A bit of housekeeping

Seeing as how we've made it legal and all, Lisa and I figured a name change for the blog was in order. We are still, indeed, shacked up, but more important now, we're, you know, married. So welcome to Hitched Up.

Please also note the link to the lovely and talented Billy Hunt's site over there on the right. We are deeply indebted to him and Jeremy Mullis for making us look so good on our wedding day.

Coming soon: Thank you notes (in the actual mail) and large numbers of pictures, descriptions and accounts of Argentina.

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A few wedding details

Locations and times and whatnot for Saturday:

The ceremony is at 2 p.m. Saturday in the Italian Garden at Maymont (that's it up above, in the spring; we'll be standing under the gazebo at the far left). You'll be going to the Hampton Street entrance and walking a couple hundred yards to the garden. There are also some steps from the main park road down to the garden, and a cobblestone path leading from the garden to the reception site (another short walk), so shod yourself appropriately. Here's a PDF map of the grounds.

The ceremony is outside. Saturday's weather should be in the low to mid-60s, and there's a chance of rain (dry thoughts are appreciated). We promise the ceremony will be short, to allow more time for...

The reception, which will start right after the ceremony at the Garden Hall at Maymont. It's inside, but we hope to be using the adjacent patio too. We'll be serving you some very tasty heavy hors d'oeuvres, along with some lovely beverages and cake.

Saturday is also the Richmond Marathon. Unless you're staying downtown, you shouldn't be affected by street closures. This page at the Maymont site has directions to the Hampton Street entrance (about halfway down the page). If you're staying at the Marriott West (or daytripping from D.C.), follow the Interstate 64/95 directions. If you're at the Hyatt Place, you'll want the Powhite Parkway (Route 76) directions. Paper copies of the directions will also be in your hotel rooms.

Can't wait to see you all! Cheers!

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Things to do in Richmond when you're wed (or single, for that matter)

Man does not live by butlered hors d'oeuvres alone, so while you're in town for the wedding, here's a few other things you might enjoy.

Carytown. Mile-long strip of West Cary Street with several good restaurants and cool shops -- antiques, funky clothing, tchotchkes and the like. We particularly enjoy For the Love of Chocolate (everything from Mo's Bacon Bar to Chick-o-Sticks) and Anthill Antiques.

Monument Avenue. Several, uh, interesting monuments to heroes of the Confederacy (as well as one to hometown tennis great Arthur Ashe), as well as a lot of gorgeous old homes on either side. The Virginia Center for Architecture, housed in an enormous Tudor-revival mansion, is worth a look too.

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. We really enjoyed the Faberge exhibit.

Shockoe Slip. Historic neighborhood near the James River and Richmond's canal system, with lots of places to eat and drink. Just east is Shockoe Bottom, with more good food. Impressive architecture in he old (but still in-use) Main Street Station.

The Poe Museum. Housed a few blocks from where Edgar Allan Poe lived and worked in Richmond, and celebrating his freaky life.

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32 days and counting

Well, it's official. Kind of.

No, we didn't go and elope or anything like that -- we've already got like 60 RSVPs for the wedding, and we wouldn't want to piss off our family and friends who're coming to see us (and, by the way, we're getting pretty damn excited about celebrating with y'all).

I am speaking instead of the marriage license we obtained today. In the eyes of the Commonwealth of Virginia, we are now cleared to get hitched. No blood test and no birth certificate needed -- just $30, a picture ID and assurances that we're not already married to someone else (we're not).

Now, about that party ...

After getting the state's permission, we headed over to Richmond for a tasting with our caterer. We've heard effusive praise for A Sharper Palate pretty much from the moment we decided to go with them, and after today we totally get why. I can sum it up in three words: chicken and waffles.

We love us some Roscoe's and have joked (check that -- we really weren't joking) that if we were getting married in L.A., we'd have them cater the reception. And then we figured, hey, we've got a good caterer -- why not have them make this delicacy for us?

Our rep was puzzled at first, but after we described what were thinking of -- a small piece of fried chicken sitting atop a bite-sized waffle, with some kind of sweet-spicy topping for both -- something seemed to click, and it led to what we had today: a little round waffle holding a bite of a crunchy breast tender, topped with a maple-jalapeno butter.

