Eloping with only 2 witnesses

[islandbabes 12]

Hi,

As a final semester grad student and with fiances crazy work schedule, a well-planned wedding is not on the cards right now. We do want to be together and did consider eloping in December 2011 while he was visiting Jamaica. We both hate big weddings with all the hoopla, but we do plan on having both parents, best friends at a small beach wedding we want to have by the beach in Jamaica in December 2012.

My question is, we want to do a courthouse wedding and I want to know if we go to courthouse to get married, will this ruin our chances of getting the CR-1? At the most my sister and his best friend will be the witnesses at this first service. I ask this question as I notice that persons have a "million" wedding pictures and while we would have wedding pictures, it would not be a large event? So, has anyone else simply did a courthouse wedding and been successful? Can I amend the pictorial evidence to show the inclusion of more family members by adding the second wedding pictures to the album? assuming the current time lines I see on here, we should be married before the interview stage). The other niggling question is that a lawyer told us we HAD to have engagement pictures, which we have none...shoot, he proposed in Kay's Jewelry store in North Carolina- that kinda wasn't planned and hence no pictures (lol)

Sorry for the many questions but we want to do what is right for us (we do not want a big wedding just for show) and what will work for our application process....

[dustingthestars 9]

I plan on doing exactly the same as you in the summer, a small courthouse wedding with a few witnesses and whatnot. I hope it isn't viewed differently and I'd like to think it isn't - but I guess it really depends on how it's viewed by the Consulate, I guess?

[PantomimeGoose 59]

I plan on doing exactly the same as you in the summer, a small courthouse wedding with a few witnesses and whatnot. I hope it isn't viewed differently and I'd like to think it isn't - but I guess it really depends on how it's viewed by the Consulate, I guess?

We eloped, no family or anything. No wedding pictures except a very fuzzy one we snapped on one of our phones at an arm's length in front of the courthouse. Hopefully it won't be an issue at the interview, but have had no RFEs or anything so far. We did worry about this, as well as our sort of weirdly nomadic lifestyle over the past 3 years, and sent a lot of pictures, chat logs, and things of that nature in the initial application though.

[TBoneTX 43,413]

London isn't Kingston...

[JAPrincess 27]

Hi,

As a final semester grad student and with fiances crazy work schedule, a well-planned wedding is not on the cards right now. We do want to be together and did consider eloping in December 2011 while he was visiting Jamaica. We both hate big weddings with all the hoopla, but we do plan on having both parents, best friends at a small beach wedding we want to have by the beach in Jamaica in December 2012.

My question is, we want to do a courthouse wedding and I want to know if we go to courthouse to get married, will this ruin our chances of getting the CR-1? At the most my sister and his best friend will be the witnesses at this first service. I ask this question as I notice that persons have a "million" wedding pictures and while we would have wedding pictures, it would not be a large event? So, has anyone else simply did a courthouse wedding and been successful? Can I amend the pictorial evidence to show the inclusion of more family members by adding the second wedding pictures to the album? assuming the current time lines I see on here, we should be married before the interview stage). The other niggling question is that a lawyer told us we HAD to have engagement pictures, which we have none...shoot, he proposed in Kay's Jewelry store in North Carolina- that kinda wasn't planned and hence no pictures (lol)

Sorry for the many questions but we want to do what is right for us (we do not want a big wedding just for show) and what will work for our application process....

Kingston is not so much worried about the wedding pictures as they are about the bonafides of the relationship.

When did you meet, how did you meet, do you have children, how do you communicate when apart and how often, proof of that communication.

Yes they will want to see pictures, wedding pictures are good, that parents will be there even better, but all pictures count.

Affidavits from parents attesting they believe the marriage to be genuine. Shared finances,joint bank accounts etc.

Get married when, where and how you want to.

It is the meat of your union that matters, not the pictures produced on one day.

I have no idea what that lawyer meant about having to have engagement pictures unless you were applying for a fiance' visa, then you would need a picture proving you had met in person.

[islandbabes 12]

Thanks guys for the advice

I am flying back to the US for the third time since we met and he has been to Jamaica once in the six months we have been together. We are going to try and get this process started by summer 2012 so I am hoping for the best. I am going to cross my fingers and toes that it can be done by summer 2012 so that we can be together.

Thanks VJ for the specific reference to what Kingston is looking for...I am going to do this without an immigration expert so am depending on the support of the great people on this forum.

[janedavis 0]

Aren't elopements supposed to be spontaneous events? Or ones done in secrecy because of disapproving parents? That dynamic, like so many things, is changing rapidly in the economic downturn. In fact when we say elopement we think of it as budgeting or even controlling. Even Carey Provost, who eloped to Santa Barbara, Calif. last year, agrees with Schaeffer. The economic depression has been hard on the wedding sector, as it has on most sectors. While it has started turning back around, the sector is still not conjuring up the profits that it did just a couple years ago. Many would-be nuptials are searching for ways to have a luxurious wedding without breaking the bank. One way that is collecting steam is the guest-free staged elopement. Well, the idea of a planned elopement may leave many in confusion. Article source: Planned elopements prosper in downturn.

[talean nawaz 41]

I also had a small wedding. We had a simple marriage in the office of my husband;s brother, who is a lawyer in Pakistan. We had no pictures during the event and only two pictures of us together during the time I was in Pakistan. However, we did have lots of proof of our communication through emails, chat logs, facebook, etc. from the time we started dating, through our engagement, and after marriage. We also submitted affidavits from all of his family, several of his neighbors, friends, and my mother, all stating they had knowledge of our marriage. I do not know about Jamaica specifically, but Islamabad does not seem like a very easy embassy. From filing i-130 to him arriving in the US took about 7 1/2 months. Hope this helps and good luck on your journey!!