Wedding planning advice

[TarynL 1]

Hi guys! So my fiancé and I are currently waiting on our NOA2, our timeline is predicting that there should be a decision made on our I-129F packet by August 1. Assuming everything goes well, how long in between the approval of the I-129F and the approval of the visa itself? Specifically in Brazil, Rio de Janeiro consulate if anyone has experience there. Do you guys think he would be able to arrive here in the USA by September if we were to have the I-129F approved in July or August? 

 

I ask because we are trying to plan a full Catholic wedding with the K1. So far, things are going well with the planning, we are doing stuff we are able to do for the wedding without knowing a date. However, for a venue there is a nice one we are looking at for a specific date in November (2018). Wondering if it would be completely too risky to book a date in November with the timeline being as it is right now with approval of the I-129F in August, specifically August 1st according to our timeline prediction. 

 

Any ideas, comments, anything helpful, encouraging words? Thanks, friends!

[Naes 12,205]

6 minutes ago, TarynL said:

Hi guys! So my fiancé and I are currently waiting on our NOA2, our timeline is predicting that there should be a decision made on our I-129F packet by August 1. Assuming everything goes well, how long in between the approval of the I-129F and the approval of the visa itself? Specifically in Brazil, Rio de Janeiro consulate if anyone has experience there. Do you guys think he would be able to arrive here in the USA by September if we were to have the I-129F approved in July or August? 

 

I ask because we are trying to plan a full Catholic wedding with the K1. So far, things are going well with the planning, we are doing stuff we are able to do for the wedding without knowing a date. However, for a venue there is a nice one we are looking at for a specific date in November (2018). Wondering if it would be completely too risky to book a date in November with the timeline being as it is right now with approval of the I-129F in August, specifically August 1st according to our timeline prediction. 

 

Any ideas, comments, anything helpful, encouraging words? Thanks, friends!

Don't make any plans set in stone.

 

• you may get stuck (it happens. Just saw a case that got rfe with received date February 2017 got approval (noa2) this week. 

 

• you may get AP 

 

• something may come up in the health exam.

 

• NVC may get a backlog again

 

everything is a possibility.

 

so if you're not ok with the risk of losing money (lots of people lost) or have chance to change the dates later; I wouldn't make plans.

 

 

also noa2 August to wedding on November is cutting in close.

[AL-MJD 144]

@Naes is absolutely right.

 

Nothing is set in stone and everything delays everything. What if you receive an RFE, that adds a month to your plans. What if NVC puts your case on additional background checks, that is a month to 6 months. Right now, things can go more wrong than it can smoothly.

 

Trust me, I am in one of the simplest positions there could be, and I've given up on wedding planning. I'm just going to get married in a courthouse and leave my wedding dress to hang in my closet.

[EandH0904 1,184]

Agree 1000% with previous. Time and time again we see people on here panicking cause they can't get their visa in time for an expensive wedding. 

 

Maybe consider doing a courthouse marriage ASAP, then planning a big wedding together 

[Isaac1986 2]

When did you recieve the NOA1??

[Naes 12,205]

2 minutes ago, Kalila089 said:

When did you recieve the NOA1??

January 2018

[TarynL 1]

4 minutes ago, Kalila089 said:

When did you recieve the NOA1??

January 19, 2018.

[Jaquelly 1,647]

21 minutes ago, TarynL said:

January 19, 2018.

 

It's so close, it's not worth spending money.

 

My NOA1 was July 6. NOA2 was Feb 8. We JUST got a NVC case # today. We're looking at a May POE if we're lucky.

[britishandusa 446]

1 hour ago, TarynL said:

Hi guys! So my fiancé and I are currently waiting on our NOA2, our timeline is predicting that there should be a decision made on our I-129F packet by August 1. Assuming everything goes well, how long in between the approval of the I-129F and the approval of the visa itself? Specifically in Brazil, Rio de Janeiro consulate if anyone has experience there. Do you guys think he would be able to arrive here in the USA by September if we were to have the I-129F approved in July or August? 

 

I ask because we are trying to plan a full Catholic wedding with the K1. So far, things are going well with the planning, we are doing stuff we are able to do for the wedding without knowing a date. However, for a venue there is a nice one we are looking at for a specific date in November (2018). Wondering if it would be completely too risky to book a date in November with the timeline being as it is right now with approval of the I-129F in August, specifically August 1st according to our timeline prediction. 

 

Any ideas, comments, anything helpful, encouraging words? Thanks, friends!

