Faster visa process for idiot married couple?

My boyfriend of 4.5 years and I tied the not in late August of this year. He lives in Seattle and I'm up in Vancouver. 2 years prior to this, we had looked into the different visas (K-1, namely). He had told me that he had spoken to someone at the Immigration office, who said that we can still get married (in Seattle), so long as I don't immigrate that same visit. They recommended that we use the I-130 visa for my immigration. He kept reassuring me that we can just fill out the form, and present it/file it to our border when I finally move down.

So we got married, and my suspicions were negated: I was able to enter and return as per usual without any problems. I sped up my school courseload so that I now have my Bachelors, had changed my contact information for all my bills, and put my notice in at work. All the while, I kept pushing to make sure he knew what he was doing, and to let me know if there's any forms or procedures (i.e. pertaining to my car or any medical exams) that we needed to confirm prior to "moving". He sounded so sure.

When I talked to him earlier tonight), he had bad news to report: the border officer had informed him that we actually cannot do what was described above with the I-130. In fact, the officer let my husband know that we have to wait for the I-130 to process and be approved (which can take from 6-12 months, from what I can understand) before I can come down to immigrate. I should've known this.
And we find this out the last week of my job!

Of course, I'm furious at myself (and even moreso at my husband). I had already notified my work of my last day, and now have to go back to see if I can continue as a part-time employee (if they'll even have me back!). It's embarassing to have to continue on for another year, after I've said many teary goodbyes.

I'm writing to inquire:

a) If anyone has gone through the same thing, but know of a faster way of immigrating down?

there is no faster way unfortunately, it takes as long as it takes.

for info on marriage based immigratoin to the US see http://www.visajourney.com Register there in the forums and you'll find all your answers. Specifically you'll want the CR1 forum for immigrant visa. As you're in Vancouver, you *might* want to consider having a look at the K3, but check the processing timelines, I'm not sure they're all that much faster than the CR1 to benefit from the extra fees and hassle.