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.