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The whole Huffington post article


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Around 3 times a week we are asked to answer a questions for press articles. Every single one of these requests is a wonderful opportunity for us to share our story and spread the love for everyone who helps us. It is a chance to explain a little more and to show a little more of the hard work that everyone puts in to help us on our quest, to people all over the world.

Of course, we always answer the questions and never ever give ‘canned’ responses (apart from to our names, how we met and where the idea came from…as that never changes). Each time we are asked the same questions, our answers have changed as our opinions change, our experiences change us and our adventure most definitely changes…every. single. day!

So I am posting the questions I was asked by the Huffington Post that resulted in this feature – This couple is travelling the world to find the perfect wedding destination as they only featured one of my 10 answers in the article.

It frustrates the HELL out of me that so many features are so dull when they have the information to make it interesting at their fingertips especially when the focus of this piece was to be about our wedding in Jordan…but what can I do? I am however extremely happy that they credited all the awesome images and even got my name right! 🙂

Whilst I am probably making myself sound like a spoiled princess for writing this post I know that some of you are genuinely interested in what questions we get asked and what our responses are…so here goes!

1) When did you and Lisa first embark on this journey?

We left the UK in June 2011, the day after our very first wedding in our home town Didsbury, Manchester. And yes, we did have a wedding worthy hangover.

Lisa and Alex of 2people1life hsare a kiss after their wedding in Didsbury as local school kids throw confetti

2) How did you two first meet and how did you come up with the idea to do something like this, traveling and getting married all around the world?

Alex and I had been friends for 8 years before we finally got together as a couple in 2008.

We are both from a small city called Hull in England and lived together in Manchester for 3 years before we left on our trip in 2011.

As soon as we got together we knew we wanted to travel. We started to save straight away and put Alex’s business and our home up for sale! It took longer than we expected to sell the business but after 3 years it finally went. We opened our home and sold all of our belongings including furniture, clothes and shoes and all of our beloved kitchen equipment!

As the business sold and our travel adventure became a reality we decided we would need something ‘to do’ as we travelled. We didn’t want to visit every church or every art gallery in the world so we thought about what we wanted from our trip. We wanted to meet local people, experience local culture and understand what makes the world tick. We are crazy romantics and to give us some purpose we decided to look for somewhere to get married. We had looked at getting married in the UK and found that most things on offer were very ‘conventional’ and we really are not, so we thought about looking for unusual places to get married in each country as we travelled.

We thought we would share our experiences via a blog for those ‘out-of-the-box thinkers’ like ourselves that didn’t fancy the usual wedding…and then, a bottle of wine or two later, we decided it would be a good idea to have a ceremony everywhere we went!

How else could we really write about weddings all over the world without experiencing it first hand?

This was a mere 3 weeks before we left England on our adventure and of course our friends and family thought we were more than a little crazy but once we explained the idea, they loved it…as long as we didn’t get legally married by accident!!!

The reason we thought of having a ceremony instead of just trying to be invited to one (how hard could THAT be) was that then we could make decisions on where the ceremonies were held, how they were held and insist that they would be relative to the culture and traditions in that particular area.

We want to meet people that live in the countries we visit and have an insight to the way THEY celebrate unity or marriage, not to take the western wedding to lots of foreign places. White weddings are fab and we love them and may even end up having a western wedding in a strange place ourselves but the point of our journey is to experience the way other cultures celebrate marriage. It is one ritual that the whole world has in common…unity.

3) Please confirm the number of wedding ceremonies you’ve had so far and the number of countries you’ve visited thus far during this trip.

We have held 70 weddings and visited around 70 countries.

4) How many more stops do you have planned?

We have another 10-15 countries to visit and are hoping to hold a wedding in most of those too.

5) Did you guys have to take time off work to do this? How were you able to fund it?

We have officially been on the road, living in a campervan for 4 years today! We sold everything we own, all of our belongings, including a business and our home. Since then we have lived as cheaply as possible in our camper, our biggest expense is fuel and repairs on our camper and visas.

Alex and Lisa of 2people1life stand in front of their campervan Peggy at their wedding in Seattle

6) What have been some of the most memorable moments?

