Hey everyone!
We have been giving more thought to our actual wedding day and all that goes with it. We plan to marry within a short time after the girls and I get to the US.
My question to you all is if you already entered on the K1 what sort of wedding did you have? If you haven't already then what are your plans for your wedding after you arrive in the USA?
I ask because I am somewhat confused about planning anything. Did you all have quick civil weddings? Did you have full ceremonies? Did you have a photographers or a reception? What about those of you with children? Did they play a role in things?
I think it is safe to say we are planning something small, low key. Just looking for ideas.
Gimme details details details!

We are planning on having a quick civil ceremony for the K1 Visa and then planning on having a full church ceremony later.

We had a very small service with a Magistrate held outdoors in the heritage gardens of a local historic site. It was simple, quiet and very satisfying. My father ( my mother is deceased and his parents were too elderly to travel) and a couple who are very good friends of ours attended with their young daughter. My Dad and our friends' daughter took photos and one of our friends and my Dad were our witnesses. We all went out aferwards with the Judge to a small cafe for refreshments, then back home for a larger dinner. It was lovely.

full wedding, small but full. we had an idea of the timeframe, knew we wanted it small, and i used to own a bridal shop,and do wedding consultation...i knwo weddings it was pretty cool, we did everyting ourselves (myself lol0 made the dress, boquets, etc etc. Just think of al lthe time you will have on your hads once you get here to do all that sort of thing, its not like you can work or anything LOL

We wanted our church wedding to be our 'only wedding'. Small and intimate. Only splurging on a hummer limo to take us and family (no one knows about the hummer) from home to church to dinner at a B&B. Family will be going home in the hummer, we will remain at the B&B for our wedding night.

Photographer is a professional but a personal friend who will meet us at church, take a few pics there, and then meet us at the B&B for some outdoor pics.

I'm making my own flower bouquets (no other flowers at church) and centerpieces for the tables at dinner. Also making my own wedding cake. We will be a group of 20 people.

Already have my dress and the girls' dresses... going the non-traditional route there.

Only other extravagance are custom-made wedding rings (I didn't want an engagement ring) with special symbols built into them...

Honeymoon will be next year once his AP is granted. We'll go visit his family in the UK, my family and his daughter in Germany.

we had the "full meal deal" religious ceremony at a local mansion, complete with minister, flower girls, photographer/videographer and reception! The ceremony itself was very small (only 20 people were there), but we had about 75 people at the reception....thanks to both our families, we were able to pull this off SIX days after I arrived in the USA. Now, we did something that I tend not to recommend....you know, set a date before getting the visa in hand... ...but God was watching over us and our plan worked.

We had everything planned and decided so that once we knew my interview date we swung into action and had everything ready to go. I made a lot of things myself over the summer, during the NOA2 wait -- it helped to pass the time! We splurged on a couple of things (the wedding/reception site, my dress, the photographer/videographer (very key since very few family members were able to attend, and even then their rates were extremely reasonable)), and everything else we went "classy economy"

Our biggest piece of advice for others in the same "waiting for our visa interview" limbo -- go and talk to vendors long ahead of time, and explain your situation to them, and see how flexible they can be with a potential change in dates. We did that, and our mansion owner and video/photography team were quite understanding -- they let us know the minimum lead time they needed, and they were really helpful. it also helped that we had our ceremony on a Sunday in November!

Was my wedding how I had imagined it? Nope
Was it during the time year I had always imagined it? Nope
Was everyone there that I wished could have been there? Nope
Was it the best day ever? yes, oh yes!!!!

We did the courthouse with just us and our kids.

seems most are having quick and simple ceremonys
and big ones later.
we are no diffrent. we married outside the USA. but we are also planning a big - out of control wedding. my parents want to make it a big deal. I am soo looking forward to the good stresses and the excitement.

Hmmm.. I'm not too sure how to describe ours!!

Fun is definately one word.

We had next to nothing arranged until 2-3 weeks before it actually happened, but despite it costing very little, we were able to have our dream wedding on the edge of the grand canyon!

The most difficult part was arranging transport to/from the canyon for all our guests!

But if you're in the Arizona area, I highly recommend www.spiritandlight.net who perform all kinds of ceremonies - religious or otherwise. They were totally professional, and at no extra cost kept us calm through the "planning" stage.

(planning in quotes, because it's a loose description!)

