I went to a drive-in wedding, and it was way more fun than watching a livestream
Talia Lakritz
- My friends Gedalia and Caleb Robinson had a drive-in wedding in Washington, DC, on August 12.
- Guests decorated their cars and listened to the wedding through a radio station.
- I was grateful to be able to celebrate in person in a safe, socially distant way — it was way more fun than watching a livestream.
Last summer, I went to six weddings between Memorial Day and Labor Day. I was supposed to attend a similar number this summer, if not for the coronavirus pandemic. Many of my friends either postponed their celebrations or held virtual weddings, instead. But Gedalia and Caleb Robinson took a different route.
After postponing their June nuptials, they reimagined their event as a drive-in wedding. The CDC still recommends avoiding non-essential travel, but road trips and socially distanced outdoor activities are relatively low risk. I knew I had to be there.
My friends Gedalia and Caleb Robinson were supposed to get married in June. Due to the pandemic, they decided to have a drive-in wedding in August, instead.
"The reason that we thought of it is because the shul [synagogue] had already been doing drive-in movies, and it occurred to Caleb that the same thing could apply to a wedding," Gedalia told Insider. "This seemed like the way that we could possibly get that many people in one place and keep it at all safe."
My partner and I both had roles in the wedding so, like many people this summer, we rented a car and took a road trip.
The drive-in wedding was set to take place in the parking lot of their synagogue in Washington, DC. We turned it into a mini-vacation and, after leaving New York City, we stopped in Shenandoah National Park to do some hiking.
The night before the wedding, the grooms hosted a virtual tisch, a traditional Jewish reception with singing and speeches. Their dog, Booker, also joined the festivities.
The tisch would normally have happened at the wedding, before the ceremony. Instead, they chose friends to lead songs and deliver speeches over Zoom.
The next day, we arrived an hour early to the synagogue parking lot to prepare for our respective roles.
I was honored to be serving as a witness for the ceremony, and my partner was playing guitar.
Part of my role in the wedding was signing the ketubah, Hebrew for marriage document.
We were in charge of transporting the ketubah from New York to DC. I was terrified of forgetting it at home, but we made it there with the document in tow.
I ducked into the synagogue to check out the A/V setup behind the scenes.
The wedding was also being livestreamed for those who couldn't drive to be there in person.
In our rental car's front window, I placed a celebratory sign that I made.
It also functioned as a sun shade in the intense heat.
Other guests soon began to arrive with their decked-out cars.
Gedalia and Caleb sat by the entrance of the parking lot to welcome each guest.
Shtick, a Yiddish word for entertaining displays or jokes, is a traditional part of Jewish weddings.
In a practice dating back to the Babylonian Talmud, increasing a couple's joy at their wedding is often carried out with dances, acrobatics, costumes, posters, and other antics. Shtick often references inside jokes or parts of the couple's history, such as the schools they've attended or interests they hold. Gedalia and Caleb encouraged wedding attendees to decorate their cars with shtick for their drive-in celebration.
Some guests included photos of the couple in their decorations.
Balloons, tinsel, and feather boas were popular choices.
Some used window chalk markers to convey their congratulations.
The message on the windshield reads "Congratulations Caleb and Gedalia!"
Others covered their vehicles in wrapping paper and ribbons.
They went all-out.
A wedding coordinator came around to all the cars with a slip of paper detailing the Zoom and radio frequency information.
Like a drive-in movie, guests could turn their car radios to a certain frequency to listen to the ceremony. While we were waiting for it to begin, the station played their wedding playlist.
Each car also got a package of cookies from a local bakery.
Since there wasn't going to be a reception after the drive-in ceremony, the personalized treats helped the day feel festive.
Once the parking lot was full, it was time to begin the ceremony.
There were about 40 cars total in attendance. I chatted with some of the other guests, standing 6 feet apart with masks on and waving through our car windows.
I only watched a bit of the wedding from the car until I was called up to sign the ketubah.
I was grateful for the ability to sit in the comfortable, air conditioned splendor of my car on such a scorching day, even for a little while.
Gedalia and Caleb exchanged vows in a beautiful ceremony punctuated by enthusiastic honking and shots of confetti.
"We were really trying to think creatively about how to get people involved," Gedalia said. "It never occurred to us to be like, 'Honk your horns when you're excited,' but everybody just naturally intuitively did that, and that was like, 'Oh, OK, that's how to make a drive-in wedding joyous.' Everybody just got that, and it was really, really nice."
"It was so enjoyable to be able to feed off of everybody's energy," he said.
"The day is about us, as well as everybody attending, and we wanted it to be a way that would be safe for everybody," Gedalia said. "What we cared about was everybody being in the room. So we weren't really accounting for or sure that people were actually going to have a good time ... We were so relieved."
After a smattering of socially distant dancing and socializing, cars began lining up to leave the parking lot.
I got to catch up with friends who live down the street from me that I hadn't seen in months. We joked that we all had to drive to a different city just to see each other.
Gedalia and Caleb stood by the exit of the parking lot to say goodbye to each car. I was so glad I got to be there in person, albeit from a distance.
Gedalia found that the smaller drive-in experience lent itself to a more personalized wedding.
"We got it down to a big enough number that it felt like celebrating with a bunch of people, but a small enough number that honestly it worked out in our favor in some ways," he said. "It really made it more personal and more deliberate, and we got to spend more time with people than if it were just an in-person wedding."
Virtual events can be enjoyable too, but for me, they just don't compare to the energy of real-life gatherings. I'm so grateful that I was able to celebrate my friends' marriage in person in a safe, meaningful, and memorable way.
- Read more:
- I went to a pop-up drive-in theater in a public swimming pool parking lot and it was the best time I had this summer
- A couple held their wedding at a drive-in movie theater during the pandemic and the results were magical
- I went to a drive-in theater for the first time and I wish I never had to go back to a 'normal' theater again
- 6 things that might never happen at weddings again in a post-coronavirus world
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