There have been SO many it is hard to list them but a top few…

  • Ticking Petra off my bucket list by getting married there is pretty much my most amazing memorable moment. To be in a country so welcoming and happy in such an awkward situation was just inspirational and realizing that Jordan is perfectly safe, merely a good neighbor in a bad neighbourhood is pretty heartbreaking. Tourism, the main source of income for so many, is down and suffering which is so sad as the cultural tourism available there is just astounding. Such a magical country that we can’t recommend visiting enough.
  • Buying our campervan Peggy back in 2011 and losing her were both unforgettable moments. We had to leave our home, our freedom and our travel companion in the most dangerous part of Pakistan when she broke down irreparably in 2014.
  • Having Martha Stewart officiate our New York wedding. Steve Tyrell sang for us, Sylvia Weinstock made and cut our cake for us and I got to wear an incredible Monique Lhullier gown!
  • Falling in love with Maine and wondering every day ever since if we can maybe live there in the future. That is hopefully our next adventure.
  • Realizing after 2 years on the road (our initial plan) and 48 weddings that life is all about the journey, not the destination. We learned that our adventure is all about the people, making new friends and being made welcome into homes, lives and even the most sacred traditions.
  • Receiving welcomes from people and cultures all over the globe, each one is such a memorable moment. From a Zulu welcome in Qwa-Zulu Natal with an umbrella and a knife, to a Maori welcome with a  in New Zealand and an Aboriginal welcome in Australia…we set out to explore diversity in wedding cultures and traditions and found welcomes in each and every one.

Lisa and Alex stand in hundreds of candles in front of The treasury after their wedding in Petra

7) What have you learned about wedding traditions during your travels?

What is amazing to learn is that every culture celebrates the union of two people. Making a commitment to one another is cause for celebration, sometimes a week or more of celebrations in some cultures. It is such an important part of everyone’s lives, literally every person on the planet, even if not the one getting married whole communities come together to wish the couple well and rejoice with them. That has been the most incredible lesson for us. But traditions wise, there is so much. In the UK you have something blue, in another culture blue is the LAST colour you should have at your wedding. In England it is rare for people to sign the marriage registry separate from the wedding celebration but in most of Europe and a lot of countries these are seen as two completely separate things. I guess what I am getting at is that its not about HOW it is done, it is the fact that it is done, world over!

8) Do you have a favorite ceremony so far? If so, which one and why?

It is so difficult to choose a favourite. Each ceremony is so different and we have favourite parts of each one, though we do have a handful that we consider to be in the top slots, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, Austria, Scotland, Peru, Guatemala, Argentina haha, I am already getting carried away…it is impossible!

9) Where do you intend to do the final/official ceremony with all of your friends and family?

We still don’t know. We have so many magical memories and have experienced so much, we could easily chose somewhere and go and tie the knot BUT, we still have so much more to experience, completely different cultures to those we have seen already. We are about to have our first wedding in the far east with a mixture of Malaysian and Chinese traditions. We have absolutely no idea what to expect and until we have completed the journey we can’t possibly chose our final location.

What we have decided is that we will probably have a ceremony that involves a lot of the cultures and traditions we have experienced around the world. For example the Tamada from Batumi, Georgia, the hand fasting from Ireland, the naming of our children from Polynesia and the drinking games from Romania…the list goes on, it could turn into a big day!

Lisa Gant and Alex Pelling (of 2people1life.com) enjoy their 41st wedding in the west of Ireland, in the stunning surrounds of The Lodge At Doonbeg, Co. Clare Ireland. Poppiesandme caputure the day, which was organised by Lindsay Moynagh of flyawaybride.com helped by a team of the best of Irish  vendors

10) Any advice for other couples planning a wedding?

When it comes to weddings you have to forget the visual and material things, (just for a moment) things like dresses, locations and colour schemes will all naturally fall into place. But we truly believe that creating your wedding day is all about choosing the right people to help you realise your wedding dreams!

After travelling the world for four years getting married in each country we visit, THE MOST IMPORTANT thing we have discovered is that above all else, to make a wedding day as perfect as you hope it will be, you need help from exceptional people.

We believe this SO much so that we have updated our website www.2people1life.com to help couples find those rare and impeccable professionals all over the world. These outstanding individuals are in love with weddings and they want your day to be as wonderful as you do. Without them by your side it can quickly turn into something completely different.

Imagine asking your photographer to capture a moment with someone special to you, a Grandparent for example but they turn to you and tell you…after you have paid deposits etc…that they don’t do family shots! They will only shoot a certain way for a certain amount of time.

As a couple, it is important to choose wedding vendors you gel with, people you can relate to, individuals that you can talk to and who share the passion and the inside knowledge of the world of weddings. This way they can guide you but ultimately, you will know on your big day that everything will be taken care of professionally, with care and with dedication to making your wedding dreams a reality.

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So honestly? Which article did you enjoy more?

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