We’ve heard several questions when telling people of our plans. Here are most of the answers along with some other details:
Why Gibraltar?
Initially we wanted to get married in Spain, but it turns out Spain requires a 3 month residency and a ton of hurdle jumping. So then we started looking elsewhere, and had a conversation that went something like this:
Nick: We can get married in Gibraltar with only 24 hours residency.
Krissy: Gibraltar? Isn’t there a rock there?
Nick: Yup.
Krissy: And some straits or something?
Nick: Yup. It’s on the southern border of Spain; John Lennon and Yoko
Ono got married there.
Krissy: Let’s do it.
Who are those other people?
That’s Ashley, one of Krissy’s best friends, and Loren, Nick’s younger brother and best bud. Ashley flew in from New York and Loren from Chicago. One of our favorite memories of the trip was seeing each of them arrive and greeting them on the sunny terrace of our hotel. We couldn’t have made it through this without them, and we are glad we didn’t try to. The four of us had such fun and pretty much laughed the whole weekend through. We were sad to see them go.
Did Lassie go to Gibraltar?
No, she split her time with our very gracious friends Suzanne, Morgan and Robert. We can’t thank you guys enough and we hope that you still want to be our friends 3 months from now when you are still pulling dog hair off of your clothing and furniture.
How’d you keep it a secret?
It was not easy because we really weren’t comfortable lying about details of our trip. But we knew that if we told people we were flying into Gibraltar and then driving to Spain, the jig would be up.
It was also difficult to convince Krissy not to wear her engagement ring in public. There were several close calls including when we went out to dinner on Valentine’s day – Krissy was wearing the ring – and we later learned that we missed running into our good friends Sloan and Amy by minutes. Amy would not have missed that detail.
Who knew about it?
Not many knew, and those who did were mostly vendors around Portland. We are certain that some people were suspect or were thinking we might get engaged on this trip.
What was the ceremony like?
It was very short and very sweet. We were able to have the ceremony in the courtyard of the registry office. It was just us, the registrar, Ashley, Loren, the photographer and 3 turtles that live there. BTW, this is legit in the U.S.
Why did you make the video?
We wanted to have something for our family and close friends that could capture the day in a different way than still photography allows. I think we were expecting it to come off much more sentimentally than it does. But it’s even better because we think it shows just how much fun the four of us had; we laughed a LOT.
Why didn’t you want a traditional ceremony?
As we said before, we love weddings, but it was just so hard to imagine how to create a fitting one for ourselves. After planning just this small event, we have a ton of respect for our friends who have managed to put together a larger wedding and somehow stay sane.
Is Krissy becoming a Zuiderveld? Or Nick a Gilhooly?
No. Krissy feels too tied to her last name. And we didn’t even consider hyphenating, since each name’s pronunciation is intimidating enough on its own.
What’s up with the postcard?
The only thing Krissy felt she was missing out on was designing her own wedding invitation; designing a postcard to announce our nuptials seemed like a good compromise.
Why should we ever trust you again?
Great question, you probably shouldn’t. Krissy really loves surprising people.