Frequently asked questions.
(OR QUESTIONS WE ASSUME WILL BE ASKED MORE THAN 4 TIMES…)
Do I really have to RSVP even though there is no paper RSVP card?
Yes. Yes! A million times, YES. We want to make sure that we have plenty of seating and plenty of feeding for all of our guests, and the only way to do that is to get an accurate head count in advance of the wedding dates. We’re also trying to make sure that we are being inclusive of anyone who wants to come celebrate with us which means that each wedding may see a high volume of attendees. The best way to host a successful party is to know who you are planning to host. We’re happy to have you, and your kids, and your friends, and potentially even your kids’ friends…just make sure to get us the names and head counts of everyone in your group by or before August 15th, 2023 so that we can best prepare for the parties of a lifetime!
Please do NOT feel obligated to come to ANY of our weddings! We understand that travel can be difficult, conflicts may already exist, and everyone has different family needs and priorities. We’d love to see you at one of our weddings, but you should absolutely not feel any pressure to attend.
Don’t forget - you’ll need to enter the access code Response-Card_23ZY in order to submit your RSVP response on the website.
Should I RSVP even if I’m not able to attend any of the weddings?
Yes, please! As we get closer to the dates, we will start sending out some targeted messaging to people who have not yet RSVP’d so that we can ensure we’re collecting accurate numbers. If you know that you are unable to attend any of the weddings, that’s absolutely understandable! Please just submit an RSVP response indicating that you will not be joining us.
As we mentioned above and will again several times over, there is no pressure to attend any of our celebrations. We would love to be able to celebrate with as many of our friends & family members as are able to comfortably accommodate our plans, but we totally understand that travel can be quite burdensome.
Are these kid-friendly affairs?
Absolutely! We look forward to having activities at each wedding that may spark excitement for kids of all ages, including kids-at-heart as well as kids-of-body. It is important to note, however, that all three of our venues are at outdoor locations which will include large expanses of open, un-patrolled nature as well as proximity to bodies of water and significant roadways. We will have many a parent and kid-trained adult on site at each location, but will not be providing babysitting services, so our motto will be BYOK, plan to WYOK. (Bring Your Own Kids? Watch Your Own Kids.) Happy to have ‘em, but not willing to be responsible for ‘em on our wedding day.
Please make sure to include your little ones in your RSVP!
Can I come to more than one wedding?
Most definitely! You can come to any or all of them if you like! All we ask is that you make sure to let us know in your RSVP response so that we can account for an accurate number at EACH celebration! (Are we starting to sound like a broken record on the RSVP front yet?)
We heard a rumor there might be a Costa Rica Wedding in the works, too?
You heard correctly, but think if it more like a reunion show rather than a stop on the first leg of the inaugural Wedding Tour.
We will definitely be hosting a wedding celebration in Costa Rica in the future, but we do not yet have any firm dates or logistics figured in for that trip. We can’t wait to celebrate with our Costa Rica family in Costa Rica so as soon as we are able to dedicate some time and brain space to getting those plans under way, we will circle back with an update.
Trust us, planning three weddings at once is enough for the moment, anyway.
What’s the dress code?
“Dress Code” is not really applicable here….we definitely recommend dressing for the weather and the environment, which also means dressing for your own comfort. We’re hosting a party, so come dressed to party in whatever attire suits you best! For Liz, that usually means a dress or two and several tennis shoe options. At this particular set of parties her dress of choice will be white, so maybe avoid a big sparkly white dress unless you want to be twinsies with a bride.
The general color palette for the events could be described by some as “mismatched jewel tones” AKA “a little bit of everything” so there are really no colors to aim for or steer clear of - all colors are welcome in our photos; the more vibrant and exciting, the better!
What about my dancing shoes?
