Photo ID Optional Here

Hey, thanks to all who've sent in photos and videos so far. I'm still accepting the former at RichardSRussell@tds.net, and you can contact me there to obtain a procedure for sending me the latter. Photos are going up gradually on the "Photo Album" tab of the "DR Wedding" website, but there doesn't appear to be a ready way to post videos to the blog. (Maybe YouTube; still to be researched.) Of course, Abigail and I still want to see them, so don't let lack of a widespread distribution mechanism deter you from passing on any that you might have taken.

Anomalous Data

This "news" is over a month old now, but I thot I'd share it anyway. When Abigail and I were supplying the deputy county clerk with the info needed for our marriage license, she had already obtained our birthdates (and thus our ages) when she got to the part about "First marriage for both?", to which we assented. Her eyebrows rose slightly as she observed "Well, that's going to skew their statistics!"

Post-Wedding Peace of Mind

At least one person liked the wedding well enuf to blog about it under the title "Geek Weddings Are Best". That's exactly the effect we were shooting for.

On a related note, photos are starting to arrive, and we're posting them under the "Photo Album" tab on this blog. Thanks to all contributors.

Pre-Wedding Peace of Mind

So, tomoro's the big day, and the question naturally arises: "Are you nervous?"

We'll let Don Knotts answer that one for us.

Weather Forecast

We had hoped that scheduling the wedding for May 22 would let us hold it outside, but it's Wisconsin, after all, and there was always a chance that it would be miserable weather. But it looks as if the odds being always in our favor worked out OK:

Alternative Seating

If the prospect of bringing your own portable chairs or blankets seems daunting or unduly inconvenient, there is an alternative available. There are picnic tables in the park shelter that can be dragged nearer to the proceedings (which will be on the adjacent grass) that provide seating for 6 adults or 8 kids. But be forewarned: those suckers are heavy, and you have to put them back where you found them afterward.

Beautiful Music

You may recall that we've warned elsewhere on this blog that parking is likely to be tight at Brittingham Park, so you should consider meeting friends at Wright Middle School and carpooling from there. You probably also figured out for yourself that, even so, it would be good to arrive early at the park to get a good spot. We've even advised some of you with mobility problems that you really should contact the Wisconsin DoT to get a handicapped-parking tag.

All of that is still true, but here's a positive incentive to arrive early: the preludes will be some of the most exquisite music on the planet.

Beverages

These beverages will be available for your delectation at the reception:

• Coke products (12-ounce bottles)
• Coke
• Diet Coke
• 7-Up products (500 mL [16.9-ounce] bottles)
• 7-Up
• Diet 7-Up
• Sunkist orange
• Diet Sunkist orange
• Diet Canada Dry ginger ale
• bottled water
• Chippewa Springs (10-ounce bottles)
• Crystal Geyser (8-ounce bottles)
• Organic Valley UHT milk (200 mL [6.75-ounce] bottles)
• 1% white
• 1% chocolate

Grrrr, Bad Tech. Bad! No Doggie Treats for You!

So this morning we had scheduled a conference call with the good people who've agreed to take part in our wedding ceremony, and we had notified all of them of the number to call, the codes to punch in, the time (10 AM), etc. But, of course, all of this presumes that somebody (that would be us) had called in first using conference-administrator privileges to open the conference. And it worked exactly that way when we tested it out a couple of times last week, so we figured we were good for today. That is, right up until 9:55, when we tried to do it for real, at which point it didn't work at all. A frantic call to the service informed us that they had lost all track of the fact that Abigail was an authorized customer who had just paid her subscription fee last week.

For future reference, the company that bunged up our planned call is InterCall OnLine. They do not offer customer service or tech support on weekends. We now officially hate them.

Dang. Technology is supposed to just WORK, dammit!

Reception Menu

As we've mentioned, our reception will be catered by Swagat Indian Restaurant. We've nailed down the menu:

• Appetizers (samosa = dumpling; pakora = fritter)
  • vegetable samosa
  • vegetable pakora
  • shrimp pakora
  • chicken pakora
• Breads
• garlic naan
• onion kulcha
• chicken naan
• Entrees*
• chicken tikka masala (cubed chicken, Tandoori-baked, in creamy tomato sauce)
• paneer jalfrazie (cottage cheese cooked w/vegetables)
• Desserts
• kheer (rice pudding)
• caramel cream (Indian version of flan)

---

*Each of these will be prepared mild. At the end of the serving line, there will be spices and flavorings for those who prefer their food hotter.

Viewer Discretion Advised

Yes, we are getting seriously married, but that doesn’t mean we’re getting married seriously. We’re going to have some fun with the wedding ceremony, and some of it will be risque. Nothing R-rated, but there will be, shall we say, adult themes popping up. Those who might be abashed being present for such things may wish to avail themselves of the playground, about a block away across the soccer field. (See map.) Alternatively, feel free to skip the wedding entirely and just meet us at the reception afterwards. The reception will be strictly G-rated!

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to email either of us.

Getting the Piece of Paper

Ever wonder what a marriage license looks like these days? Here's ours (as yet unwitnessed, unofficiated, and unnotarized; click to enlarge):

You wouldn't believe the hoops that the Dane County Clerk's office makes you jump thru to get one of these. It's not just the 120 bux (cash only, no checks, credit cards, PayPal, etc.), you have to both apply together and in person; have lined up a date, place, time, and officiant for the ceremony; provide photo ID and Social Security number; prove that you've lived at your current address for at least 30 days; and produce a government-inspected, -signed, -sealed, and -certified copy of a birth certificate of somebody with your name. And more.

