Getting married? How to arrange it around training and placements?

[CHPfiancee]

My future chippy and I are planning on getting married, but all this is kind of putting a damper on things. I want to set a date, make plans, etc (this is obviously something I have to plan ahead) but is he going to have a free 2 weeks in the first year and a half? I have been reading the forums, and it looks like most guys have about 10 days free in between academy and work, but we will probably have to be moving then obviously...

On the first year of probation, are they allowed to take off time for a wedding and honeymoon? I want to be sooooooo supportive of him (I need to be, we live together!) but when I heard this might hurt the one thing I've been dreaming about for years... I admit shamefully I got a little mad :cry:. Maybe it's a non-issue though, and he can take time off like any normal job? Any voices of experience here?

Also, has anyone ever had to be separated from their man? I'm majoring in psychology right now, and while I could transfer to most UC colleges, what if he isn't even remotely near one? Or he's near the worst one. How are you keeping up your career goals and your chippy? I hope the only answer isn't following him around everywhere with no regard for myself.

Thanks for your time! I'm going to get my fiance on this tomorrow! He'll be so happy to see this.

[cal911gal]

He will earn annual leave (vacation time) from his date of hire (from when he starts the Academy.) My suggestion to you both would be this: wait until he's graduated, assigned to an area, and then plan your wedding after he is able to sign up for vacation. They may let him do this (sign up) right away, or they may make him wait until he's off break in, or....there are numerous possibilities, I imagine it depends on which area office he gets. So yes, he will get an opportunity to take vacation, but his choice may be very limited due to being at the bottom of seniority. So find out what he gets, then plan :) Or, get married now - and wait to do the big reception and honeymoon :)

As to your schooling, I'd continue on where you are. If you are able to maintain your household while he's in the Academy, do so, and continue school. After all, that's 6 months and another term or two, depending on the time of year. Also, even if you are enrolled UC, you can transfer to CSU easily, and several CSU campuses have wonderful psychology programs. He won't know until a few weeks before graduation where he will be assigned, and depending on what time of year it is, you might be mid-semester at that point. So you might even want to wait to move for a month or two so you can finish that term. I'd also start exploring the possibility of finishing your degree program online. UoP has facilities all over the state, and you could do the majority of your work at home and report in once weekly for exams and presentations, etc. If you end up living close to a campus you don't like, chances are there is at least one more within a decent driving distance that would be an acceptable alternative. Take the time now to explore some of these campuses on your time off, so that when it comes to needing to apply to transfer, you have several good options available to you.

Good luck to you both!!!

[Mom]

On the first year of probation, are they allowed to take off time for a wedding and honeymoon? I want to be sooooooo supportive of him (I need to be, we live together!) but when I heard this might hurt the one thing I've been dreaming about for years... I admit shamefully I got a little mad :cry:. Maybe it's a non-issue though, and he can take time off like any normal job? Any voices of experience here?Yes, they will have time off. My son is getting married soon. He graduated with the last class and is on break in. He has a week off for the wedding and honeymoon. So, yes, it can be done, BUT, he will need to wait til break in to start planning. You won't know where he is or what he can get off until he is there. So, you can plan the colors, the cake, etc... Just not the date.

[Chippysgt]

Just commenting on UC. There are ten campus locations. It is fairly easy for a cadet to be initially assigned to an office in the Los Angeles area and UCLA is certainly a great school. I am not sure which the worst is unless you mean Berkeley. The school is a great research university but the community sucks in my humble opinion. Cadets occasionally go to Santa Cruz or Santa Barbara, both very expensive communities. Lots go to the Orange County offices with Irvine in the area. Probably not much danger of being close to UC Davis or UC San Diego right out of the academy. UC Merced is now an option and it is possible but not likely to get an assignment to Merced or Los Banos from the academy. It has happened but not frequently.

[jrsfan]

I am in school full time and my hubby is graduating from Camp Snoopy in April. He will move wherever, and I will finish this term then join him in May. I am just transferring to the nearest decent CSU to where we move. I really love my school, and wanted to stay here for that last year. But, as you will learn the life of a Chippy wife means compromise. I would rather be with him, experiencing break-in and the new life, than stay here for my schooling. It's also much cheaper to only pay for housing in one town!