I honestly wouldn't plan anything like that. My fiance applied last June and up until today--we still don't have the visa! We've been approved and all but we are waiting on the visa to be mailed to him. It's been almost 9 MONTHS since our NOA 1. And our case had NO RFE and our interviewer wanted to be difficult asking for additional documents even though we submitted everything. We almost waited 190 days for NOA 2, almost 50 days for NVC, and about a month before medical, two extra weeks for interview, and another two weeks due to delays and mail. It is really not worth the trouble to plan something huge and not have it go through.

Edited February 23, 2018 by britishandusa

[AL-MJD 144]

1 hour ago, EandH0904 said:

Agree 1000% with previous. Time and time again we see people on here panicking cause they can't get their visa in time for an expensive wedding. 

 

Maybe consider doing a courthouse marriage ASAP, then planning a big wedding together 

THAT'S THE PLAN .

[Unlockable 7,306]

OP, there are some advice given in this thread.

 

There was good advice on an option for people trying to plan weddings while going through this process. You can contact the venue and see if you can negotiate an option in writing to move the wedding date at little to no cost. It can say that you have 30 or 60 days prior to the original date to move the date out. If it gets close to the month you originally planned and there is no progress on your case you simply reschedule instead of canceling.

 

It is simply an option and the venue you want may not agree to it, but it is worth a shot to try.

[kris&me 572]

Sorry but your timeline says sent K1 application out in january 2016 and receipt came 2019 (it is only 2018)

so,  did you just send the application out in 2017 or was it 2016?

makes big difference

k1 taking almost a year now

no plans till you actually have the visa in hand

what is not mentioned is it can be denied

it can even be approved and then revoked

these are worse case senerious and probably not going to happen to you 

but don't pay for wedding reservations and do the plans untill that visa is in hand

then buy airline tickets and plan 

good luck

 

[LauraC87 3]

13 hours ago, TarynL said:

Hi guys! So my fiancé and I are currently waiting on our NOA2, our timeline is predicting that there should be a decision made on our I-129F packet by August 1. Assuming everything goes well, how long in between the approval of the I-129F and the approval of the visa itself? Specifically in Brazil, Rio de Janeiro consulate if anyone has experience there. Do you guys think he would be able to arrive here in the USA by September if we were to have the I-129F approved in July or August? 

 

I ask because we are trying to plan a full Catholic wedding with the K1. So far, things are going well with the planning, we are doing stuff we are able to do for the wedding without knowing a date. However, for a venue there is a nice one we are looking at for a specific date in November (2018). Wondering if it would be completely too risky to book a date in November with the timeline being as it is right now with approval of the I-129F in August, specifically August 1st according to our timeline prediction. 

 

Any ideas, comments, anything helpful, encouraging words? Thanks, friends!

From the position I'm in right now I'd say don't plan anything big until you have the visa. We went for the green card and got married in a small just the two of us wedding August 16. I have a bigger wedding planned for April and when we applied for our green card they were taking less than a year - based on a lot of timeline searching on this site. Then NVC got a huge backlog.

 

Yesterday my visa was issued after 14 months. And at the interview I got a 221g for further info which I am lucky was processed fast because I was convinced I'd have to cancel the wedding.

 

Avoid yourself the stress. Wedding planning and visa applying together with planning a country move is stressful as can be. Marry in a small ceremony and have a big wedding after. 

Edited February 23, 2018 by LauraC87

[Lorna&Alex 104]

I'm gonna say something slightly different from what everyone else has said but please don't take my word as I am only one person. We received NOA1 in july 2017 then we booked our venue for July 2018 - exactly a year after NOA1. However, it got to January 2018 and we STILL didn't have NOA2 so we went into panic mode and asked our venue and caterers to push our date back a couple of months which they were more than happy to do because we knew from the beginning that our vendors were super flexible! fortunately, we received NOA2 on Jan 25th and since then the process has been really smooth (touch wood!!!) we've booked our interview and our medical and we've moved our wedding day back to July 2018 yay  That being said, we know that anything can still happen and we're not in the all clear yet...it's still a risk having our wedding booked for July but hopefully it all works out

[Zzyzx 106]

Some great insight so far about the process.  My take on this is don't plan anything until you have the visa in hand.  Don't schedule venues, hire wedding planners, photographers etc.  And most of all, don't invite family and friends even tentatively, as it will just put more pressure into a situation you have no control over!  Now is the time to pile up some cash in preparation for your wedding.  Cash is king as it will allow you to plan the wedding you want when the time comes.  Put the money in a savings account and let it sit as reserving venues and the like just puts that money at risk.  

 

1 hour ago, LauraC87 said:

Avoid yourself the stress. Wedding planning and visa applying together with planning a country move is stressful as can be. Marry in a small ceremony and have a big wedding after. 

  Indeed!  This is what we did and it will do wonders with the stress levels.  It's all about taking back control of a situation where you feel the opposite.  Good luck OP planning your new life together!