This article was written by Megan Cosman after honeymooning at NYCC 2019. This seemed like the perfect time to reminisce about convention life as we’re all deeply missing cons right now.
The vows made to each other by a happy couple during a wedding are supposed to be life affirming. Most folks promise to love, honor, and cherish until death do they part, and at the end of the night they are whisked away to start their honeymoon. Usually the happy couple is encouraged to have a champagne and sunshine-filled week at a sexy tropical location, but what if that couple is bit nerdier and takes their happily-wedded selves to New York Comic Con to honeymoon instead? Glad you asked, because that is exactly what my husband Matt and I did.
Don’t get me wrong, a week of sunshine and tropical cocktails sounds great for some folks, but it just wasn’t our style. Honeymooning at a convention just fit our personalities so much better. We are the couple whose wedding party entered to music from The Lord of the Rings, and our cake topper involved clay versions of us playing SNES and cosplaying as Bridal Hufflepuff Wonder Woman. We learned a lot about how to work a con as a duo, and also a bit more about how to communicate, along the way.
Here are some of the most important things we learned on our Convention Moon.
Most importantly, make a plan of action. While New York Comic Con is a glorious beast to attend, even honeymooners at local conventions should always make a plan. What is most important to each of you to see? For me, besides making sure I went to The Sartorial Geek Boutique, I was most interested in panels from my favorite comic writers. My husband is still learning which comics he enjoys, but he knows he loves video games, so we knew we’d have to stop to try a few gaming demos. As a couple, decide what is important to do together in case some of your wish list events cross over on the timeline. Be sure to compromise which events you go to so the day isn’t entirely one-sided. You just got married; make sure you both get to choose activities! We may have given up a chance for Matt to play Yu-Gi-Oh, but we got to watch a Marvel’s Eat the Universe taping featuring one of our favorite celebrity chefs with surprise guest DMC!
Remember that list of things you wanted to do? Be sure to spread it out over the entirety of your convention visit. We got so wrapped up in the excitement that we sort of ended up burnt out at the end of the first day because we didn’t follow our plan at all. Besides burn out from trying to see everything at once, we forgot to take time for food and water (hydrate or die-drate), so we were bordering on hangry by the end of the afternoon. Take time to rest and recover when you get a chance. Be open to seeing new things! Is there a panel you’re interested in but aren’t sure you’ll like it? Go to it anyway, as you may end up loving it! If you don’t like it you can quietly and politely walk away so nobody is distracted by you leaving.
Bring extra luggage! We packed an extra duffle bag to bring back everything we thought we’d buy, and it was a good thing we did. This was a great time for us to go to Artist Alley with some of our honeymoon fund and buy new art for our house as our souvenirs. We also ended up with so many extra swag items and gifts for other folks that we never would have made it home without being prepared with extra luggage. It is not a given to work, but we found out the day we wore our husband and wife Princess Bride shirts that vendors geeked out over them and gave us free items for being on a geeky-moon as it was dubbed.
Take some time away from the convention for just the two of you. A convention is loud, crowded, and can be a little overwhelming at times. We made sure to plan one nice dinner out away from the convention to celebrate our happily ever after, and it was great. We got to sit down and talk about everything that had happened the few days before without raising our voices to be heard or sitting on a cement floor. This time away can be as fancy or as simple as you want, just make sure to be in the moment with each other and enjoy it.
Most importantly, have fun and be yourselves. This is a celebration for you and your partner to start your lives together while having fun and making memories. Take lots of pictures, and just have a blast! Mazel tov, and have a great time on your comic convention geeky-moon.
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