El Escocés

The Highway signs are clear enough in order to avoid accidentally going to Canada. The yellow asterisk in the following picture is the building's entrance, but specify that you are looking for Deferred Inspection:

 
On Google Maps type in: W33X+JX Buffalo, New York

This is what I'll do too when I come back from vacation. 

Decided to drop off my application, passport card and a letter to the nearest SS office.
By dropping off, may be I will mitigate the risk of anything going missing in the mail on the way there and shave off a few days for them to look at my application. 

About two years ago DOS decided to use REFUSED as interim status during processing. Caused a lot of angst. You are looking for issued or denied. Those are final status messages (most of the time).

Currently there are two  timelines I am seeing on people posting (reddit, visajourney and other places) with regards to expedited processing: 14-18 days and another is 28-35 days. This seems to indicate there is an office loading issue. Some offices are all caught from summer surge while others like Charleston are still languishing. I hope Charleston gets to similar processing time as Atlanta.

From where do you get that it is the slowest? I don’t see any where where this information is captured other than one or another’s perception. My own case was 4 weeks or so. I’ve seen other cases being the same. Looking forward to seeing your progress

Bar only after 180 days, doesn’t sound like they are quite there yet 
 
However it doesn’t sound as though aunt has any intention of leaving anyway 🤷‍♀️ She’s certainly within the law to adjust now, but she should remember this (overstay history by a country’s nationals) as part of the reason the next time one of her friends gets denied a b visa 

I received my certificate just over two weeks after receiving my passport card...

Passport Application submitted 8/17/2021
Passport Received  8/31/2021

Passport card arrived today. Still waiting on naturalization certificate.

Okay, bit the bullet. I dropped off at my local SS office my application along with a letter, my passport card and a copy of my naturalization certificate. Let's see what happens..

UE says this according to New York Times 3 hours ago
 
In addition to taking the U.S. off the safe list on Monday, the European Council of the European Union, the bloc’s governing body, released a recommendation urging member countries to issue travel restrictions for visitors from the United States who are unvaccinated against the coronavirus. The European Union is encouraging authorities across Europe to reinstate the sort of mandatory quarantine and testing requirements that seemed to be on their way out, though only for unvaccinated travelers.
Ultimately it’s up to a given country to decide if it wants to issue new requirements, however.

An option might be to meet in Denmark and get married there. Fully vaccinated people can travel to Denmark from the US and EU countries, and getting married there seems pretty easy for international (same-sex) couples. Denmark is set to lift all domestic COVID-19 restrictions in 10 days, so it would probably be a pretty enjoyable visit with places opening up again. Just an idea you might want to look into.
 
I do agree with everyone else that the CR-1 is the better option if you can make it work. On top of the advantages of the CR-1 already listed, I think you might also be getting pretty close to not being eligible for the K-1, because you have to have met in person within 2 years before filing the K-1.

Submitted 8/23
 
Check cashed 8/31 and now shows in process. Locator starts with 34. Charleston SC. One of the slowest. Figures.
 
Scared the beejesus out of me

You might be an exception to what was noted by several people on here, especially the ones who filed routinely.

September 20th

Okay, bit the bullet. I dropped off at my local SS office my application along with a letter, my passport card and a copy of my naturalization certificate. Let's see what happens..

We've uploaded the latest official family based US visa processing trends for July 2021.  K-1 Visas are improving at several locations!
 
 Mexico Family & Marriage US Visa Approval Trends
 Philippines Family & Marriage US Visa Approval Trends
 China Family & Marriage US Visa Approval Trends
 United Kingdom Family & Marriage US Visa Approval Trends
 India Family & Marriage US Visa Approval Trends
 Vietnam Family & Marriage US Visa Approval Trends
 Canada Family & Marriage US Visa Approval Trends
 Dominican Republic Family & Marriage US Visa Approval Trends
 Jamaica Family & Marriage US Visa Approval Trends
 
Here is an additional location, per request!
 

Today I received my passport book (52 pages).
I'd say it was exactly 1 month since I applied at the USPS. 
Passport was shipped from Little Rock, Arkansas. 

And today we received all the passports in the mail.

I applied July 9, after 3 hours become a U.S Citizen. Approved August 3, Passport book delivered August 5, Passport card delivered on August 9. Yesterday naturalization certificate arrived with first class mail wich in priority mail envelope. But certificate in wrinkled condition. 

Why do you say that? Took just over a month back in July for my application vía that office.

There isn't anything "natural" about this infection.  There are no bats in Wuhan in the wintertime.  It's cold there.  Bats cant handle cold.  There is however a lab there that experiments bioengineering bat viruses to be more infective to humans.  While any real questioning about what went on there is very aggressively covered up, the good folks there swear that it couldn't be one of 'their' bioengineered bat viruses.
 
I constantly find myself wondering why the same people who are terrified by the best defense against this virus anyone has proposed, are fearless and apparently almost insistent that everyone should just man up and take their exposure to Chinese bioengineered virus because after all "it kills less than 1% of the people it infects".

It’s good that you like potatoes then!

This is how I completed AOS. I was already married to a USC and we were living and working overseas. We moved to the US when my Company sponsored my L1 and then I completed AOS a couple years later.There was no issue at any stage of my L1 application even though it was made clear that I was married to a USC prior to the application. 
 
PS it took 6 weeks from application to receiving the visa in my passport