For all those who have asked (there have actually been a few), Josh and I are 100% married- civilly and religiously... all boxes have been checked. We got engaged almost one year ago to this date and planned to tie the knot on June 28, 2020.
We all know the ending to this story because we’ve all experienced it in one way or another. For my sister-in-law it was her trip to France and for my brother- his gap year in Israel. For us, it was our wedding and it was very much canceled. I don’t need to remind everyone but COVID hit and the world spiraled.
As hard of a pill as it was to swallow, Josh and I realized early on that COVID would cancel the celebration we originally envisioned (there was no way around it) but it wouldn’t cancel or even delay our life together. I’ll be the first to say it- it wasn’t easy but we knew we had to pivot. And so began the very difficult and complicated process of planning a wedding during a global pandemic.
In the midst of the seemingly endless discussions about how to get married, Josh and I also had to start thinking about what life would look like after our wedding day. At this point, we had nothing holding us down- we had no lease commitment and were both working remotely indefinitely. The thought of moving to a 400 square ft. apartment in New York (which is likely what we would have done) sounded dreadful. So, on a whim (it may have even been a joke), Josh proposed going on a road trip. I couldn’t wrap my head around it- What about COVID? How would we get around? Can we afford this? Is this something I even want to do? It took some time to get comfortable with the idea that we could do something that wasn’t even remotely a part of our original plan. But after coming to terms with our new reality, everything changed. Within weeks, we leased a car, created an itinerary and booked over ten Airbnbs out West. Most importantly, we prioritized COVID precautions and made a promise that if we were doing this, we would take it as seriously as possible so as to not harm ourselves or others.
Here we are, 5 weeks later, three states down and whole lot of PBJs in our bellies. A lot of you have asked when we plan on returning and to be honest we didn’t have an answer until recently. We assumed that we’d come back in December, probably feeling worn out and tired of life on the road. But we’re excited to announce that we’ve decided to extend our trip indefinitely! This experience has been nothing short of incredible and sharing it with our friends and family has made it even better.
So as of now, we have our eyes on California and can’t wait to see more of this beautiful country. We recognize that COVID is on the rise and plan to continue taking as many precautions as possible. If you have any must-sees, then please message us! We’re open to everything.
Oh, and for anyone who’s curious, we ended up having two intimate wedding ceremonies this Summer and Fall- one with each side of the family- and they were incredibly beautiful, emotional and unique. Big celebration or not, I’m currently in the car with my best friend, driving to the Grand Canyon. Feels like a pretty good silver lining to me.