As for Merced, they are taking 5 on this list. Los Banos is taking 1. It's a rarity, but it is possible. We are hoping for Merced (obviously).

[Mom]

As for Merced, they are taking 5 on this list. Los Banos is taking 1. It's a rarity, but it is possible. We are hoping for Merced (obviously).
Oh man!! What the luck!

[OfficerWife]

About being separated from your fiance/husband...yeah, it was tough for me at first. Shoot, I was nervous about it from the moment he got the invitation to the academy. But, I think it gets a little easier each week. Aside from not being able to see him or even being able to call him whenever I want to, taking over the responsibilities that were always his took some getting used to also. He normally does all of our bills, etc. Even silly things like remembering to take out the trash (something he always did and I never even thought about) or having to dig out tools to assemble something that I bought from the store, takes getting used to, however I think it has made me appreciate all that he does even more and these are things that I should know how to do anyway :wink:

I know 6 months sounds like a long time, but it sure is flying by! Feel free to PM if you have any questions :biggrin:

[BunnyHunter]

About being separated from your fiance/husband...yeah, it was tough for me at first. Shoot, I was nervous about it from the moment he got the invitation to the academy. But, I think it gets a little easier each week. Aside from not being able to see him or even being able to call him whenever I want to, taking over the responsibilities that were always his took some getting used to also. He normally does all of our bills, etc. Even silly things like remembering to take out the trash (something he always did and I never even thought about) or having to dig out tools to assemble something that I bought from the store, takes getting used to, however I think it has made me appreciate all that he does even more and these are things that I should know how to do anyway :wink:

I know 6 months sounds like a long time, but it sure is flying by! Feel free to PM if you have any questions :biggrin:

I agree 100% with cadetwife...wait do we ever disagree :think:.
I am here also if you have any more questions.

I personally wouldn't want to get married during his stay at Camp Snoopy, and we aren't going to. We are going to wait until after so we can both be in on the planning and be able to take the time off to enjoy the moments. I'm all for waiting.

[CHPfiancee]

About being separated from your fiance/husband...yeah, it was tough for me at first. Shoot, I was nervous about it from the moment he got the invitation to the academy. But, I think it gets a little easier each week. Aside from not being able to see him or even being able to call him whenever I want to, taking over the responsibilities that were always his took some getting used to also. He normally does all of our bills, etc. Even silly things like remembering to take out the trash (something he always did and I never even thought about) or having to dig out tools to assemble something that I bought from the store, takes getting used to, however I think it has made me appreciate all that he does even more and these are things that I should know how to do anyway :wink:

I know 6 months sounds like a long time, but it sure is flying by! Feel free to PM if you have any questions :biggrin:

You know, I'm not even worried about the academy...maybe I'll use that free time to not procrastinate and get everything done during the week! hehe. We live right by the academy so I'll see him every Wednesday and weekends, unlike some of you I'm sure :( wow I didn't even think about that, I probably have it really easy since we are in the area. Some of you must never see your guys.
Well I'm guess I'm going to have to figure out how to plan a wedding and honeymoon in a ten day slot...

Oh and anyothr question since I have everyone here...he has his pilot's license and is undergoing instrument training now. I read somewhere he has to wait 4 years before entering the CHP pilot training after being officially hired. But then I talked to an officer a few weeks ago who said the opposite...
any thoughts on that? Might be too specific, but thank you all the brave ladies and even braver officers that have taken the time to answer my questions! I really, really appreciate it

[dw]

I read somewhere he has to wait 4 years before entering the CHP pilot training after being officially hired. But then I talked to an officer a few weeks ago who said the opposite...I'm not sure where you would have seen that. Without looking it up, I believe the mandatory time on before going to AirOps is one year. It may have been two in the past. Either way, if he is all set (300 hours, instrument & commercial) and is willing to work where we need pilots, anything is possible.

[jrsfan]

Well I'm guess I'm going to have to figure out how to plan a wedding and honeymoon in a ten day slot...



