By Jessica Wedemeyer
9:17am PDT, Jul 2, 2018
How's this for a surprise: Lea Michele has absolutely no plans to sing on her wedding day. "Hell, no — no way," the singer-actress told Wonderwall.com on the subject of serenading her husband-to-be when they tie the knot. While discussing her partnership with Marriott's new Marriott Moments platform — a digital concierge offering curated lists of experiences available for purchase in hundreds of top travel destinations across the globe — the Emmy nominee also cleared up the rumor that her "Glee" co-star and current tour mate Darren Criss will perform at her upcoming nuptials. Keep reading to see what else she told us about their super-close friendship, being engaged at the same time, wedding planning, life on the road and more!
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Lea Michele on rumors Darren Criss is performing at her wedding:
"I want him to be able to enjoy himself truly, but I also know Darren: If he sees a piano, there's no stopping him. So I'm just gonna leave it up to him and he can get up and sing if he wants. If not, then totally fine by me. … I will have a lot of great singers there, that's for sure."
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Lea Michele on whether or not she and Darren Criss are competitive when it comes to wedding planning:
"No, not at all. He's probably gonna jump out of a plane and walk down the aisle for his wedding, so his will be way cooler than mine for sure."
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Lea Michele on her friendship with Darren Criss and being engaged at the same time:
"Darren and I met through 'Glee,' so we've been friends for many years — our friendship really has grown and remained throughout these years post-'Glee.' We have a lot of similarities but are also quite different. There is such a great understanding and connection between us as friends, and I'm so grateful for him in my life. To be together on this tour with him is so great. It's kinda unexplainable what it is that really has connected us over these years, but we have so much fun together. We've always made an effort to remain in each other's lives. Now we're having this experience of both being engaged at the same time and growing up together. This tour has brought us even closer. Darren is like a brother to me — he will be a friend for life, and I'm just so grateful for him. I honestly can't say enough great things about him."
Lea Michele on how she stays connected to her family and fiancé Zandy Reich when she's on the road:
"[Darren] got engaged a couple months before me, so we both have our significant others that we're trying to make sure are a part of this journey with us. I'm very fortunate that my fiancé and my family, everyone makes such a huge effort to always be [together]. … My family's always around me, and everyone makes sure that we don't have long stretches of time when we're not together. With this tour specifically, we're condensing it and doing as many cities as we can in a shorter period of time so that once it's over, I'm just gonna take the rest of the summer and relax and be with my family."
Lea Michele on the hardest part of life on the road:
"I'm definitely a homebody. Being home is key. But I do a lot of preparation in advance when I'm on tour to make sure that wherever I'm staying is comfortable. … I also try get home as much as I can. We've structured a lot of this tour to be centered around where Darren and I live so that we have the opportunity — if it makes sense — to come home for a night or two. … I'll just stay home and really ground myself and spend time with my friends here and really soak up every moment that I can so I can recharge and then hit the road and hit the ground running."
Lea Michele on how she plans to spend the summer after her tour wraps up:
"My goal is to be laying by a pool with a cocktail while wedding planning. … Wherever my family is, I'll probably just be on the East Coast close to them. If we can squeeze in a vacation, obviously that would be amazing. … We've been talking about maybe going to Europe, but it will depend because Darren and I are actually trying to get in some international dates for our tour. So we're gonna see if that's coming in the future as well."
Lea Michele on her vacation style:
"I love exploring new cities and going to new places. I've never been to Iceland — that's on my bucket list of someplace that I'd love to go and see and explore. I also love taking trips that center around nature — whether that's going up the coast to Big Sur [in California] or somewhere like Hawaii and laying on the beach, those are the types of vacations that I like to take — or going to Italy and eating pasta and laying by a beautiful beach. I try to do something a little bit different each time."
Lea Michele on the new Marriott Moments platform:
"I'm the kind of person who really likes to make the most of my time in a new city. I love traveling, and I also really love to plan ahead. … Right now I'm on tour and I'm going to a different city every single day and trying to make it fun and explore and not go to the same places that I've been to before. [I want to] see different things. So I'm excited to be working with Marriott and talking about their new website because it's something that I really need and use in my everyday life."
Lea Michele on the Marriott Moments experience she most wants to try:
"One thing that I definitely want to do is a helicopter tour over the Los Angeles beaches. I'm a little bit afraid of helicopters, but I just think that would be so beautiful."
Lea Michele on why she and her parents like to gift each other experiences:
"I do this thing with my parents every year on Christmas where rather than doing gifts, we do experiences. We don't tell each other what the experience is gonna be, and then we have a little bit of an unspoken competition to see who comes up with the best experience. … It just doesn't make sense anymore [for my parents to buy me presents]. I'm an only child, so Christmas is quite small — just me and my mom and dad and now my fiancé. But we don't really need to be giving each other presents. An experience I remember so much more than a present. … Weirdly, my dad comes in with the win every year, which is super-frustrating. But I'm gonna win this year!"
Lea Michele on her favorite touristy thing to do in New York:
"I'm from New York and live in Los Angeles and New York right now, and one thing that I love doing when I'm in the city is walking across the Brooklyn Bridge. … It's one of my favorite things that I've done many times before but that I always make sure to do when I'm in the city and having a nice little Sunday."
