Several friends have asked us this question… so…
Q: What is a Wedding Road Trip?
A wedding road trip is a journey around the country to visit friends and family before a couple exchanges wedding vows. During the Wedding Road Trip, the bride and groom ask these friends and family members questions about life, love and marriage. Consider it the pre-marital counseling of 2009. (Okay, that a was a weak attempt to sound like a dictionary definition. But whatev.
Q: Doesn’t it make sense to take the trip after you get married? I think they call that a “honeymoon” in some cultures.
Yes, we are well aware of this thing you call a “honeymoon”. We totally support honeymoons, and go so far as to even encourage them. However, going on the trip after the wedding completely defeats the entire purpose of the Wedding Road Trip, which is to talk to our friends and family about marriage before we get married.
Q: Ok. But couldn’t you have given the trip a more original name… like Jaime and Chris’s US Takeover or something?
We decided it was in our best interest not to give the trip a name that would add us to the airport security Don’t Fly list. Wedding Road Trip is the most intuitive name for what we’re doing, and to be honest, we were shocked when we realized that the domain name wasn’t taken.
Q: So you’re driving around the country to visit friends and family before the wedding. Yada, yada, yada. I’ve totally done that before with my (boyfriend, girlfriend, fiance, secret lover). How is what you’re doing original?
It’s not our goal to be seen as groundbreaking. We came up with this idea for several reasons that include saving people money, spending quality time with friends and family, and preparing ourselves for our future together. That being said, this is not just a road trip around the country. This is a fact-finding mission. Marriage is serious stuff.
Q: So you’re going to annoy people with a bunch of questions and then skip town?
Hopefully it won’t roll out QUITE like that. We do have some things that we want to know, but our questions won’t take up every second of the time that we’re visiting with someone. Basically, Chris and I want people to tell us everything they think we need to know before we get married. At the end of each visit, we’ll have each person sign off on our future marriage, basically saying they’ve told us everything we need to know to succeed.
Q: Wait. SIGN OFF on your future marriage?
Well, most people have two witnesses to their marriages. We’re going to have two hundred and two. Of course, we are required by the Party Gods to celebrate after each signature. It’s only fair.
Q: Which means you’ll party in every city you visit?
Sort of. Really, it depends on the city and who is involved. But we’ll definitely put on our best Wedding Road trip gear- I’m going to have a special white dress and Chris will have a tux.
Q: Wait… you’ll wear the same dress and tux in every city?
Yep. But not the entire time. There’s hygiene to consider and we actually want to keep our friends and family.
Q: So at the end of the Wedding Road Trip you’ll get married, right?
Yes. We’re having a beach party with family and a few friends in August to sign the official documents.
Q: What if you get to the end of the road trip and you no longer want to get married?
Better to make that decision before we get married rather than after, wouldn’t you say?
Really, how cute are you two!!! Jaime, we are so excited to meet you! I have already blocked out the NYC dates, lets get on these plans
SO AWESOME!!!!
Hodges- looking forward to seeing you in a penguin suit.
Feel free to “annoy” us in Philly. We’d love to see you!
This is very good. Let us know if you bounce through NOLA.
wow, nice plans, chris! very innovative. and congratulations!!!
Very nice indeed. Can’t wait to read more as things progress!
h- I have looked at the jcrew dresses- my friend chrissy said the same thing about the material- I’m thinking about checking out one from Betsey Johnson- saw it the other day and fell in love. maybe I can get it on the cheap.
Well, whether you’re the first people to do it or not, I love your idea. That said, I’d never give up my traditional wedding (well, except for maybe the part when my uncle got really drunk and sang off-key prince songs. besides that)
When you come to the E.C., you have to dress up- hope you’ve been watching your Gossip Girl- no knockoff tuxes for these kids.
did you get one of those jcrew dresses that you heard about from your friend? I hear they’re kinda thin- material wise.
I am a little addicted to your blog right now. It scares me. I hope you end up married after this, though. You don’t want to end up becoming the runaway bride!