning the day we filed our first paperwork. That meant I purchased my dress over a year before I would wear it. We fleshed out how we wanted our wedding to go and got most of the decorations even before the paperwork was approved. We narrowed our choices down to a venue, photographer, officiant, hotels all of that stuff in the weeks before his interview - and then did a lot of communication with each of them, making it clear that we could only put down-payments when we were absolutely clear to proceed with approval. It requires the vendors to be understanding and willing to work with you, and of course not everyone will. Reservations, tickets all of that stuff were made on the day of his approval.

 

After approval, he remained in his country a few weeks to finish up some things and was in charge of bringing other items with him for the wedding.

 

We were both under tremendous pressure and stress this way, and it wasn't without hiccups either, when one venue was less than responsive and I thought I was going to have to scramble for a new one at the last minute. The dress shop also completely failed on numerous promises and there was a real crunch to get everything done. Planning a wedding on a good day and not under K1 circumstances is always difficult, and this turned it up 10x. Ultimately though we had our wedding, the way we wanted it. Most of his family could not fly in to attend, but some did.

 

Most people have their wedding at a courthouse or 'boutique' venue and then, if something larger with family is important, have the rest at a later date. You also have the alternative to plan the wedding out after approval, as you have some months from approval to enter with the visa.

[DaveAndAnastasia 2,092]

2 hours ago, KP0515 said:

I guess my question is -- how have other K1 couples chosen to celebrate their wedding (legally wed, exchanging of vows in the 90 day window)? Has anyone else had a ceremony after they were technically married? Did you enjoy it or did it feel silly?

We had a courthouse wedding three days after Anastasia got here (my parents also flew in that morning and stayed in town for a few a days), then had a ceremony a few months later.

 

Which on one hand was very pretty (Anastasia's stepmother made her a gorgeous dress which she brought with her from Russia, and my sister-in-law did a great job setting things up) and gave Anastasia a chance to meet a lot of my family, but on the other was kind of stressful for her and didn't really feel like a 'real' wedding to her (apparently normal-person Russian weddings are generally approximately a civil ceremony then dinner with immediate family at a nice restaurant, so we consider the civil ceremony date to be our real anniversary. In retrospect it might have been better to just visit my siblings and extended family individually.

[TBoneTX 45,260]

Mrs. T-B. & I were married by a Justice of the Peace, on Halloween.

Our "wedding party," hosted by family, was on Pearl Harbor Day.

[breadlover408 24]

When I submitted my K1, we only just wrote that we had planned to register our marriage and have a small gathering, but, due to Covid, we were not sure when we could invite such a huge crowd to attend a big party (and of course I do not want to break the rules).

 

Our plan was to register and get married at the registrar, then have a little gathering for his close friends and family first somewhere.

 

My fiance and I both wanted those huge weddings, but as you know the current situation, our families can't fly to either countries at the moment.

He also wanted to celebrate the main wedding in Malaysia where I am, because he wanted a very traditional Chinese wedding.

 

We'd have to just wait for that when the Covid thing dies down in the future. But for now, and safely, we would just do just that, and then wait. I don't think it's weird at all, it's just what we have to deal in the current situation.
Having said that, I'm not sure if my family, especially my mum would be allowed to travel. I of course would be saddened by that, but when the time comes, we will have the biggest celebration ever.

Edited December 15, 2020 by breadlover408

[YecaCruz 379]

We married at the courthouse 2 hours after he landed in the airport in February so we could file for the greencard right away. Had the greencard by April (which was miraculous!) Did what I called an "I do...again" ceremony later that year in September where I marched around in a dress, took nice pictures, and had the ceremony with family/friends. 

 

Didn't feel silly at all. Sharing such an exciting moment surrounded by people who mean a lot to you, even if it's a repeat, is nice! 

[Ed&Midori1031 330]

My wife and I married at the court house, and then waited about 6 months afterwards to have an reception.  That way it was less stressful for us.