Started dating in Dec 2010. I flew to Macedonia in March 2011 and we married on April 2, 2011. Started the Immigration process by filing the I-130 on May 5.
You dont have to pay for NOA its just a receipt to prove that they have your I 130 on file and they tell you that California Service Center will process it to NVC.. NVC is the stage where you will be paying money but you have a while for that yet.