What did you do for your wedding?
 

So with the whole K1 visa situation, the thought of what I'd do for my wedding has troubled me. My fiance and I have come to the conclusion that a 'city hall' wedding is probably the best option, and my mum who's in England probably won't be able to attend.
What did everyone else do??
:wub:

Re: What did you do for your wedding?
 

We applied for the UK equivalent of a K-1 to bring my USC fiancee to the UK a couple of years ago. We did exactly what you're thinking about - small city hall wedding with just a few close friends and family. Fortunately her mum and several friends flew over for it. Then we had a big reception afterwards.

We're (hopefully) moving to the states later this year so we're planning to throw another big reception-type party over there for all the American folks who couldn't make it to the UK.

Re: What did you do for your wedding?
 

My now-husband came to the USA on a K-1 visa in 2004. Two weeks after his arrival, we were at the admin offices for his SSN application (about 4:00 pm). It happened to be the same building as the marriage license application, so we did that as well. Saw a sign that it was possible to get married the same day, so made a 5:30 appointment for that day. Rushed home to get the cash to pay the JP, called my sister and best friend to see if they could be witnesses, and rushed back to the courthouse to get married. He was wearing a red Nike T-shirt and jeans. I was wearing brown slacks and a blouse. My sister had professional clothing on, as she can right from work. My best friend had exercise wear on, as she dresses that way for her work, and she happened to have a break between clients to come to my wedding. :) We didn't take any pictures, and we never had the "fancy party" later, either. It was awesome, very special day! I will never forget it.

Rene

Re: What did you do for your wedding?
 

Rented a cabin in the mountains by a river (it slept about 12, a few stayed at near by hotels) for the weekend. Small with 19 people total. Set up seats on the deck, put up a canopy or two. good job too, as the heavens opened up in what had been a beautiful day, right as the ceremony started. Only religious officials could conduct ceremonies outside of City Hall in my state, but the one we hired did a good job of keeping it pretty much secular (checked web sites out of local clergy before hiring) he was oepn to word changes on his standard spiel (which he had on the web page)

It was a great weekend, family and friends, drinking in the hot tub, going for walks to local waterfalls. A couple of thousand dollars all in, mostly on cabin rental.

Re: What did you do for your wedding?
 

Do the ceremony where ever is most convenient and then have a showy ceremony to please whoever you want to please where they can get to it...

Re: What did you do for your wedding?
 

We had an an engagement/leaving party in Scotland and then got married in City Hall and had a small party here. Unfortunately my mother in law was at both!

Re: What did you do for your wedding?
 

Two weddings, one quick city hall wedding with parents and siblings only followed 6 months later by the big fat Jewish one.

Be careful, depending on the state and/or the officiant a ceremony that resembles a wedding is still a wedding and requires a license. Ergo I have two marriage certificates. Only the first one counts as far as USCIS cares.

Re: What did you do for your wedding?
 

We had a lovely, casual Sunday afternoon gathering of 10-12 at a friend's home. Dress was casual. We visited and drank coffee. The guys had to see the end of a NFL playoff game. Then we gathered on the lush patio to have the "ceremony". The officiant was a district judge I knew since childhood. He doesn't perform weddings normally, so I wrote him a script including the vows we had written. No bouquets, music, chairs, or bridesmaids...just close friends circled around while we spoke from our hearts. Then we cut our tiny wedding cake and did traditional wedding toasts.

My friends were so special in helping throw this together just days after POE. They brought real china plates/cups and crystal champagne flutes to give it a special occasion flair. One had 8 bottles of champagne left from another party so brought that. One made champagne punch in a fancy punch bowl. The host had lots of beer. All I paid for was the cake. I loved how it all came together as a happy gathering with close friends and required little effort on my part.

We had nobody from the UK. Offended his sis a bit, but we told her it was crazy to spend money to come see a 10 minute wedding ceremony. Besides, we didn't want to be stuck entertaining a housefull of guests before or after. We had just been with them at a family going away do.

Re: What did you do for your wedding?
 

Engagement party in Scotland, too.

Got married in a chapel garden near Gatlinburg - just outside the Smoky Mountain National Park. Family and friends came over and made a holiday out of it by renting cabins. We stayed for a week, so our 'honeymoon' was spent with family and friends, but given that I had just left them all behind, it was pretty apt. Was fun.

Re: What did you do for your wedding?
 

We had a nice size wedding (about 70 people) planned for the tail end of the 90 days when DH (then DF) was scheduled to arrive. As the time got nearer, we both thought it would be more beneficial for us to do a quickie wedding, not only to start the I-485 paperwork, but to get him added to my medical benefits as my spouse. The judge who married us used to be my supervisor, she was more than happy to marry us twice!

The family still doesn't know that we were married before the big day. We've been celebrating our January anniversary and have to remember to celebrate our March anniversary too since we still have family and friends ask us what we're doing for our anniversary... :rofl:

Re: What did you do for your wedding?
 

So did we! In Townsend, TN... Heartland Little River Wedding Chapel. Lovely place! :)

Ian

Re: What did you do for your wedding?
 

We "eloped" to NYC. Our families knew we were getting married, as we had originally had a full wedding planned in Scotland that we had to scrap 2 months before the ceremony due to visa problems.