Bring ‘em! We will not have a formal dance floor at any of the weddings, but we WILL have plenty of music that’ll make you want to get your boogie woogie on, so plan for shaking that groove thang on our metaphorical dance floor/literal backyard landscape. Since all of the weddings are scheduled to be outdoors, you will encounter different terrain at each wedding location. Make sure to wear shoes you’d be comfortable doing some light outdoor walking in at the bare minimum, but also consider avoiding shoes that may sink into grass or sand or that you’d be sad to see get a little dusty. Worst case scenario: if the spirit moves you to dance but your shoes are holding you back, you can always just kick ‘em off and practice some barefoot grounding in the nature around you - we won’t judge!
Where should we plan to sleep when the party’s over?
We are not reserving any hotel blocks because we are splitting our wedding across the country, so the sleeping arrangements are a bit of a double edged sword. Down side: you are on your own to plan for lodging. Up side one of several: you are not locked into a stuffy, overpriced hotel sleeping in a room next to my 2nd cousin’s college roommate’s drunk ex-wife.
If camping suits your fancy and you have the gear to do it, the Wachapreague venue and the Valley of Fire venue both have ample outdoor space for guests to stake claim on some land and spread out across the acreage.
If camping does not suit your fancy, all three venues are in proximity to various hotels or short term rentals that are a reasonable driving distance from the wedding sites. Feel free to coordinate with friends and family to split vacation rentals that have more space than necessary for a small group - this is also a great way to carpool or rideshare!
We’ll link a few different lodging options and locations on the individual page for each wedding site in the coming weeks in addition to some logistics regarding camping.
Where’s the Wedding Registry?
Great question! First and foremost, all of our guests are required to travel great distances (or are loaning us their backyard) in order to join us at any one of our celebrations and for that alone, we thank you immensely. We would never ask you to host us or to travel to us AND to bring us a gift in addition to your physical presence - we are just thrilled to be surrounded by people we care about deeply in beautiful places that inspire us daily. Bring yourselves and a penchant for a good time and that will be more than gift enough.
In addition to showing up from places far and farther, many people have already offered to help with any number of wedding related tasks, which again, is a huge gift to us. (The unofficial tagline for this wedding is “Do It Yourself….but with the help of your friends. And your family. And sometimes also your friends’ families”.)
For those of you who still, after all of your travels and labors of love, feel compelled to leave us with a physical reminder of your support as well, we have finally assembled a wedding registry using MyRegistry, which allows us to combine web links from any number of stores into a single registry location.
Please keep in mind that we will be road tripping across the country (with Charlie-dog) in Lesley’s Subaru and rooftop tent camping in and around a number of National Parks along our Wedding Tour journey, so our cargo space for transporting gifts back to California will be exceedingly limited. (Not to mention our house in California is only slightly larger than a postage stamp and already packed to the brim with adventure gear and office supplies, Lesley and Liz’s first two loves, respectively.) If you don’t believe in being a wedding guest without gifting something, you are welcome to select one of the more affordable items from our registry which will ship directly to our home in California, or you are welcome give us a contribution at the wedding citing which of our big ticket items you’d like us to put your gift toward. Many of the less affordable items on our registry are luxuries we’d love to work toward in order to replace some or our well loved and deeply worn items, but absolutely none of them are a true necessity.
Can I bring a friend?
Sure…if you think they will fit the energy of our celebration and especially as long as your RSVP includes them for our headcount collection purposes!
By that same metric, if there is someone you feel we should have invited but failed to do so, please don’t hesitate to let us know. As we mentioned before, we want our weddings to be accessible and enjoyable for everyone who is excited to come celebrate our love story with us!
Aren’t we missing some critical details?
Yep! You probably want to know things like:
-Specific address of each venue
-Directions to/from each venue to major interstates/cross streets
-Points of interest & places to eat surrounding each venue
-Parking instructions at each venue
-Cell service & wifi limitations at each venue
-Lodging options at each venue
-Timelines for each wedding celebration
Check out the individual tabs for each venue to answer all of your burning questions!
Wachapreague, Virginia on September 23rd, 2023