Wedding date unknown

[awkwardsoul 20]

I'm doing the K-1 Visa and yeah, from what you can see from my timeline, I'm not getting my NOA2 for awhile. I'm one of those types that I'm fine with doing things last minute or with little advance notice. Also playing it safe - I wanted to book plane tickets/start booking wedding stuff once either I'm approved or Visa in my hand.

Anyways, my family and some friends are those PLANNING FREAKS that plan their holidays a year in advance and have been asking me about every week "When's the wedding? How come you don't know? Why don't you just pick a date? Think you'll be moved on X date so we can do a bachlorette party?" Each time I explain, I will not have a date until I get the Visa... and maybe a tentative date once I know when I know my interview date. Then its "When will that be?" Hoping after a few weeks they'll just figure it out and leave me alone. Then spaz out when I give them short notice for the wedding.

Any of you deal with this? How far ahead did you plan the wedding?

[SMR 368]

I'm doing the K-1 Visa and yeah, from what you can see from my timeline, I'm not getting my NOA2 for awhile. I'm one of those types that I'm fine with doing things last minute or with little advance notice. Also playing it safe - I wanted to book plane tickets/start booking wedding stuff once either I'm approved or Visa in my hand.

Anyways, my family and some friends are those PLANNING FREAKS that plan their holidays a year in advance and have been asking me about every week "When's the wedding? How come you don't know? Why don't you just pick a date? Think you'll be moved on X date so we can do a bachlorette party?" Each time I explain, I will not have a date until I get the Visa... and maybe a tentative date once I know when I know my interview date. Then its "When will that be?" Hoping after a few weeks they'll just figure it out and leave me alone. Then spaz out when I give them short notice for the wedding.

Any of you deal with this? How far ahead did you plan the wedding?

We planned the wedding when we got the interview date, assuming that we would be approved. It was a little risky but we didn't have a huge amount of money tied up that would have been lost. Everything we bought could have been used whenever and our venue was free.

[Penguin_ie 5,986]

What a lot of people do is a quicky legal wedding as soon as they arrive, then plan the religious wedding/ reception for half a year or more later, to give plenty of time to plan and bring overseas guests over. That still doesn't solve the "when are you leaving/ can we do the hen night question of course

[Moomin 292]

I wouldn't recommend booking anything until the visa is in your hand however - once the K1 visa is issued it's usually valid for up to 6 months(depending on the medical's validity) so it can be flexible to your advantage AFTER it's issued, meaning you don't have to be in a rush to move(yes yes, I know it's the opposite of what we are all in:) Just remember the K1 only allows you to enter that one time, and after that, you have to get married within 90 days.

Be careful with planning something right now based on the current timelines just in case the interview is delayed or cancelled, or if you end up with an RFE etc. Basically, it's only the beginning so everything you can research to have ready for that day is fine. But IMO it's way to early/risky to plan something specific if you want to be 100 percent sure that you are going to be in the US for your own wedding.

Otherwise Penguin_ie is spot on with the quicky wedding : )

Edited September 16, 2011 by moomin

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Topic has been moved from Off Topic to K-1 forum as it is relates to aspects of meeting the requirements of the K-1 visa and is more appropriately discussed here.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Do not plan anytrhing until the visa is in your hand. The visa is valid for 6 months after issuance, and you have another 90 days after entry into the US, so you have up to 9 months from the date issuance to plan a wedding. if you must plan a big wedding then do so after the visa is issued. If you simply cannot wait to be here, then settle for a civil marriage to satisfy your visa, which is what a lot of K-1s do and have a big ceremony later

[arynmichael 3]

I totally understand how you feel! My relatives have been the same with this situation and they are the ones who live in the country as us and won't have to be flying over like his family!

We have set our tentative date for February 12, 2012 and have asked people that we really want to be there to PENCIL it in on their calendar. We also picked out the place for the reception and they PENCILED us in on their calendar and they said they would hold the date for us and if someone else was interested in that date they would call us to see if we could reserve in order to hold the date. Thankfully their deposit is $500 and as long as we get married there we are allowed to move the date without losing the money. The church that we will be married said they are available for us on this date and it isn't costing us anything since it is our home church. This is working so far for us. We received our NOA2 on September 6th and hopefully everything will be processed this year in time for the February wedding, and if not, then we won't have wasted any money!

I hope this helps!

[baron555 934]

I'm doing the K-1 Visa and yeah, from what you can see from my timeline, I'm not getting my NOA2 for awhile. I'm one of those types that I'm fine with doing things last minute or with little advance notice. Also playing it safe - I wanted to book plane tickets/start booking wedding stuff once either I'm approved or Visa in my hand.

