Sumaria

My wife and I were married abroad.  It caused no delay at all.....and she did not change her name.  That made a lot of things easier.

There is no US marriage registry......If you are married abroad, you are married in the US.....A marriage outside the US will not delay the spousal visa process.

Sure thing! I live in Georgia and my service center was California. I submitted the application online. There were not any red flags for our case - its both our 1st marriage, same age group, same culture (Jamaican) etc).  Even though we have not been married very long, we have known each other since we were 14 years old which lots of photos, social media posts and affidavits from family/friends can prove. For us, our relationship started when we were 17 and lasted for 5 years. We then broke up for 4 years and got back together in 2018. We have never lived together, own no properties together and never filed taxes together. At the time of submitting the I-130 we had only been married for 1 year 4 months but we submitted so much evidence to show our relationship was bonafide that I really didn't think there was going to be an issue with the things we didn't have together. I included these things with the application:
50 photographs dating from 2007 (the oldest i could find) to present A few social media posts (maybe 10) dating back from when Farmville was a thing lol to present 17 travel itineraries plus hotel/airbnb receipts from when each of us visited each other since 2018  2 affidavits:1 from my dad talking about our relationship from his perspective and 1 from a friend doing the same  A list of receipts showing gifts we have given each other since 2018 Letters we received from friends/family inviting us as a couple to attend events together All invoices related to our destination wedding in Jamaica that was twice postposed due to Covid-19 (venue, dress, suits, rings, wedding planning services, catering, hair, make-up etc.) Bank statements (first and most recent) for all our joint accounts plus Paypal/Western union transactions Screen shots of text conversations on Whatsapp/Facebook Messanger/iMessage/email etc. dating back to 2007 (maybe 10 total) In regards to our long break-up I didn't try to hide/camouflage it at all. I was very direct and honest about it and i'm sure thats way better than hiding or lying about anything.
 
Side note: I have seen other posts about a "trick" to speed up applications getting approved is submitting I-129F as well. I still do not know if it is factual or not. However, I did also submit an I-129F so I am really not sure if it is just coincidence that out case was approved quickly or if the I-129F had any impact on the timing of the decision.
 

I’m the sponsor. I live in California and my service center was Nebraska. I filed the I-130 online. I don’t believe we had any red flags. This is both of our first marriage. We’re only 2 years apart. For bonafide proof of marriage I sent 10 pictures, 2-3 flight tickets, Western Union transactions, and also 3 years of tax transcripts to show that we filed jointly. I recommend quality over quantity. Just send enough to satisfy the requirements. I’ve read some people send like 100+ items as proof lol. That’s extraneous.

Congratulation....Nice job..Do you mind sharing some details to help understand others? Such as your state and service center...Was there any red-flags or issues in your cases, like age-gap, any previous marriages for any of you, what kinds of proofs you submitted for the bonafide of marriage or anything else that could help others who are waiting or going to file?? Thx

Worked for me, but then got stuck at NVC for a year. 
Doesnt make since that ppl are waiting YEARS and OP gets through in less than 60 days. 
The system is broken. 

Not really. I checked a few days ago and it was still "received."
When I look at the case history tab right now, it says "reviewing" on 21 April and "approved" on 22 April.
 
I don't know if this played a role in the decision, but we've been married for about 6 1/2 years (originally, we didn't plan on moving to the US) so we've got 6 years of financial records and stuff validating our marriage. But I'd like to hope that things are just picking up and everyone will get their cases approved faster.

It doesn't make sense that the "trick" should work.  There are people who have been waiting for months and months who should have been approved first. ...but if it works, it works.  

You can file the I-130 petition for your spouse only after you get a valid marriage certificate.
 
In the meantime, you can do more research on the process and begin to collect evidence of your relationship.  Focus on evidence of time spent together in person (including time prior to marriage) and of tying your financial lives together.
 
 
It's up to you.  If you're willing to spend time and effort to research the process, have confidence in your ability to follow form instructions, and have a straightforward case (e.g. no criminal background, beneficiary has no prior visa violations), you can complete the process without a lawyer.  Also, hiring a lawyer will not help to reduce your case processing time, unless you plan to sue the US government at some point.  VJ is mainly a DIY site, and many many members here got their spouse visas without help from a lawyer.