Why do you need to get married in that slot? Why not wait until break-in is over? Also, I am here if you need advice as well.

[Chippysgt]

As for Merced, they are taking 5 on this list. Los Banos is taking 1. It's a rarity, but it is possible. We are hoping for Merced (obviously).[/quote]

You would be lucky to get Merced. We lived there for 20 years, we were very active in the community and it is a pretty darn good place to live. The summers are very hot. It is not uncommon for it to be over 100 for weeks at a time. High PGE bills for AC from June until October. Nice place for a pool. The housing market is very depressed. It is truly a buyers market to the max. You can get a really nice custom house in the high 200s to low 300s. I would recommend resale rather than new. The new housing is very small lots and questionable construction. The market is flooded with resales of people eagar to sell. We had a really nice custom and it sold in Sept of last year for around 400K and that was 200K less then comparables were selling in 2005. It took us 2years and 3 months to find a buyer. This was the house in Merced.
http://www.visualtour.com/shownp.asp?T=1151844

Our realtor never took the video down. By the way, if you get to Merced and need a realtor, I highly recommend the realtors whose names are on the video.

[Jeff Rhea]

I trained a couple of officers in LB and was there when 5 more came in from the Academy. I bought my custom home there in 2000 for $235k and sold it in 2004 for 500k. The buyers were looking to flip it. It is still on the market, now at 247k. ChppySgt. is right, buy used, you can get some great deals in the Valley right now and UC Merced is a new campus. LB and Merced are both very decent communities. The Merced office is new and has a great management team.

If you are living together now, I'd say wait on the nuptuals. In 25 years a few months or a year won't make a difference, how you remember your wedding and honeymood will. If you wait a year until he is off of break-in, then you can bank some money and do it right during a time of year of your choosing - kinda, sorta, maybe.

[jrsfan]

Yeah, we are used to the weather. We own a home in Clovis, and have lived in the Fresno area a long time. We have Merced, Coalinga, Los Banos, and Modesto in the first four spots on our list. Hopefully we get one, and we can stay in our house. If not, we're off to LaLaLand!

[SMCV01]

I am somewhat in a similar situation. Although my fiance and I have talked about it and we have decided to wait a little less than a year once he's out of the academy to get married. I know the average cost of a wedding is about $25,000 so the time will be well used to save money. Good luck in planning your wedding I'm sure you'll be a very busy woman while he's at the academy making all the arrangements. I know I am already.

[JavGonz]

I am somewhat in a similar situation. Although my fiance and I have talked about it and we have decided to wait a little less than a year once he's out of the academy to get married. I know the average cost of a wedding is about $25,000 so the time will be well used to save money. Good luck in planning your wedding I'm sure you'll be a very busy woman while he's at the academy making all the arrangements. I know I am already.


Wow, $25K for a wedding... I would rather buy a new car and get hitched through the registrar for $50. But thats just me.

[Stargrl]

Wow, $25K for a wedding... I would rather buy a new car and get hitched through the registrar for $50. But thats just me.

A new car... a VERY nice honeymoon... a nice downpayment on a house. There's a lot of things you could do with the cash. You can have a nice wedding for about $5,000 and still do a lot with that $20K :cool:

[cg+fd2chp]

[quote=Jeff Rhea;45374] I bought my custom home there in 2000 for $235k and sold it in 2004 for 500k. The buyers were looking to flip it. It is still on the market, now at 247k. quote]


Ouch :doh:

[LovemyCADET08]

Hi all!

Here is our two cents. We are planning a small wedding in January, when we found out about the academy, we decided to keep planning all he details and wait on the date. We don't live together and have a lot of family out of state which makes it a little challenging, but we are keeping things small and will fill in the date as we go....We didn't want to just get married and do the bigger ceremony later and we did not want to wait until a year after the academy...

So I guess you will need to look at what your priorities are and figure it out from there. We can do a small wedding anytime, we are doing our honeymoon when he is able to take some time off (we figure about two years for 10 days, but hopefully sooner:biggrin:) and that will give us time to save the money for a nice honeymoon. Our priority was to have a smaller wedding sooner and we just worked everything else around it. If yours is a nice big dually planned wedding and an immediate honeymoon, then you might be better off to wait until he is placed.

