Wedding Website

Click on the words "Wedding Website" above to check out our new website and see all information about our wedding on February 4th, 2012!

Visa Journey

As you all can probably tell, I'm super excited to have a date set for the wedding! That means all of the other details of the wedding can start falling into place. I'll definitely be busy over the next several months!

Now the next step is getting Franchesco back to the United States! The process is supposed to take 5 months for our petition to be approved, and then there's another ~2 month waiting period for him to get an interview at the Consulate in Rio de Janeiro. The USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration) received our application on November 8, 2010 and so we are hoping to have the petition approved by April 8th. Then hopefully Franchesco can be back here around mid-June.

Unfortunately there's no guarantee that our papers will be approved within the 5 month average time frame. Franchesco found a website called http://www.visajourney.com/ where lots of other couples waiting for a K1 (fiance) Visa create a profile to track the process as they wait for an interview. We can create a timeline and then compare our timeline to other couples' to hopefully have a better idea of when our petition will be approved and Franchesco can get an interview for the Visa.

Our timeline looks something like this (below)...it's a long and complicated process! The I-129F is the petition we filled out. The NOA1 was our first "Notice of Action" that they received our paperwork, and now we are waiting for the NOA2, which takes an average of 5 months, but really could be at any time. Once we receive the NOA2 we will have a better idea when Franchesco will be able to interview and when he'll be able to plan his trip back to the U.S.

Please keep us and this process in your prayers!!

K1 Visa
Event	Date
Service Center :	California Service Center
Consulate :	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
I-129F Sent :	2010-11-05
I-129F NOA1 :	2010-11-08
I-129F RFE(s) :
RFE Reply(s) :
I-129F NOA2 :
NVC Received :
NVC Left :
Consulate Received :
Packet 3 Received :
Packet 3 Sent :
Packet 4 Received :
Interview Date :
Interview Result :
Second Interview (If Required):
Second Interview Result:
Visa Received :
US Entry :
Marriage :	2012-02-04  

Save the Date!

It's official! Our wedding date is going to be:

February 4th, 2012

at The Cork Factory Hotel in Lancaster, Pennsylvania!!



Invitations

I've always loved stationery. I remember when I was a kid I would store all kinds of pretty paper and notecards in my desk, but I would very rarely use any of it! When I got to high school I loved buying pretty paper with colorful designs for my scrapbooks and to this day, I still love shopping the office supplies/stationery aisle when I'm out at the store.

It comes as no surprise that I really enjoy looking around online to find the perfect wedding invitations! I'm still looking within the purple/gray color palette and I tend to be drawn to more simplistic/modern designs. Here are a couple that have caught my eye, both with a "lights" theme:

A lot of people say "don't spend a lot of money on the invitations, people just throw them away," and although it's not necessary to spend a fortune, I do think the stationery is an important part of setting the tone for the whole wedding. When I find something I love, I am also planning on using other stationery (save the dates, thank you notes, etc.) that coordinate with the invitations, and maybe even continuing the theme throughout the event :)

Let me know what you think of these or if you see any you think I might like!

Say Yes to the Dress

I forgot to include this in my last post...I bought a wedding dress!!! I didn't even get to go shopping with my friends/family back home (still want to do that at some point, just for the experience), but I found a beautiful Demetrios dress and got a great deal on it! I couldn't pass it up :) I would love to post pictures, but we all know that a certain someone out there is not allowed to see it until the wedding day, so everyone else out there will have to wait too.

It seems as though the wedding planning is progressing pretty well at this point. I have yet to see how the long-distance planning process goes as we get closer to the wedding date :)

Weekend in PA

Hi everyone! I thought I would take a moment to fill you all in on my trip to Pennsylvania last weekend to begin wedding planning. Thanks to Alicia, Allie, Angeli, Rachel, Mom, Grandma and Aunt Jackie for spending some/all of the weekend with me :) It was great to see all of you!

The main festivities were a "sleepover"/brunch at my house, a visit to the PA Wedding Expo at the West Shore Country Club, and a tour of a couple hotels that I am considering for the wedding venue. I checked out a couple of places in Harrisburg, but my absolute favorite was and still is The Cork Factory Hotel in Lanacaster. I LOVED it! I was not at all disappointed and I think I actually liked it better in person than in the pictures. Sounds like The Cork Factory Hotel might be it :)

I'll post more details soon!