How'd you get married?

[AKguy 1]

So, how did you get married in the states? Traditional (full blown wedding, guests, whole nine yards), or a Court House. If you did the court house, did you also have a reception party?

Finding it's extremely difficult to pin anything down in a limited time frame.

Edited August 17, 2010 by AKguy

[Canadiandggal 49]

We got married In a court house and then went out to dinner. we are doing a huge 5 year renewal of vows though

[Inky 1,110]

We married in the court house and took friends and family out to buffalo wild wings for dinner. In 2011 we are having a full wedding/vow renewal in Maine on a beach, dress, photographer, reception everythin. Much easier for us to plan it that way and much more relaxed to plan the wedding out. I was personally glad it worked that way for us because I saw my cousin planning her wedding and they almost broke up during the process because planning it all was so stressfull. For us since we are already married its alot more relaxing going through planning the cerimony and we can take our time to choose things we want.

[katgrl 14]

We got married in an airport hangar. My husband has a private pilot's license. So it was really special to us. We had immediate family on both sides and 3 friends. In June 2011, we are planning on a bigger ceremony/reception. His mom made some Mediterranean food and we just had everyone over for dinner.

Edited August 17, 2010 by katgrl

[babyjk 2]

I always wondered about this getting married in 3 months......because 3 months is a short time to plan especially since you wouldn't know when the I-129F will be approved. Are there any members who actually had a traditional wedding? How did they go about planning it. I know having a traditional wedding wouldn't be too deficult if the woman is the petition because we all know how we women like to fuss about weddings especially the dress. Me and my fiance have never been married before. How could we go about planning a wedding? This is why I'm not sure if we should go the K1 route or the CR-1 route when he gets his citizenship.

[elya 17]

If you DO want to plan something special fast, Bayshore Clubhouse had a few cancellations for the summer season (I was one of them... grr Embassy!!). You're in Anchorage, right? Might be worth a call.

The cost is a little up there, but it's a beautiful location and you are free to choose your catering and even do your own bartender with your own liquor from Costco, so it ends up being cheaper than like going to the Hilton.

Easiest way just do courthouse now and take your time to plan whatever works for you in whatever timeframe you want :-)

[Inky 1,110]

A friend of mine had a full wedding on a K-1 visa, her wedding was beautiful but they did not have a huge guest list either so it wasnt that difficult for her. She planned the whole thing herself without the husbands help because hes very busy with work. It even snowed on her wedding day but luckly the snow melted away just before the wedding was supposed to start.

[Rob_Lesya 4]

Vegas is always an option.....

[elya 17]

P.S.: I was way obsessively deep into planning already, happy to share any research about Anch area options and ways to include Russian traditions if you want to PM me :-) But my thought would still be - get the courthouse our of the way, then plan something special and bring her family etc. if you can. Learn a little about the Russian traditions for a wedding, especially those that mean a lot to her.

[AKguy 1]

P.S.: I was way obsessively deep into planning already, happy to share any research about Anch area options and ways to include Russian traditions if you want to PM me :-) But my thought would still be - get the courthouse our of the way, then plan something special and bring her family etc. if you can. Learn a little about the Russian traditions for a wedding, especially those that mean a lot to her.

Yup, we're in Anchorage and I do appreciate the suggestions. As it's "tentatively" planned right NOW, we're doing it at Mirror Lake this coming Saturday, I just need to go get the permit for it tomorrow.. As for planning something in the future and bring the parents over, they're already here, as is her sister who is working on a J-1 visa. Parents have another 10 or so days here and they'd like to do some sight seeing as this is their first trip to the US.

The court house discussion was brought up by Anna around 3:30 this morning in bed(because that's how we've been rolling timewise at my house since everyone is here...). I think it's a good idea, we could even dress up and do pictures as the weather permits. But alas this afternoon Anna mentioned it to her mom, and of course her mom doesn't like it, and it made her sad. Sooo. Yeah.

Purchase rings, permit, tux, food. Wedding cake is already on the way. And figure out everything else along the way.

[1HappyGuy 45]

We got married at the court house. Actually it was quite nice. They have a quiet atrium with lots of plants in between a number of county offices. The clerk was our witness and Judge Betty performed the service. (I'm pretty sure the Judge Betty is only authorized to perform weddings.)

Afterwards we drove home, had a nice rainbow to welcome us to our new life. Went home, had some champagne, some quality bedtime and then went to dinner with a couple. They met us at a restaurant with a bottle of champagne and they even paid for the dinner. They are good friends.

It will be 5 years in January and I'm still 1HappyGuy :dance:

[baron555 934]

So, how did you get married in the states? Traditional (full blown wedding, guests, whole nine yards), or a Court House. If you did the court house, did you also have a reception party?

Finding it's extremely difficult to pin anything down in a limited time frame.

Court House, in our best jeans, then off to the market to buy all the fixin's to make homemade spaghetti sauce and homemade lasagna.

No reception yet; maybe next year.

[elya 17]

How nice that her family is here already!! (and now that you mentioned it I do remember reading that in your previous posts...) But wow 10 days is REALLY not a lot of time :-)

Do you have a wedding license already? That takes a couple days.

The courthouse isn't necessarily that easy to book either - you might not get an appointment within 10 days. I remember when my ex and I got married we ended up waiting over a month for an available slot (we did want a Saturday, though). Maybe find out if it's even an option, might end up making the decision easy.

Mirror Lake is a nice location, were you thinking to do a reception-style celebration there? Are Anna and the parents ok without alcohol? If they are traditional Russians they probably want their toasts. As far as I know the muni doesn't approve waivers for alcohol at Mirror Lake; I had a friend run into the same problem once.

If those things aren't a problem, I personally would just do a courthouse ceremony and a casual barbeque reception at Mirror Lake. If Anna's Mom is visualizing a courtroom like they have on Russian TV no wonder she doesn't like the idea. But maybe if you show her the courthouse, she will be ok with it. Maybe they'll even let you see a room. It's not SO different from a ZAGS, really (ok, except the metal detector at the door ;-) ). And they do a nice little ceremony. You can bring your own flowers (maybe two bouquets to put on either side) and wedding balloons to the room and it looks really quite nice.

Then there's that pagoda out there... great places for more pictures at the coastal trail, or even better up to Government Hill and get the view from that little park off to the left there.

Otherwise just go vice versa and do the ceremony at Mirror Lake (do you have someone officiated to do it?) drive around and take lots of pictures, and then just do a celebration at a restaurant.

Anyway, my two cents :-) However you decide do it, I'm sure it will be the most beautiful day!! Enjoy it and enjoy each other :-) Congratulations!

Let me know if you get stuck looking for anything in particular :-)

[AKguy 1]

You can actually get a waiver for alcohol there, but they require you to have liability insurance of around a million dollars per single occurance of bodily injury and some other type. So I'm thinking we're going to pass on the immidiate toast there. My mom knows the owner of a local bar in Eagle River that will let us have the reception there.

Since so many decisions have been wishy washy, and now that I have something everyone agrees on, I'm focusing on that! lol

[Brad and Vika 129]

Vegas is always an option.....

Vegas Baby!!!! Worked out fine for us.