When we first came up with the idea of WVT on a flight back from two friends’ wedding, I naively thought that it would be super-fun and super-easy to plan. Instead of having to make everything happen on Just One Day, we would easily be able to work around our friends’ and families’ schedules. In short, I thought this non-traditional wedding format would absolve me from the responsibility of making difficult wedding-related decisions. I was blindly saying “yes” to any and all possibilities and using the word “flexibility” to respond to any question beginning with when. Colorado? We’re there! Canada? No problem! When are you getting married? Oh, any time–we’ve got some flexibility! United Kingdom via amphibious vehicle? I’m sure that will happen!

Well, as it turns out (and this is perhaps surprising to no one who has seen my abysmal understanding of US geography), the United States is enormous, and planning a coordinated road trip around it is no easy task.

Profound thoughts by @mllemica

Sketching out WVT did involve a surprising amount of decision-making. We had to prioritize what was important for us to do. Visiting with friends always trumped seeing things like the largest ball of twine, and I put my foot down about maintaining a “grueling” pace for too many days at a time. And sadly, unless we want this road trip to stretch into the fall, we have to cut out the middle of the country and leave out Florida.

A few hours later and several dramatic sighs (mine) later, we ended up with this:

Our strategy was to decide upon major cities where our friends are located and confirm that one was willing to host us. In between, we’ll stay in hotels and camp. Now begins the process of sending out a flurry of Save the Date(s) e-mails to coordinate seeing our friends and family spread far and wide across the continental US.

The tentative schedule has us leaving Richmond, VA (our hometown) on June 12th and returning between August 1st and 5th. That’s almost two months on the road–as I write this, I can almost hear my dad saying “Yechhhhh!” at the thought of being in the car that long.

We’ll try to get a “Tour Dates” page up in the next two weeks, and then we’ll be looking for suggestions for food, sights, and activities!

And, as it turns out, it was a lot more fun for us to plan when we’d get to see our friends–some of whom we haven’t seen in five years–than to worry about picking colors or negotiating venue fees. As WVT becomes a real thing, instead of just an ambiguous plan that we’ve kept to ourselves, I’m happy that its actual manifestation continues to be the best choice for us: a lot of fun, quality time with friends, and delicious food.