For those of you who were married..

Just a quick question I've been wondering about lately. I've read that if you get a fiance(e) visa, you have 6 months to the date to get married. So for those of you who have done this and had a big ceremony, did you feel that 6 months was enough time to plan a wedding and make arrangements for your friends/family to come? Or did you just have a quick wedding?

Oh sorry I just realized there's an actual wedding board. So sorry!

Hi there, I didn't see if you reposted this in the Hitching Post.  Anyway, I came here on a fiancée visa, and planned a traditional wedding well within the 6 months.  We had a proper church wedding, followed by a reception at a stately house-hotel, where most of the out-of-town guests stayed as well.  We had the 3-tiered cake, the photographer, the DJ, tons of flowers, a 4-course meal, everything.  It's amazing what you can accomplish when you don't have to go to work everyday (because the government won't let you).  And to top it off, our wedding was in Scotland, and we live in London.  So even though I was in the UK, planning a UK wedding, it was still a long-distance thing.  It's easy nowadays with internet and emails.

We researched the various wedding suppliers in Scotland, and also asked for some recommendations from friends and family.  We made an itinerary and went up for a long weekend.  We had all of our appointments and made all of our bookings.

As soon as we set the date, I called my mom in the US, and she spread the word.  I sent out "save the date" notices to the guests.  I also wrote a wedding website with information about flight options, ground transportation, hotels, etc.  We even booked coaches to collect everyone from the airport as their flights were landing.  We had people coming from 4 countries. 

It turned out to be the best wedding I've ever attended. 

I wasn't on a fiance visa, but I did ours in about 6 months anyway, I think.... It was plenty of time but we didn't have a huge do. We had a registry office wedding with just our closest friends and dh's oldest sister and then had a casual party near our house for his family and our friends. Then for our first anniversary we went to the US and had a big party for my family. The only thing that really needs to be done immediately are booking the registry office you want and booking a hall for the party - we got married on a Monday so the registry wasn't that busy and we had our party at a football club which, even though it was a match day, was quite easy to book. The catering I booked maybe a month out. I did the cake myself - got three tiers from M&S and a friend made the topper. The photographer was someone just getting started in the business so he was cheap and not over booked. I walked to a local florist the morning of the wedding and picked out some pretty flowers for a bouquet which I just had the girl hand-tie.

Ours was done in 2 weeks. All of it. Marriage license was the longest wait. We had ours on a weekday as well, and pretty much everyone I wanted to be there from USA was either already here, or coming over for a visit. We were able to book the pub which was only a short walk from the Registry Office, and we let them cater. I was actually impressed with the selection of foods and the music we had available. I made the cake myself, and the wedding gifts were all dropped off at my MIL's house, so that saved space. We were surprised at how well it turned out as the wedding was actually a sort of thrown together, like a last minute thing. We had plans for a huge wedding, and the date was actually 4 months ahead of when we actually got married, but we just couldnt wait, and everyone understood. It felt like fate or something, the way everything came together. The date the registry office gave us as available was perfect timing for my best friend/maid of honor to be in the UK on a visit. Even to this day, we still talk about how well things went. My husband said it was the first time he had ever experienced anything in Liverpool being that expidited, and efficient. I told him all it took was an american touch. Great laugh until he askes me if the dishes are going to get an "american touch" too! hahahaahha

Ours took a month to plan but that was basically getting all the necessary paperwork and meetings done at the registry office- I was here on a work permit at the time.

I think it depends on what sort of wedding you're hoping to have!

Congratulations 

We had our wedding in the US (and we're both American), so I know this is a little different. But, I was able to plan our wedding in three weeks (immigration issues sped the whole thing up quite a bit.)  And, not to pat myself on the back too much, but it was a pretty great wedding, held Houston's La Colombe D'Or (which is supposedly a pretty big deal, though I didn't know that when I was planning it.) I was able to find a wedding planner, wedding stylist, and the whole shibang in about a week, and they all did an amazing job and made me look like I had done a great job with very little notice!

If I (of all people) could pull something like that off in three weeks, then anything is possible in six months. Good luck! 

We were engaged in June and married November 5th of 2005.  We had a big (80 people, but the church is cathedral size!) wedding - choir, bells, horse and carriage, the whole bit!  The reception was really nice as well.  We had a marquee, DJ (so we didn't have to deal with finding a band) and then the rest i.e. flowers, etc...  I had my bridesmaids dresses made by a friend and they were great!  We did CDs of our favorite music as favors.  I had a brand new dress that needed alterations.

So, yes it can be done and you don't have to scrimp on details due to the time factor.  $$ can be a different story!!  But you just choose what's important to you and then save in other ways.  I got my visa mid-july.

I don't know where you live, but if you need any help with vendors, don't hesitate to ask!!!

We started the legwork/planning before becoming officially engaged.  His sister had already started looking at reception venues (her wedding is this coming August) so we already had some leads.  Plus I joined www.hitched.co.uk.  We got officially engaged on the 13th of February 2005 and got married the 24th of Feb this year.  Depending on how organized your hubby-to-be is and the timing of visits you can get a lot done before coming over on the fiancee visa.  I was here twice between the date we got engaged and moving - the first trip we got engaged and looked at reception venues.  The second trip his parents threw us an engagement party and we looked at photographers!

I came on the fiancee visa -- but our initial plans for the date/venue fell through due to the timing of my visa (when it was dated -- start/expiry).  Disgusted -- we put off planning for a few months.  Eventually, we got lucky finding a nice local venue with an open Saturday, and pulled the whole thing together in approx one month (with about 5 days to spare before the fiancee visa expired).  There's a theory that you can shrink or expand completing a task to fit the time available.

I agree with what StuzMrs said about your having time to do things when you're not working.

I agree with what StuzMrs said about your having time to do things when you're not working.

Definitely - I had lots of time to make the decorations and such in the months leading up to the wedding.