When is it safe to set a wedding date?

[norftown 0]

We just filed our I-129F and assume that we will get a NOA2 sometime in December-January. Guessing that it will take another 8 weeks or so to get from that to the Interview at the Consulate and that everything goes smoothly would it be safe to set a date in March or April? We'd like to book a place to do our ceremony and reception and of course with that the sooner the better. What does everyone else do? Wait until the interview and then set up a wedding in a few weeks? If that's the case then I guess it means that we may not be able to book the place we want.

Edited July 21, 2009 by norftown

[ScottThuy 140]

don't set a date until the visa is in hand...

[shefellfromheaven 18]

I would advise you to wait till your have you visa in hand.

Edited July 21, 2009 by shefellfromheaven

[Bobby+Umit 161]

To echo that - I would also wait till you SO actually enters the US, with visa in hand before you plan anything.

[baron555 934]

We just filed our I-129F and assume that we will get a NOA2 sometime in December-January. Guessing that it will take another 8 weeks or so to get from that to the Interview at the Consulate and that everything goes smoothly would it be safe to set a date in March or April? We'd like to book a place to do our ceremony and reception and of course with that the sooner the better. What does everyone else do? Wait until the interview and then set up a wedding in a few weeks? If that's the case then I guess it means that we may not be able to book the place we want.

Most counties only require a 1-3 day wait from marriage application to marriage by the county judge. Then most people plan the big wedding ceremony after you've married within the 90 days and sent off your AOS paperwork.

International relationships require you to fly against the norm, because your relationship is not the norm.

WAIT until you have the visa in hand.

[sara..... 371]

i agree with everyone here wait until u have the visa in hand

sara

[TracyTN 237]

Agreed. Nothing is guaranteed until you have that sucker in the palm of your hand...!

[TimandJoyce 1]

It also depends on the country. From what I've read, some end up in AP after the interview. That too could take a while. I didn't, ( not that I know of), so we were able to set a tentative date once we got the NOA2. My interview came two months later, and when I heard those magic words, " I can approve this visa" I called Tim to let him know he could put deposits down on what we decided on.

You definitely want to wait until closer to the interview stage, but you could make those "tentative" plans after NOA2, depending of course AP.

Best wishes for your journey! I hope you're able to make the plans you'd like.

Oh..keep in mind...sometimes approvals come faster than you think!! Ours was 3.5 months....but it could have been longer than that.

Edited July 21, 2009 by TimandJoyce

[Danu 19]

What Joyce said. Everyone risks AP at two stages, either while the petition is going through NVC (can add another 50 days or so) or after the interview (undetermined lengths) so until the visa is in hand its really too hard to put a date down. If you want to start reserving stuff see is they have an option to be flexible with the dates. A lot of people end up doing a civil ceremony to fulfill the visa requirements and then do a bigger ceremony/reception later on for family and friends simply because the date of actually getting the visa is so unpredictable.

Edited July 21, 2009 by Danu

[Nik+Heather 122]

I elected to start planning the wedding early in the process. I carefully examined historical data and current time lines and tried to seek out a 90% confidence level before selecting a date. Then I moved forward, contrary to advice here, before approval. I understand the desire to plan - it was important to us that we have our legal and ceremonial wedding at the same time - with all of our family around us.

Trying to plan a wedding date is a double edged sword. Many people will mention delays, but what do you do if you have set out a conservative date of, say, October 11th - 9.5 months after you send in your I129f. What do you do if you have the visa more than 3 months before your wedding date? Are you going to move it up? (eek!) We didn't. I can tell you that for us a few months of self-imposed separation is a pain of it's own flavor, different from the unknown black hole of USCIS.

No one ever mentions that many vendors, perhaps your dream venue included, will allow you to change dates, with enough advance notice. Ask them. Make sure it's in your contract. And, as always, be willing to loose any deposit you put down. Treat it all as gambling - don't spend what you aren't willing to loose. We didn't release any of our family members to purchase air tickets until the visa was in hand, though one cousin who was following our case closely got them as soon as we got NOA2! Argh.

