so few days and so much to do

Add in the fact that my visa situation is now at risk b/c the NYC consulate has not "released" dates due to their perceived lack of demand.

I have a ton of stuff to ship over (I'm in the US to prepare for the wedding) - about how long is surface shipping? I won't be home until at least nov 3rd and shipping it today I don't want it to arrive until I'm home.

Oh - how do I avoid paying VAT? Some of this stuff is new and it was a gift so I'd rather not pay extra on top. Any suggestions?

I'm close to pulling my hair out with getting stuff together. I never want to do this again - too many decisions and too hard to pull off.

I don't really know how to get out of paying VAT, but if someone ever ships you anything make sure they put gift and under $50.

I've had two parcels sent to me from family members and ended up paying over £100 for VAT and other fees.

Since the gifts were unwanted (clothes that would look okay on a 60 year old, but not me), I ended up selling them on Ebay anyway!

I shipped about 10 boxes Surface in January. The first four arrived randomly throughout March and the last six arrived at the end of April. I did not have to pay VAT or any extra fees. I marked all of the boxes "Moving Pre-owned personal items." I did have a few things that were new, but I made sure to take off the price tags and wrapping.

Good Luck with everything! I'm sure its pretty stressful moving your stuff and getting ready for a wedding.

I totally sympathize with you. I'm in the midst of exactly the same thing---getting married this weekend, trying to get the visa the same week, and then moving over shortly after. It's insane!

I just moved my stuff out from my apartment to my Mom's house, and it seems that I have 3 x as much as I thought I had. I was hoping to get most of my stuff over to the UK by sending my fiance's parents and siblings home from the wedding with an extra bag each, but now I'm realizing that won't cut it. I'm going to get rid of a lot, but will still need to ship. I'm definitely going to be using M-bags for books as that seems to be the cheapest route by far...I've seen info about that on the moving board.

And the NY Consulate drove me mad! I was stalking them 2 weeks ahead of the day I wanted my appointment, and they were only opening up apointments for 1 week. So after a few days of watching this, I figured I could relax, and just check in the week before I wanted my appointment. Well I happened to check back a couple of days later, and found that the day that I wanted was up, so I grabbed it. I could have so easily missed it though. The weird part is the 2 days before my day weren't opened up yet. 

Good luck with everything! I know how you are feeling!

I don't have any advice, but hope it all goes smoothly.  Enjoy your wedding day