Adz.
xx

Hey Karen,

Just want to give you a idea, For my daughter during the exchanging of the rings, my husband also gave her a ring too. A inexpensive nice birthstone ring with a little diamond from Mappins. She was very happy. The minister had us all join hands and blessed our new family. Very nice and I still get compliments about it. The feel included !!!!!!!!! Just a idea !

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/john73150/al...73150/my_photos

Full wedding ... in our home.

We had originally booked a chapel, but lost that when the visa wasn't delivered in time. I had already arranged for the cake and photographer and minister ahead of time and just had to adjust the schedule. I had to take delivery of the cake on the original schedule, but I arranged for the cake to be boxed in sections for the freezer and it was easy to assemble on the actual wedding day. I had to reshedule the minister and the photographer and find a day they were both available again. I had to contact all of the people that were sent invitations to notify them of the date change. I also had to pay some penalties for flight changes for the maid of honor and my father. The florist had already ordered the flowers, but they only charged a reduced amount to order new flowers. Attendance was reduced considerably because of the date change. I contacted a rental agency the week of the wedding to reserve chairs and a columns and railings and picked them up the day before the wedding. Marlene bought her dress in Makati, Philippines and I brought it back with me and took it to the cleaners before she arrived. Right after Marlene arrived, we started shopping for decorations and moving furniture out of our larger living room to make space for the ceremony and reception. It was alot to do in a short time, but we were happy with the result.

The link at the top shows how it all turned out.

Wow! A combination of plans for sure. I applaud those of you that were able to manage something more formal with guests and a reception etc.
I don't see that happening for us though. I think small will be the key for sure. David is relatively new to Missouri so the connections there aren't all that major. My family won't be travelling from Canada for a wedding. So I think it will most likely be David, myself and our three girls.
Initially, I thought it would be me and him and quite simple. But as time goes on and I have discussed things with all of the girls (7, 10 & 17) they want to be a part of it. Either by being there or an actual part of the wedding. So that will be tough to do and still keep it simple.
I guess I want simple but semi-formal. Ack!!
I really like the idea of giving the girls a ring. He has one daughter and I have two. The plan of incorporating each of them into the wedding is awesome! Just have to think of something that suits the three ages.
My biggest want is not courthouse and a photographer to take pics of the five of us. Our start as a family you might say.
I appreciate the insight a bunch!
Keep sharing your plans with me!!



What a beautiful bride and groom!! I can only imagine your frustration at trying to pull everything off. Seems as though you did it and you look very happy with the results. Your pictures are lovely!
Congrats!!
I need a wedding planner!!

Yeah I wish we had gone someone for pictures, the courthouse ones suck.

I was just looking at a thread of wedding dress pics. Geez!! Sooooo much more formal than I have been thinking. LoL
For those of you that had more low key sort of weddings....what did you wear for your ceremony? I mean I have done the long train, veil and very expensive dress already (1st marriage). I was really planning something more simple. White or off white is still ok....I think. But simple and reasonably priced is better!

I wore a really nice blue skirt and top. He wore navy pants and a blue button up shirt. Very casual.

another here that did a small civil ceremony in the local university gardens on friday with a family wedding planned later. i was way too stressed with everything i had to do just to move here (including moving my mom to a new place to be on her own for the first time since dad passed) that i couldn't even think of trying to plan anything bigger to happen so soon. plus the hubby is in the midst of training for ironman so our 'honeymoon' involved 9hrs of cycling for him and 5hrs for me (my ironman isn't until next year). all my friends can't get over how romantic we are!

we are planning a nice beach wedding for our parents and siblings to attend early next year and that is when we will do a mini honeymoon. or, we could wait until My and do it just before or after my race in PBC

k

Talk about coincidence. I too will be moving my mother to her first new place since my father passed. She moved in with me just after his death. She is older so I will be doing most if not all of the packing. Hers, mine and my girls. Not to mention she is moving about five hours away from where I currently live in Ontario. I am stressed thinking about it all right now. Knowing that I will be doing it all alone is a huge burden. Ugh.

As I happen to be a Canadian (dual Can-Am, both by naturalisation), I'm adding my $0.017 worth.

We married 11 days after Pras entered on K-1, at the LEF's church in Novi (Oakland County), MI. We had to go to Pontiac two days before the wedding to get a marriage licence--as the marriage was performed in Oakland County by an accredited member of clergy, no pre-registration was needed.