(Edit: OK, Danu did say it - while I was posting. )

You're an adult. Assess your own risks, and your own ability to absorb any losses if things don't go your way. Also, I would advise you to constantly re-assess your position as the process continues. If your NOA2 is later than expected, then you need to adjust your plans accordingly. Don't ever plan to "make up the difference". Define your trade offs, and determine which ones are the most important to you, and make your decisions based on your own priorities. I listed our priorities above, and our trade off was 3.5 further months apart even though we have the visa in hand.

Edited July 21, 2009 by Nik+Heather

[Victor&Cory 1]

You can plan everything.....but as Bobby said....You set the date only after your SO has the visa and is in USA.

PEACE............

[Boundless 0]

We just filed our I-129F and assume that we will get a NOA2 sometime in December-January. Guessing that it will take another 8 weeks or so to get from that to the Interview at the Consulate and that everything goes smoothly would it be safe to set a date in March or April? We'd like to book a place to do our ceremony and reception and of course with that the sooner the better. What does everyone else do? Wait until the interview and then set up a wedding in a few weeks? If that's the case then I guess it means that we may not be able to book the place we want.

I would say April or beyond, I say walk out on faith and start planning. But soft plan, meaning book your building (venues) and just make sure that if you have to move the date back, they are fine with that. I have my reception hall booked that date doesn't work then I will change the date. I mean only a small deposit was required.

[Anh map 2,098]

Danu and Nik+Heather got it right. The ability to be flexible is key. There is enough stress in this process, why add more?

Best of luck to you.

[SuperDuper! 230]

Everyone is repeating the same thing. Here is some useful info. The Petitioner can do some advance planning. Likewise, the Beneficiary can be lining up someone to make wedding invites. Have "big details" arranged (price comparison, selection of hotel, photog, guest list drawn up, etc. THEN when beneficiary is on her way, the wedding date can be set, and plugged into all the previously made details. Of course, you have a plan B , for photog, for example, is she is not ready on your wedding date that you just sprung on her.

You can do so much advanced planning without having an actual wedding date. So this will likely keep you both busy even needing time to catch your breath before setting the small and final details needing an actual wedding date to proceed with.

Good Luck!

[Chris & Mara 0]

I elected to start planning the wedding early in the process. I carefully examined historical data and current time lines and tried to seek out a 90% confidence level before selecting a date. Then I moved forward, contrary to advice here, before approval. I understand the desire to plan - it was important to us that we have our legal and ceremonial wedding at the same time - with all of our family around us.

Trying to plan a wedding date is a double edged sword. Many people will mention delays, but what do you do if you have set out a conservative date of, say, October 11th - 9.5 months after you send in your I129f. What do you do if you have the visa more than 3 months before your wedding date? Are you going to move it up? (eek!) We didn't. I can tell you that for us a few months of self-imposed separation is a pain of it's own flavor, different from the unknown black hole of USCIS.

No one ever mentions that many vendors, perhaps your dream venue included, will allow you to change dates, with enough advance notice. Ask them. Make sure it's in your contract. And, as always, be willing to loose any deposit you put down. Treat it all as gambling - don't spend what you aren't willing to loose. We didn't release any of our family members to purchase air tickets until the visa was in hand, though one cousin who was following our case closely got them as soon as we got NOA2! Argh.

(Edit: OK, Danu did say it - while I was posting. )

You're an adult. Assess your own risks, and your own ability to absorb any losses if things don't go your way. Also, I would advise you to constantly re-assess your position as the process continues. If your NOA2 is later than expected, then you need to adjust your plans accordingly. Don't ever plan to "make up the difference". Define your trade offs, and determine which ones are the most important to you, and make your decisions based on your own priorities. I listed our priorities above, and our trade off was 3.5 further months apart even though we have the visa in hand.

Yep I did all that, planned it far in advance, Chris and I took the risk of planning it 12 months in advance, we booked our venue for August 21st this year (and sent our application last August), if you want to read my timeline below then you will totally understand that we had to heartbreakingly move it till August next year.However we are cheating, tickets to america are very pricey, so we have planned to get married when we eventually get a visa and then hold a formal ceremony August 14th next year. This might be an option you consider.

My advice, whilst Nik and Heather were very lucky and planned it well, you may just be the exception (like us or Sara) and if you don't have the ability to risk losing that sort of money (that the average person spends on a wedding) then I would suggest you wait until you at the very least have your NOA2 or your visa.