Anyways, my family and some friends are those PLANNING FREAKS that plan their holidays a year in advance and have been asking me about every week "When's the wedding? How come you don't know? Why don't you just pick a date? Think you'll be moved on X date so we can do a bachlorette party?" Each time I explain, I will not have a date until I get the Visa... and maybe a tentative date once I know when I know my interview date. Then its "When will that be?" Hoping after a few weeks they'll just figure it out and leave me alone. Then spaz out when I give them short notice for the wedding.

Any of you deal with this? How far ahead did you plan the wedding?

Only needed one day wait for the marriage license and then we had to wait until the next Tuesday for marriage at the county courthouse. Those in attendence were us, our son, the judge and another couple.

[paul_kay 31]

What we're gonna do is get married 1 month upon arrival then get married again in the church next year! Why not plan something for later to give you more time to prepare for a wedding.

Edited September 17, 2011 by paul_kay

[ChodeKat 0]

We have planned a very nice wedding for November 19th assuming that since we filed in March he would be here by then. I wanted to have a date set so that his family in Canada could prepare and it is virtually impossible to plan venue, catering and all of that without a date....

Well I just decided last week that we need to postpone the wedding for next year, instead we will just get married within the 90days when he gets here and then have our wedding next year. It isn't what we wanted but since USCIS hasn't moved on our case...I don't have a choice.

Good luck!

[cardinal 1]

We are still in the process, but here's what we are doing. We will not sign any contracts or send invitations until he has his visa in hand, but I bought my wedding dress when his file arrived at the consulate, and we have identified a photographer, potential venue, and 1st and 2nd choice dates. It helps that his consulate is apparently pretty quick and I didn't want a big elaborate wedding to begin with - our guestlist is about 20 people, ceremony in our living room and dinner in the private room of a nice restaurant afterwards. No DJ, no florist, no wedding cake = fewer headaches. And it's much easier to book (most) restaurants at short notice than it is a traditional wedding venue. We are also doing e-invitations, because I'll probably be overseas when we finalize the date, and our friends and family know us and the situation well enough not to be offended.

I really wanted people close to us to be there for our first exchange of vows, which is why we're doing it this way. Also, there's no way his family could get visas to come for the wedding so that is moot - we will go there 6 months later instead and have a dinner or something

[MatthewNCarolina 73]

I always reply.. ''In the end of the year if everything goes well'' and then change subject. Don't plan ahead, let them talk, people who doesn't understand the process thinks that everything is so smooth and easy, when it is not. Change subject if it bothers you, eventually they'll get the hint.

And as others said, dont plan anything before the visa is in your hands. You can have a simple legal wedding, and then plan later a big reception. Good luck!

[KrisandJennie 35]

I'm doing the K-1 Visa and yeah, from what you can see from my timeline, I'm not getting my NOA2 for awhile. I'm one of those types that I'm fine with doing things last minute or with little advance notice. Also playing it safe - I wanted to book plane tickets/start booking wedding stuff once either I'm approved or Visa in my hand.

Anyways, my family and some friends are those PLANNING FREAKS that plan their holidays a year in advance and have been asking me about every week "When's the wedding? How come you don't know? Why don't you just pick a date? Think you'll be moved on X date so we can do a bachlorette party?" Each time I explain, I will not have a date until I get the Visa... and maybe a tentative date once I know when I know my interview date. Then its "When will that be?" Hoping after a few weeks they'll just figure it out and leave me alone. Then spaz out when I give them short notice for the wedding.

Any of you deal with this? How far ahead did you plan the wedding?

My fiance and I planned our wedding for November 5th of this year (filed our I-129f in may)and we've already had to push it back to March. We will do a civil ceremony at the courthouse and then have the big wedding in March. Don't plan it yet! It was such a pain having to move everything around. Also, I STILL have people asking me those questions and it's annoying but they're just excited for you! Just stick with the "whenever we have the visa" and they'll eventually stop asking... or in my case, they'll just stop asking so often

[awkwardsoul 20]

<3 thank you all!

My fiance isn't sold yet on the quick wedding, then a family gathering/party later, but to make it makes sense as the paperwork after can get started and greencard/etc (and be able to go on a cruise of a honeymoon out of country, which is already has to wait).

So far the only good thing about the K-1 taking so long is that I have time to shed some extra pounds for the wedding! bleh.

[didopage 337]

Hey, I just discovered this topic! I so totally understand you.

Looks like it's a common thing for K-1 couple, my family kept asking me "So when is the wedding ?? Tradition is in the year after the proposal, you know" and the best was "Because flight tickets are expensive, so it's better if we know it a year in advance… so, when is it?".

I'm curious also how couples with a big family deal for the wedding...

But anyways, we're not planning anything until we have the visa in hand. As few people above said, I think it's better to do a civil ceremony after having the visa, and then plan something bigger with family, friends and all 6-12 months later.

BTW awkwardsoul, we have a very similar timeline!