Wedding Planning

[amber02888]

I am recently engaged and hoping/praying there will be a way to plan a traditional wedding.  My fiance leaves April 30th from DallasTexas to basic in Great Lakes then the plan is San Antonio for A School - he's going to be a Corpsman.  He wants to be FMF, but we won't know until much later on.  We're assuming he'll be able to take leave between A School and his next training/school or wherever he will go from there and get married in that timeframe.  Any feedback on who to talk to, if anyone, and if this a possibility?

Thanks!

[AbigaeLanai]

I'm sure this is possible I'm just concerned about you setting a date and it not working. My then boyfriend, now fiance, was sent to A-school in Pensacola. For whatever reason his schooling was delayed by a few months. He was expected to be leaving Pensacola in April and he didn't leave until August! He was able to come home for two weeks, which is why I think you doing this is possible. But If you're going to do it you should just be aware that things can change, nothing is ever set in stone, and that may make setting a date hard. If you are going to do this I'd suggest waiting until he's begun school and knows when he will be finishing because once he's started they should be able to give him a finishing date and from there you can know when he will be able to be home for a wedding. I hope this helps! Good Luck :) 

[Anti M]

Leave after A school is almost always a certainty, a week to ten days  in most cases.  What is not locked in is how long he will be at A school, he may have to wait to class up.  The hold times are too unpredictable to "save a date".   He will not be able to get a concrete answer until he checks into his A school, even then it may be "hurry up and wait, we won't know until it happens." 

Be flexible, do what you can, but never put money down with any vendor or venue who will not honor a military clause.  The save the date cards are one thing which may not happen, but otherwise you should be able to pull it off.  Just be prepared to be creative and again, flexible.  

Congrats!  You can do this!

[EmilyNicole98]

The leave between A-school and moving to a duty station is probably the best time to have it. However, you can't plan the date until he actually starts classes at A-school. There is almost always a delay so his projected graduation date could be off by several weeks or even several months. He should in theory get about 2 weeks of leave after a school as long as he has time saved up. However, know that you will not be on his orders if you do this...unless you just sign the papers early on in a school and have a wedding after it's over. If you are not married when he gets his orders during a school, the Navy will not pay to move you. If his home of record is far away from where you live, that could create some issues. We ended up paying for our own move because it was too complicated.

We had the big traditional wedding back in 2013 (it should be noted that this is rare - not a single one of our military friends had anything other than a courthouse wedding. I know a few people that had a fancier wedding but it was planned super quickly, like in a matter of days or weeks and only a few people were there...so sort of in the middle of a traditional wedding and a courthouse wedding). He actually deployed immediately after A school...the ship had deployed in August, he graduated in October, he was given 2 weeks off and then he was flown out to the ship. When he returned, he waited a month and then took his 2 weeks post-deployment leave and flew home. But that was super stressful because we were worrying about the deployment being extended. Which is why booking a venue and vendors that would allow you to cancel is super super important!

[⚓️Brittany⚓️]

I know you are wanting a traditional one so did I. My boyfriend is in basic right now and going to san antonio after. We've heard the best way to do it is in A school when they have liberty on weekends but youd have to do it close to his A school. We are doing courthouse first so we can get my stuff processed so we know for sure im on his orders and then a few months later have the traditional wedding and honeymoon put on hold till we know he can get off for sure. One thing I learned in these 2 weeks of basic training is there is no way I am staying behind if we can help it and asmuch as I wanted that traditional wedding being married is all I care about anymore!