QUOTE(Chuckles @ May 19 2008, 07:52 PM)

I cannot believe your Russian fiance is letting you plan a wedding without the visa !! Don't you know you are gonna jinx it ?!! Seriously though, October may be a bit soon, my advice is to not plan the wedding until she arrives. I know, that doesn't give you much time to do anything "good", but thats the nature of the beast.
There are a few things you can read in the Russia Forum guide at the top of the board here that are not covered by the general VJ guides. You will want to work on getting your police certificate as soon as possible. It may not be that hard, but then again, it might be hard. It seems about 50/50 here. Personally, getting my wife's certificate wasn't that hard. There is a website to look at once you get NVC where your interview date will be listed. There is more Russian specific stuff, just read it.
The best guide for list of documents can be found on the Moscow embassy website, if memory serves me correctly. I followed the guides here pretty exactly, as well as reading the embassy site to be was sure I covered everything they wanted there. Maybe someone who has done it more recently could add to that.
Begin collecting everything now. Start filling it out now. I would wait untill you have an interview scheduled before you actually date things.
The whole process is easier then it seems, however, at this juncture you will be busy. Just make sure you 'dot your i's' and 'cross your t's', and don't procrastinate.
Thanks for the advice. I will definitely start getting all the paperwork now together and filled out. Other than picking out a date and making a few easily reversible decisions we have planned nothing for the wedding.
My other question is that we are going to attempt to get visas for her family members to come to the wedding. All of them have good jobs, her mom owns a flat in Moscow, so I think they have good ties to Russia. Will waiting for K-1 approval, i.e. proof for their reason for coming to the US, better their chances, or should they just apply and just state that they are going to see their daughter/sister get married?
Lastly, when I call the NVC to see if they have received my I-129F what number will they ask for? The case number assigned by the USCIS? Thank you all for your advice now and in the past.
- Steven