My cadet also decided it would be a nice distraction on the weekends to plan details of the wedding when he gets liberty. We will see if he still has that opinion after this first week, but just in case, I have all his ideas to integrate...:hitwall:

Good luck and welcome to the family....It is an adjustment at first but you'll get there....Keep us posted on the plans...I am fabulous at picking out favors! :biggrin:

[CAHPDist2X]

I got married during my second ride a long weekend. It worked okay for me because all I had to do was show up.
Your big challange is going to be when you move to his first assignment. He will have an exciting new job with new friends but, if you're not careful, you will be sitting around not knowing anyone and bored. I'm sure he will be able to get a metro assignment near a school and it will be important for you to keep just as challanged as he will be.

[G-Man]

Wow, $25K for a wedding... I would rather buy a new car and get hitched through the registrar for $50. But thats just me.

That is just an average. My wife and I (by that I mean mostly my wife:biggrin:) spent nearly double that.

And it all depends on the area office when it come to getting vacation your first year. I didn't get vacation until the year after I got to my Office because of when I reported and when vacation sign-ups were. On the opposite side of the spectrum, some people get vacation within the first few months after break-in. It all depends on the Office and their SOP.

Personally, I think you should have to make it off of probation before you can take vacation, but I don't make the rules.:cool:

[Sampa]

I was very lucky...my wedding cost $35, it paid by my father in law:wink: (he insisted as a joke so he could say he paid for the wedding!).
Instead of spending the money on a wedding, we went ahead and bought our first house...worked really well, we sold it and made good money and the wedding was cool too, in a little town hall in New York.

Good luck to all the "girls" planning a wedding.

[PapaBear]

You can get married on any given day your fiance is free.

As for the honeymoon, well, if you want to get away for more than a week, you will probably have to wait at least six months.

As for a vacation, plan on a WINTER get-away for a few years...:lol: Seniority plays big on vacations.

There are a number of schools in Southern California that are within commute distance to one-another, so you will have lots to choose from: CSSB (San Bernardino), CSLB (Long Beach), CSF (Fullerton), CalPoly (Kellogg Campus), CSLA (Los Angeles), UCLA, CSDH (Dominguez Hills), UCI (Irvine). If you go further South there is CSSD (San Diego) and USD.

Good luck to you both.

[LoveMyChippy]

I was in the same situation as you were. We were engaged during his time at the academy. We planned our wedding for 2 weeks after break-in. He had 1 week off so we were able to go away for a few days. Within his first year he was able to get a more substantial vacation so we went away again then. It worked out well. Just make sure you allow 3-4 months for break-in after the academy. As for trying to plan it for the 10 days between graduation and break-in, I wouldn't try it. Those 10 days were filled with moving and trying to learn the area.

[taliwags84]

Hello all~ I just found this site and I think it's really great! My fiance just started the CTC III-08 class last Monday. I am in the same situation as CHPfiance. We have been engaged since May of 2007. We are trying to plan our wedding for next year but it's so hard to start planning b/c we have no idea where he'll be stationed or how much vacation he gets. Also, I am applying to all the UC schools this fall for the following fall. I am nervous about doing so b/c who knows where he'll be living?? I will try to pick one that is close to him but it's difficult not knowing if we will be apart or not.

[CHPWife]

Hello all~ I just found this site and I think it's really great! My fiance just started the CTC III-08 class last Monday. I am in the same situation as CHPfiance. We have been engaged since May of 2007. We are trying to plan our wedding for next year but it's so hard to start planning b/c we have no idea where he'll be stationed or how much vacation he gets. Also, I am applying to all the UC schools this fall for the following fall. I am nervous about doing so b/c who knows where he'll be living?? I will try to pick one that is close to him but it's difficult not knowing if we will be apart or not.

Well, if you pick a school in the Greater Los Angles area (Ventura County thru Orange County) you can be almost guaranteed he can get to an office within driving distance.