We are still planning, but this is what we have in mind, small ceremony and reception on the beach, just a few family and friends...maybe at a resort on the beach, honeymoon at the same place maybe. IT is hard to plan when he is not here yet.

We're planning an outdoor wedding ceremony in our garden in April. The weather is more like the June weather here in Canada! It's going to be a small wedding, maybe 50 people at the most. We're thinking of a late morning wedding, like 11 a.m. and then a luncheon at a restaurant private room. Then we'll head off for an evening on our own, and will return the next morning. Honeymoon we'll have later when company is gone! We're doing the suit, wedding dress, some of our own music on our portable CD player. My in-laws are going to be buying and arranging all the flowers, a neighbour will be helping with set up. My kids will even participate. We have a few friends who are exceptional photographers who will be taking pictures etc. We've asked that instead of bought gifts, that people contribute to making this a special by giving of themselves. Eg. my friend is making my wedding dress, my brother-in-law will be doing the music.

Carla

All of the ideas are great!
Sounds like a thread full of beautiful brides and handsome groom!
Aren't we a lucky bunch??!!

Our wedding's less than two weeks away (I'd arrived here in California two weeks ago) and we're having a smallish wedding with around 70 people... this will be our only wedding as we would've wanted a smallish wedding even without this K1 madness anyway.

The ceremony's on a beach and the reception's at a yacht club... it's going to be very laidback. Our "wedding party" consists of a best man and a maid of honour. :-)

Sounds beautiful. With 70 people that would be on the bigger side for what we are planning.
It could be a whopping number for us of upwards of 10! Including us lol.

Got married at City Hall by the mayor...

We later had a Catholic wedding with reception and everything...

Haha, I actually wouldn't mind having 10 people only (less nerve-wrecking!). I'm taking this as an opportunity to meet Jason's relatives and friends whom I still haven't met yet

We are having ours in two weeks. It is going to be a outdoor wedding in a gazebo at a local park. I went and bought a dress last night. Its not a wedding dress though just a simple dress that I can wear again on a normal occasion. Both of my girls are going to be apart of the wedding because I want to them to feel important. One is the ring girl and the other is the flower girl. We aren't inviting alot of people. It will be a small intimate wedding with family and a few friends. The reception is immediately after at a pavilion at the park.

Jen

We are having a Catholic blessing/service (not Mass) a week after he arrives (Nov 10). It will be my immediate family only - so that's 6 of us. We'll have a nice dinner & get a hotel room overlooking downtown.

In February we are having the big 'do in Florida on the lawn overlooking a beach. It's about 50 people - I can't wait!!! His family & other UK friends are coming over + my friends & family who are scattered across the US are coming.

My brother's destination wedding was the best - relaxing & hanging with your friends for several days in the sunshine, how fab!

When I get to Denver we're going to have a civil ceremony and sign the papers. I want a "big" wedding and at this point in time we will have neither the finances nor the time to plan it!
Our ceremony will be later. Originally planned for September of 2007, got bumped wayyyyy back after a lengthy discussion, to June of 2008. Gives us plenty of time to get settled, save for it, plan, etc. And we can both have the kind of wedding we would like to have:
100 people
Location up in the mountains in a chateau with fabulous service
I think 2-3 groomsmen and a best man, he can't decide lol
2 bridesmaids and a maid of honour
Most importantly, good food, good wine, good company, and lots of fun

we tossed around the idea of a Hawaian cruise, and friends/family who want to come can plan a holiday around it. Only snugglebunny said in the end he was not going to honeymoon with my whole family. My family is kinda hard to lose... they like to be part of things!

Oh geez, honeymoons are ONLY for 2!

We had our wedding in Dana Point, CA in a park overlooking a harbor. My husband and I created a non traditional ceremony, and got married in a circle with about 50 friends and family. We had a wonderful minister that performed the service. It was fun as we incorporated elements from several different cultures including Chinese, Native Indian, Japanese and Western. We had a flower girl and a ring bearer, and for a music we hired a Japanese flute player. It was different and everyone loved it.
The reception was in a restaurant in harbour on a tropical looking patio with waterfalls and pond. The florist did a great job. Photographer was my brother in law, video was done by a good friend. We were so happy with everything. A couple of days later, we went on our honeymoon to the north shore of Kauai, beautiful Hanalei Bay.
And now, we have to go back to reality with AOS forms and papers.
Senka