Q8: Why are you having two wedding ceremonies?

A8: Our immigration attorney recommended this route as the most ethical and likely to be approved, even though it makes things a little complicated. The way the K-1 fiancé visa works, we waited 11 months after filing (which we did in December 2023), before Giuly sat for an interview at the Colombian embassy in Bogota. Now that her visa is approved, she is allowed to travel to the US in January and must have a legal wedding officiated within 90 days of entering the country.

Our plan is to have a religious wedding officiated in Colombia on December 26, 2024, so we are married before God prior to Giuly moving to the States. Setting the date for the civil ceremony officiated in Orlando as March 29, 2025 gave enough buffer time if the visa took longer to process, without exceeding the 90 day window.

Our thought is that the civil ceremony will be more of a celebration of the covenant that has already been established under God at the wedding in Colombia (Ephesians 5:31-32) while showing honor to the legal requirements of the civil authorities that God has sovereignly placed over us (Romans 13:1).

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