How did you decide where to get married?

[Boston's girl]

We just started talking about this....I said Vegas...he said beaches. He wins .

Hawaii is the current discussion point

[80anthea]

We have decided on getting married near his home. The main factors are:
- I've been through it all once before so my family/friends have been to one wedding, he's never been married and HOPEFULLY never will again so I want his family to experience it more than mine.
- We're hoping to live in the UK eventually so we'll probably have a mini celebration when all that happens over here to make up for the wedding in the states.

As to where exactly we're going to get married, that is a trickier one. Neither of us are Christian whereas he lives in practically what is the bible belt and so everyone there will expect us to marry in a church. We won't as we don't believe in it and it wouldn't feel right for us. So the hunt continues for somewhere relatively nice to do it and someone to do a nice non-religious ceremony.......

[snow]

How did you decide where to get married and have your wedding?
I think we just both knew what was going to happen and when he said he would find it unfair to his family if we did it in austria, I could only agree.

Was it a tough decision?
No. We knew from the beginning we would live together in America, so it was really no big deal.

Did both families attend?
We are not married yet, but my siblings have told me that they are saving for tickets to be with me for our wedding, which of course makes me very happy. My parents won't come. I can understand it though, my parents don't speak a word english and they are scared to embarass themselves, so I don't blame them. They said they would give us money for tickets so we can come down for our honeymoon.

What were your deciding factors?
One major thing was his family. They have been supportive of our relationship from the very beginning and accepted me as part of theirs from the moment they saw me with him. It would have been unfair to take this away from them, when my family didn't even want me to get married to him in the first place. Another thing was the possible visas we could apply for. We knew the CR-1 was not for us and the I-129F requires you to get married in America, so that was it :P

[Sunbeam]

We're probably just having two "weddings." (A ceremony in WA, celebration in WV more than likely.)
Nothing is concrete yet, because we couldn't close the distance permanently in WV, and I would like to be in WA before we really start to plan.
The reason behind this is my closest family (my aging grandparents)/the only people I really care about being at my wedding, could not travel across the country for it, and his family wouldn't have the funds to travel (unless my grandparents wanted to foot the bill for 4-6 more people). So we feel it would work out better that way.

[itsjen516]

I asked him if it's ok to do it here in NY since all my friends are here and I always dreamed of a wedding. Where he is from in Utah they don't do the whole party thing or anything they keep it simple and I just wanted more. So after taking we agreed to marry in NY then have an open house in Utah so it works out perfect

[Davidvs]

We both want a small wedding. Since she would be coming here for the first time on a K-1 its logical that the wedding be in the US, with just my immediate family and two or 3 friends. After her change in status is approved, we would go back to her home and have a similar sized ceremony there.

[snow]

We both want a small wedding. Since she would be coming here for the first time on a K-1 its logical that the wedding be in the US, with just my immediate family and two or 3 friends. After her change in status is approved, we would go back to her home and have a similar sized ceremony there.

Have you met in person yet? I checked out your posts, but couldn't find if you did. Just figured I'd let you know that you need to prove that you have met wihhin the past 2 years to apply for the K-1 visa unless this marriage was arranged through a marriage broker (i think that is what it is called?)

Just a heads up since you said it would be the first time your SO would visit the states

[Davidvs]

Snow, correct..

We have not met yet. I will be visiting her in the Philippines in the late summer or early fall for the first time, then a return trip for a proposal when (if) we are ready and then setting the target date for her to come here. The idea of getting married there first is not practical for us, since she would likely not get a tourist visa, and obviously she needs to see if she likes the US and could adapt to being away from her family.

Of course, we've only been dating for a little under 2 months so this is all pure speculation and assuming that things work out 2+ years down the road... but the subject of what kind of wedding each of us want came up one day and that's the plans that we both had in mind...

Thank you for the heads up though.

[Yaaamiii]

Lucky for me, my SO and I are from the ssme city, we just went away to different colleges. Both our families are in our home city so for us it was easy. I guess it would have depended on what was better for us overall if we had been from different cities.

[RedWhirlwind]

We ended up deciding to go back to the town where we met, since his dad lives there and most of my friends are still there also. The rest of both our families are meeting us there. We originally were thinking Vegas since we're both out west, but we decided on NC so his ailing grandmother could be part of the party. If we'd done Vegas, no WAY would she have been willing to go, lol. Even NC may be too much excitement for her.

Since I'm familiar with that town, it was relatively easy for me to work out the logistics even from across the country, and the fact that we both wanted as simple and low-key as possible helped. When all is said and done, we're looking at less than $3000 for 10 of hotel/rental car, the dinner for 30 people, park rental, marriage license, and airfare. I'm sure we'll spend close to that in food/alcohol eating out for 10 days though, lol.

[Thecrow51]

My family is split between New York and Florida and his family was split between Texas and Oklahoma, we decided since someone on either side would have to travel regardless we decided to get married on a Disney Cruise. I love Disney and really wanted a Beach wedding and they offered it during their Caribbean cruises so it just seemed perfect and it was!. we had a group of 29 people join us on a 3 day Bahama cruise and it was beautiful. The entire process actually pushed me to decide I wanted to be a travel agent with a specialty in Disney. If any one has any questions about my wedding or would like help looking into options let me know, ill be happy to help.

[Anoulie]

Since our relationship is a cross-continental one, we're definitely going to have two weddings (or even three because Germany is complicated). The plan right now is we'll probably get married in Germany in a court hall first, then in a German church (they don't let yu get married in a church here unless you're already legally married) a few days later, and then have a church ceremony for his relatives and friends in the US a few months later.
Since we'll live in Germany at least for a few years after getting married, having a German marriage license would probably be a good idea (we wouldn't have to have it translated for the authorities when he needs it for his visa), but I'm not opposed to officially getting married in the US, either. We'll see