My husband, a UKC, and I arranged for a non-denominational celebrant to marry us on the beach at Coney Island, with my best friend from high school, who happens to live in NYC, as the witness. The next day, we met up with an amateur/student photographer and had the most amazing (and inexpensive!) photos taken of us in our hotel and in Central Park. We stayed a few more days in NYC for our honeymoon.

After we returned to my home, my mum threw us a very small friends and family party with approximately 15 people. Very nice and casual, basically a BBQ. Perfect for my laid back family.

My husband then returned to Scotland, and a few months later I visited. During this visit, we held what was supposed to be a small "family" party at the local community hall. This "small" party ended up being 50-60 people with a full buffet!!!! My mother-in-law was in charge, and she was happy with the whole affair, and in the end, so was I.


We then had ANOTHER party while I was still in Scotland, where we rented out the local golf courses club house for an evening and had a friend's band play. This party was mainly for our friends in Scotland. Had an absolutely AMAZING time with about 60-80 people. Very casual and very fun! We enjoyed being able to let loose and not have to worry about the party being overly formal.

The funny thing is, originally we had planned to go off on our own and marry in Ireland with no one else there. We were talked into a big wedding by his mum, which was fine. After the wedding got cancelled, I wanted nothing to do with any receptions, but we basically ended up having three!!!:blink:

Re: What did you do for your wedding?
 

Married in our t shirts and jeans at the county jail.

Re: What did you do for your wedding?
 

Ah, ours was Chapel at the Park - was lovely too.

Not sure of the spam rules on here, so won't post a link, though the website address is rather obvious if anyone wants a peek.

Would recommend it to anyone reading who is looking for somewhere in that area.

Re: What did you do for your wedding?
 

We got married in a church across the street from the house we had rented in TN. The minister's name was Lonnie, his wife's name was Bonnie, and his daughter's name was Connie, and they were the only ones there. My parents and eldest daughter looked after the kids, all 6 of them, back in WV. That was 33 years ago.

Re: What did you do for your wedding?
 

My husband an I got married at the city Registry Office (the equivalent of city hall wedding). It was just his parents, a mutual friend and that was it. My relatives in the US couldn't make it. After that we took a week off and went up to Yorkshire and stayed in a cabin. It was lovely.

Re: What did you do for your wedding?
 

As my mum,family and friends wouldnt be attending i wanted a really low key wedding.

Firstly we thought that the local registry office at the county court would be fine - i had a vision of myself turning up in jeans, just the two of us, with a flower in my hair and being all bohemian - when we went to check it out I realised i didnt want it after all! We were having approx 25 guests and i didnt want them to have to go thro the airport style security checks for my wedding day and it all seemed a bit too sterile

In the end we opted for a lovely hotel - got married in the parlour then reception and dinner. It was very nice do!!! :)

The hard part was in the planning - I arranged it from UK - we got married a week after I arrived and there was a heck of a lot to do! Talk about multi tasking!!! Good luck with yours!

Re: What did you do for your wedding?
 

Me and the TAS also did K1 and got married at city hall 2 days after I landed. We just considered that to be another piece of paperwork for USCIS, so it was just us in shorts, the justice and the crazy gun people picking up their gun licenses at the same desk.
4 Months later we had a big (semi) traditional chinese wedding/banquet where we made our promises to each other and that's the date I started calling myself Mrs.
Lx

Re: What did you do for your wedding?
 

Went to the local internet shop run by the wife of the district headman and signed the necessary papers. A few days later went back and picked up the marriage certificates, one for each of us.

No wedding involved, not a requirement for getting married in her country.

Regards, JEff

Re: What did you do for your wedding?
 

Although we had already been planning a wedding (for 2006), we were sick of the long-distance and time apart - and trying to figure out visa options and timing - so while he was here on a long visit (in 2005), we decided to get married at the city hall of my hometown. We managed to do it exactly 1 year before the big fancy wedding we had already been planning - so the timing was perfect - and no need to remember two anniversaries!

His father flew over and the three of us drove through a hellish snow-storm to my hometown where we met up with my father, my sister and two very dear family friends - my late mother's best friend who has always been like a mother to me and her husband - who were to serve as witnesses.


The actual ceremony took only a few minutes. It was in a generic conference room at the city courthouse, but the bailiff had attempted to arrange the fake potted trees in such as way as to make it a little prettier. I remember both my husband and I got choked-up as we said the standard vows. Very sweet. Aterwards, my father treated every one to an amazing dinner at very nice restaurant and my sister surprised us with a beautiful cake. THEN, to my shock, my father and my (now) father-in-law, conspired for us to have a suite at a local B&B and filled it with roses and champagne. It was incredible!

After that, we all returned to life as normal and we continued planning our formal wedding for 2006 (which we referred to as our "marriage celebration"). For that event, many of my husband's family and friends flew in and it was a grand celebration - for a first anniversary! ;)

Re: What did you do for your wedding?
 

So sweet!:)

Re: What did you do for your wedding?
 

NY city hall. Originaly planned Central Park with + 2 people. Developed into city hall with about 6. i invited 2 best friends from the UK. Actually ended up as about 12 people. I regret not getting my parents over. It grew larger than planned at the last minute.

I wear a suit and Converse in my wedding photos.

Evening was wine and pizza in a very flash hotel room with about 20. Very classy affair.

Re: What did you do for your wedding?
 

we got married in Central Park, New York. We had a professional photographer, and professional videographer, and officiant, and flowers for less than $1000. we put the video on youtube and the photos on flickr for people at home