Anyone who thinks that "marriage is a sacred institution ordained by God" must never have had to do this trained-monkey act, because there's nothing sacred about it.

Got Mobility Problems?

If you anticipate difficulty in walking to the part of the park where the ceremony will take place, let me encourage you to contact the Wisconsin Department of Transportation about obtaining a disabled-parking tag to hang on the mirror of your car. Are you eligible for such a tag? Could be. The DOT website says:

By legal definition, [eligibility] includes any person who:
 • Cannot walk 200 feet or more without stopping to rest.

As you’ll be able to see from our map, there are a lot of handicapped spaces very close to the park shelter, so there’s no need to park far away or to go thru lots of gyrations and extra work just to get a decent parking place.

Participation, Not Performance

Yes, there will be dancing, but it'll be up to you guys to do it yourself. Don't be expecting a performance, let alone anything like this! (We hope you have just as much fun, tho.)

Newspaper Article on Brittingham Park

The local weekly newspaper, Isthmus, had a cover story this week on Brittingham Park, the site of our wedding ceremony. Nice pix, and a nice success story as well.

Standing Discouraged

We'd like everybody to be comfy at our wedding, but we're too cheap to provide seating for y'all. That's why we're asking you to bring your own folding chairs, lawn chairs, blankets, etc. We'd really rather not have people standing up during the ceremony, but if that's what you figure on doing, please hover around the outside of the spectator area so you don't block other people's view of the proceedings, OK? Thanks for understanding.

Yes, There Will Be Dancing

So the other day somebody asked me if there will be dancing at the reception. I was on the verge of saying "Of course there'll be dancing! Didn't you read the invitation?" when I had one of those forehead-slapping moments. We completely forgot to mention the dancing in the invitation!

Rest assured, however, that we scheduled the reception in a gym for a reason. Yah, you betcha (as they say in the Old Country*) there will be dancing. Our DJ is Darrah Chavey, leader of my Friendship Rounds dance club, so he'll have lots of ballroom music. And, since he also DJs for the monthly dances at Beloit College, he's also got a ton of stuff that'll appeal to folx who've never heard of Glenn Miller or Fred Astaire.**

So bring your dancing shoes and be prepared to trip the light fantastic with us.

––––––
*Eau Claire
**Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, only backwards and in high heels.

Proper Attire

This question just arrived:

[My husband] is inquiring as to the proper attire to don for this shindig. He desires to be properly fashionable.

Our response, applicable to the hubby, good for you, too:

Really informal. Be relaxed. Be comfy.

Old-School Acceptance

This one just arrived using the form that Emily Post recommended:

Next, as my mother taught…

It is with great pleasure Mr. Richard Kiley and Ms. Victoria King
Accept the kind invitation of Ms. Abigail Darwin and Mr. Richard S. Russell
To attend their wedding and reception celebration
Sunday May 22, 2016.

Not that we're expecting everyone to be all formal and everything, but it's kinda nice every now and again, doncha think?

Engagement Picture

"How about an engagement pic?"

That question arrived under the "Talk to Us" post (below), so here ya go:

As you can see, Abigail was justifiably dubious about the whole idea, but she eventually came around:

I believe her exact words were "Oooooh, shiny!"

The actual "yes, I will" was supposed to happen at the stroke of midnight at the Madison Skeptics New Year's Eve party, but the wizards at ABC-TV just kept playing the live feed from New York (some rock band) instead of re-running the countdown from an hour earlier in the Eastern Time Zone, so here we are standing around, scratching our heads, waiting for it to begin:

When it became apparent that there wasn't going to be a countdown, we started our own and pretended we'd done it on time. (Heck, made for a better story, anyway.)

Abigail says that this was an exciting event for her, almost as cool as being the grand champion at a game of Exploding Kittens:

A Really Nice RSVP

We would've settled for "1 person coming", but occasionally we get delightful creativity, such as this recently arrived RSVP:

Here's my RSVP
I'm honored to witness
It'll only be me
I wouldn't miss this!

I'll be at the park
And Indian food I will try
Maybe we'll hear a lark
Or I'll meet a nice guy!

The Parking Deal

Needless to say, we're hoping for excellent late-spring weather on May 22, but if we get it, that means that it'll probably bring lots of other folx out to Brittingham Park as well. If you look under the "Maps & Pix" tab on this blog, you'll see a diagram of the parking lot we've got to work with: 60 spaces (not counting the 7 handicapped spots), plus on-street parking along West Washington Avenue. We're expecting a couple of hundred guests at the wedding, and we're all going to have to contend with general park patrons for that limited number of parking places. (We have exclusive use of the shelter, but not of the park itself, natch, nor of the parking lot.)

However, there's quite a lot of parking space at Wright Middle School, where the reception will be held. Much of it is in the playground out back (the so-called "overflow lot"). If you can arrange to meet up with friends there, ahead of the ceremony, then you can leave one car at the school and ride over to the park in another.

May the odds be always in your favor.

Really, No Gifts!

Yeah, we know that wedding gifts are traditional, but we've already got way too much stuff, and we're looking to unload some of it, not acquire more, so please just come and have a good time. That'll be the best present possible.

Talk to Us

Please feel free to leave us a comment right below any post about whatever it deals with. We'd love to hear from you — and our other guests will probably profit from the exchange as well. (If it currently says "no comments", just click on that to add one.)

Getting Started

This is my first post to this blog. There will be more as developments occur. You can subscribe to the news using the link which I'll be putting on the upper-right corner of the home page.