I would definitely go the expedited route. Fortunately, you won't be dealing with the passport madness that went on two summers ago.

In the summer of '07, I had to get a new passport so I could go on my honeymoon. I started the process in February of that year for a trip in the beginning of July. I figured it would be plenty of time, because while the typical lead time should be 6-8 weeks, that summer they were warning of 12-16 weeks. That was the year they started requiring passports for Canada, the Caribbean, and Mexico (I believe), and it was clear that the passport office simply could not handle it. At the time, I actually worked a block and a half away from the main US passport office in DC, and from April through August, the entire day there were 10 to 200 people lined up outside.

Well, like I said, I started the process in February, and as of June 15th I still didn't have a passport. It got to the point where we had to call our local congressman and have him do something about it, which is eventually what worked.

So there I was, about two days before my wedding, driving out about 30 miles in rush hour traffic to pick up my passport at the UPS substation it was located in, because instead of simply holding it at the passport office where I could have picked it up on my lunch break, they decided to mail it. I had no way of knowing if it would be delivered to my house before the weekend, so I had to go pick it up in person.

Of course, I didn't tell my wife until after we were married and on our honeymoon