Elopement Planner Meets Bus Life!

Hannah Apodaca
Feb 3, 2023
3 min read

This is the story of how we build out a 4 window school bus and how we plan to take it to all of our elopement and destination weddings!

When my husband and I started dating in 2016, Jimmy always talked about this new trend on Pinterest called "Van life."

I thought it was SO cool and even had my own board saved. Never in a million years did I think in 7 years we would be moving into a school bus.

The Search

In 2020 when we got married, Jimmy voiced how much of a true dream this lifestyle was for him. I like to think of myself spontaneous but this kinda of scared me at first. I love traveling, I loved things that were "not normal" haha. But I lived in my hometown my entire life and I couldn’t imagine leaving it and my family behind.

I thank God that he had planted Jimmy in my life. God plants dreams and passions in my life but Jimmy is the one who pushes to bring them to life. I always knew my life wouldn't necessarily look like everyone else’s but I did my best to convince myself it would be. God told me that I long time ago but I told myself it was just me having a wild imagination.

Jimmy slowly showed me what our life could be like and challenged me to see life in a different perspective. He showed me that instead of it just a Pinterest board and this "dream life" to make it a reality instead.

In 2021 and after LOTS of research we decided to look at short skoolies. We found a bus dealership in Texas and decided to buy a bus that was in excellent condition and paid much more for the peace of mind. In April of 2021 we had bought our first home and we were over the moon excited for the journey.

The Build

After the purchase we completely drained our saving so we waited a good few months until we started ANY projects. The build approximately took a little less than two years to complete.

(We are still in the build phase as we speak, planning to move in within the next few weeks)

I know, this sounds crazy that it took us this long to build out a 4 window bus. BUT we both have full time jobs WITH our wedding businesses on top of that.

Jimmy has done 95% of this build himself. The remaining 5% being me and my dad and his mom. Also we took breaks for months at a time to save money and our sanity. This project has taken everything out of us but to finally see the finish line brings tears to my eyes.

I couldn’t be more excited to see Jimmy's dream come to life and fuel our adventurous spirits.

The Plan

Where are we going to go?

We plan to travel all over the US, Canada, and Mexico. Maybe if we love this lifestyle so much we might even ship it overseas one day.

How does this tie in with our jobs?

Easy. Our weddings will take us to our dream destinations. Jimmy and I's wedding businesses specialize in elopements and micro destination weddings. I plan, he videos. We can't WAIT to meet with epic couples for their EPIC wedding day!!