Getting hitched along Route 66

Jennifer O'Dowd used to dream of a traditional marriage ceremony.

"When I was 20, I had a vision of a big, 200-plus-people wedding," she said.

Now, at 36, O'Dowd said she understands the marriage ceremony itself is more important than its trappings.

So when her fiance, Thomas Kowaczek, suggested they get married at a historic gas station along old Route 66, she agreed.

The Schaumburg couple "wanted to do something different, instead of a standard cookie-cutter wedding," O'Dowd said.

They wanted people to look at the pictures of the event later and say, "That's Jenny and Tom's wedding," not "Whose wedding was that?" said O'Dowd, a librarian at Tefft Middle School in Streamwood.

The site of Sunday's nuptials is the Standard Oil service station in downstate Odell, about 85 miles southwest of Chicago. Built in 1932 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1997, it's the last of 12 gas stations that used to cater to motorists on that stretch of Route 66. It no longer operates as a gas station but has been restored and is a popular stop for Route 66 tourists.

The station seems a fitting site for the couple. They took a Route 66 road trip last summer, during which Kowaczek proposed.

"We really both enjoy history, and incorporating the history of Route 66 was something we wanted to do for our family and friends," O'Dowd said.

O'Dowd and Kowaczek contacted John and Lenore Weiss, historians and preservationists who have worked to protect the history of Route 66. They planned Sunday's small ceremony, working with some nearby towns and the Route 66 Association of Illinois, a group dedicated to preserving and promoting the road.

After the gas station ceremony, the wedding party is to head -- in a convoy that will include classic cars and a trolley -- about 20 miles down Route 66 to Gardner, Ill. At the town's historic two-cell jail, built in 1906, the couple will exchange another set of vows.

"It's one big love affair," said Lenore Weiss of Wilmington. "In Odell, they're going to be pronounced man and wife at the gas station, and in front of Gardner's two-cell jail, they're going to be pronounced soul mates."

The couple plan to spend their honeymoon -- where else? -- road-tripping along Route 66. Kowaczek, who is 34 and works in construction, said they traveled almost the entirety of the road last year and want to cover the final stretch.

"We made it 20 miles into California but didn't finish," he said, "so we're going to finish the trip."

The historic Route 66 was established in 1926 and ran from Chicago to Santa Monica. It was removed from the U.S. highway system in 1985 but remains a pop cultural phenomenon.