It was exactly what we hoped we were describing, and it tasted really, really, really good. So did the other three things we tried, and I'm pretty sure the rest of the menu will be the same. Every last bite was awesome, and we're even more excited to have you come and share with us in about a month. See you then.

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The Wedding

We thought about calling it "The Event of the Century" or "Rumble in the Jungle," but we didn't want expectations to get out of hand. So here are the basics and some further details.


Wedding/Reception
The wedding ceremony will take place at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 15, in the Italian Garden at Maymont, a former estate located in Byrd Park in Richmond, Va. (1700 Hampton St.)

(The Bald Eagle Habitat is now open, in addition to the black bear habitat -- just an added bonus.)

The cocktail reception will take place immediately following, in the Garden Hall.


Hotels
We have reserved blocks of rooms at three hotels:

Richmond Marriott (about 10 minutes to Maymont by car)
500 East Broad Street
Richmond, VA 23219
5 rooms available, reserved under Rick Porter. To place under your name, please call Hotels.com (with whom the reservations were booked) at (866) 476-8771, ext. 5116, and say you want to take over one of the rooms.

*This is different information than what's on the enclosure card in your invitation, and we apologize for the confusion.

Rooms are reserved until Monday, Oct. 13.

Hyatt Place Richmond/Arboretum (about 15 minutes to Maymont by car)
201 Arboretum Place
Richmond, VA 23236
(804) 560-1566 or (888) 492-8847
15 rooms available; ask for the Todorovich-Porter wedding. Held until Friday, Oct. 17.

Marriott Richmond West (about 15 minutes to Maymont by car)
4240 Dominion Blvd.
Glen Allen, VA 23060
(804) 965-9500
10 rooms available; ask for the Todorovich-Porter wedding. Held until Friday, Oct. 17.


Here are some other options that you may consider but that have not been reserved:

Sheraton Richmond West (about 15 minutes to Maymont by car)
6624 W. Broad St.
Richmond, VA 23230
(804) 285-2000

Crowne Plaza Richmond West (about 15 minutes to Maymont by car)
6531 W. Broad St.
Richmond, VA 23230
(804) 285-9951


Note: The Richmond Marathon also takes place on Nov. 15. We anticipate the streets on the course through downtown will be open by early afternoon.

Some notes from Discover Richmond and the Richmond Visitors Center about the city and all it has to offer. We've enjoyed ourselves immensely here; there's a lot to do -- particularly in Carytown and Shockoe Bottom.


Other
We are registered at Crate & Barrel, Target, and Macy's.

If you have questions or need more information, please don't hesitate to e-mail Lisa or Rick, or to call us at (434) 971-7722.

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Decision No. 1: It has bears

So it turns out that this getting married stuff is kind of complicated.

We have about a thousand things still left to decide, but we have one pretty big one past us now: We know where and when the ceremony is happening. And as a bonus, it has bears.

We considered several places -- the art gallery space that was a little too hipster-doofusy, the other art gallery that's a better space but has a large-scale installation scheduled for the time we wanted and the really very lovely museum space whose current exhibit, on Richmond's turbulent race relations in the '50s and '60s, prominently features a Klan robe. (From what we saw, it was a pretty responsible and thorough exhibit. But it was just too much for us to take.

But when we saw Maymont a few weeks ago, we pretty much fell in love with it. It's a large, foundation-operated park in Richmond on land donated by the estate of a railroad baron. The gardens are stunning -- the picture above is of the Italian garden, where we'll have the ceremony -- and it contains several wildlife habitats, including an under-construction bald eagle aviary and the aforementioned bears. (I've been to some really cool weddings before, but none of them had bears. I'm really kind of proud of that.)

So that's where we'll be on Nov. 15. If you're reading this, chances are you'll get a more formal notice in the not-too-distant future.

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Ring-a-ding

So if you're reading this, you probably already know that we're engaged. We'll have more to say soon, but like good 21st-century nerds, we updated our relationship status on Facebook. This is what Facebook asks you when you tell it you're engaged:

"You are about to add Lisa Todorovich [in my case] as your Fiancee.
"We will then notify Lisa Todorovich, who will have to confirm that you are in a relationship."

Romantic, isn't it?

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