Yes, they are, but they wanted to wait a few years to make sure it was going to stick before they went public 😉

No visa is needed for Romanian nationals, for US citizens please refer to the text above. However, you must have at least 6 months remaining on your passport, otherwise the airline will not allow you to board.

We chose May as a compromise between lower and more available airfares and (hopefully) nicer weather. Nonetheless, we suggest making your flight, accommodation, and vehicle reservations as early as possible. Note: May 26th is Spring Bank Holiday which means that day and the weekend before it will probably be very busy on the roads, especially toward the coast. Avoid having to drive too far the day after the wedding and on May 26th. It also means that accommodation books up quite early.

There are several options. Direct flights from Denver to London Heathrow are available on United and British Airways. Flights that include at least one stop are available to London Heathrow and London Gatwick on Icelandair (with optional no charge multi-day stopovers in Iceland) and also to Manchester. Air Canada flies to Manchester via Canada. The closest airports to the wedding venue are Newcastle and Leeds/Bradford, and commuter flights are available on British Airways from Heathrow, but generally require a long layover in London. If you are coming from Romania, Leeds, Manchester and Newcastle will be your best options.

Most likely, yes. While public transport is available, the wedding is in the countryside and buses are infrequent. However, if you are flying to London, it is a long drive after a long flight. Either stay a night or so in London, drink lots of coffee and drive, or take the train (book well in advance for best fares) to York. Car rental is available at York railway station. Manchester and Leeds are shorter drives and cars are available for rent there as well (but tend to be a little more expensive than from London). A less expensive option for renting that we have tried with good success is Turo, especially out of London. It is like Airbnb for cars. Be aware that you are required to purchase some amount of insurance through their vendor, as credit cards that allow waiving of rental car insurance do not apply to Turo.

Driving on the left is just the same as on the right, except for a mirror image. You use roundabouts clockwise. Most rental cars are manual transmission, but you can pay extra for an automatic. The manual shifter is to your left, but the clutch, brake and accelerator are the same as you are used to. Boot = trunk, bonnet = hood. You got this!

Trains to York are available from London Kings Cross (take the tube from Heathrow to Kings Cross); from Manchester airport; and from Leeds (a bus can take you to Leeds train station from Leeds/Bradford airport). If you want to go entirely without car rental or are meeting someone with one, you can take a train to York, change for Malton, then take the Coastliner bus to Pickering or Whitby. Transport between villages is more challenging. Uber isn’t a thing except in cities, but taxis are available.

The wedding is in the North York Moors National Park, which has many small villages and towns with holiday rentals. In general, anything called a town (or market town) will be big enough to have a grocery store, several pubs and shops, churches, cafes, restaurants and gas stations. Villages will always have a pub and a church, sometimes a village shop which will have limited supplies, and sometimes a gas station. You can see where the priorities lie. Pickering is a nice market town, is in a good central location for sightseeing, and is about a 40-minute drive to the wedding venue. Pickering has a ruined castle, a historic church, and steam trains that run on the North York Moors Railway. It is a lovely ride from Pickering to Grosmont, with possible walks along the way, and you can visit the station at Goathland which was Hogsmeade Station in a Harry Potter movie. Pickering has a variety of places to stay and we suggest checking VRBO. There are also numerous hotels in Pickering and Whitby, and holiday cabins. Pubs make delightful places to stay and many of the moorland pubs have a few rooms. Whitby, while less than 20 miles north of Pickering (and is closer to the wedding venue) has an entirely different feel from Pickering. It is a historic fishing town on the coast, and has beaches, a pier, a lively harbor with many greedy seagulls, and is famous for its fish and chips. Above the town are the ruins of Whitby Abbey, an imposing structure, but most famous as the fabled birthplace of Bram Stoker’s Count Dracula. We have a list of possible accommodations on the ‘Travel’ section of this website to get you started.

The voltage is 240V and plugs have 3 prongs. Bring an international plug converter that has USB outlets as well. Don’t bother with a hairdryer even if it says it works at 240V – it will die, guaranteed. On the other hand, your laptop will be fine.

Yes. The UK has excellent internet connectivity. Most places have WIFI you can use, but unless you want a nasty roaming bill when you get home, we suggest purchasing your carriers’ international plan for the time you are gone and know how to use it!

No (although it is welcomed).

Yes. Be glad – they are high!

It may be a long wait at A&E (the hospital emergency room), but you will be seen eventually, and you will not need to pay anything.

Hope for the best and plan for the worst. Bring sunglasses and an umbrella or rain gear. It is a maritime climate, so it will likely be cool but not freezing, and humid. Take a photo to prove it if the sun comes out.

It is not necessary to get currency before arriving in the UK. There are numerous currency exchange ATM’s and tellers (Bureau de Change) in the airports, so you can get your money there. Also, most post offices will change money for you. Bring a change purse – the coins are larger than ours and the heavy little pound coins will find that hole in your pocket very efficiently!

If you will be spending much time in the North York Moors, bring sturdy shoes or hiking boots to enjoy those public footpaths that are everywhere in the countryside.

Obviously, bring your prescription meds. Over the counter meds are bought at chemist shops (pharmacies) and are not available at grocery stores. They tend to be more expensive than here. Some items are unavailable – Dramamine, and full-strength antihistamines/Nyquil are curiously absent. So, if you suffer from allergies or plan to catch a cold on the plane, it’s a good idea to bring some supplies with you.

Weddings are usually formal or semi-formal. No jeans for the ceremony please. Women can choose to wear a hat or fascinator, but it’s definitely not required, since this is not a church ceremony. If you would like to try to fit within the theme, we totally encourage any gothic attire. Note that it is absolutely fine if you want to bring a change of clothes or shoes for the evening – there is space for changing at the wedding venue.