Daelina

i know that it is valid for only 6 months but i have heard it can take until 6 months at the moment before you become a decision on your visa so how can i make a date for the wedding when i dont know how long it takes before a decision?! Thats why i wanted to book the date for the wedding after the decision not before. we have planned all already but to book for a appointment dont make sense in my eye or i see this wrong?

BritInParis

Plan the wedding at least six months in advance of your application date if you want to go down the fiancée visa route.

DerekB1972

We planned for ours for a set date (and had emails and receipts) but had made arrangements with the venue that we could move dates if the visa didn't arrive in time, we've now rebooked for 2 months after our initial date as we will miss the original date due to the length of the time it took to get the visa (by 1 day as my partner needs to be in the UK for at least 38 days before the wedding to comply with the registrar legalities), we were told by the registrar that our reservation fee (£40) would be lost but when I called to rearrange the date last week they waivered the fee.

Just to explain the 38 days part as this will be the same for you (and you may not have known), you will need to be in the UK for at least 9 days before you can give 'Notice of marriage' and then there's at least 29 full days notice before being allowed to marry which could be up to 70 days if the home office do further investigation (I've been told by two different councils that this usually doesn't happen with Fiance visas due to the required information being the same as the visa requirements).