As of March 17 Happy St. Patrick's Day! Wow, only fourteen more days until we'll all be together celebrating our big day. Deep breath! Okay... So here's the skinny on where we're at. We've given the numbers to our caterer and venue. That means we're locked in on how much food we're going to serve etc... We can go higher, but we can't go any lower. So don't worry if you gave us an RSVP of "maybe" and change it to yes/no because we'd rather have too much food than too little. Oh, and I want to remind y'all of the smart phone app for taking pictures mostly because we think it will be great if everyone can share their pics with everyone else. Also because life happened to our photographer and she's not able to make it to our wedding. That's okay because we do understand that life happens. But Doug and I have decided not to scramble at the last minute to find and hire another formal wedding photographer so it'll be fun having everyone taking and sharing pictures. Ain't technology grand? We'll also have one-time use cameras for those who do not have smart phones, and anyone who wants to bring their cameras can bring them, but we are asking that you please share the pictures via the wedding snap application if you can or via email. So that's about it. If anything else comes up, I'll be sure to update it here and Facebook. But we're coming close! Both Doug and I are looking forward to seeing all y'all on Sunday March 31, 2013. Yay!
March 8 Doug is taking the day off on Monday, March 11, and we're finalizing everything we can -- caterers, venue, DJ -- everything! So we kinda need y'all to let us know if you can come or not by this weekend. Even a strong maybe would be great. Please go by the evite website if you haven't already give us a yes, no, or strong maybe. We're running out of time! Agh! Is now a good time for me to start running around and pulling my hair out? I promise not to do that. ^_^ Anyway, just wanted to let y'all know that we're finalizing everything and we want you to be counted!
Feb 20 Hey everyone! Time is getting tight around here! It's getting close to a month to go according to that little countdown up there. Whew! I really really need people to give us their RSVPs if they haven't already. AND! If you haven't taken advantage of the hotel deal we set up, then y'all need to get on that because they're only going to hold those hotel rooms open for so long. To refresh your memories, the Holiday Inn Express right down the road is holding rooms for our party at the low price of: $89.00 for a Standard Room and $99.00 for a Suite -- those are per day and plus tax. There're more details below of how to take advantage of these prices. I just called them and no one so far has booked a room with them. The nice lady on the phone says that the cut off date is the second week of March. So get to steppin' people! ☺
I also need an accurate headcount for the caterer, venue people, and all that good stuff. Man, this planning business is hard! I'm so not trying to be a nag about all of this, but I don't want to have too little food, not enough seats, or anything like that. I want this to be fun for everyone, not stressful or uncomfortable. It would be a pain for everyone involved (since nearly everyone is coming from out of town) to have to rearrange everything at the last minute because we have the headcount wrong. So, even if you think you might be coming please send in your RSVP (including how many people might be coming with you) to the evite website as a "maybe" so we can include you in on the food, seating and everything else that needs a number. It will just make things easier all the way around. I would rather have too much food and too many seats than too little food and not enough seats.
Feb 1: Wow, it's been a while since I've updated the page! But that's not because I've been sitting around doing nothing! We now have a caterer and a DJ lined up, and we're looking far and wide for wedding rings that I (Willow) can wear since I have a bad reaction to every metal and metal-like substance under the sun. After trying and rejecting tungsten, ceramic (which aren't ceramic, they're a different kind of tungsten), and carbon fiber rings, we're down to bone, ivory, and wood. So we're looking at wooden wedding rings from this website. Both Doug and I think that they're very nice rings and we're now deciding on which woods to use. Unfortunately, we may not be able to get them before the ceremony (because, you know, we only had a year to do this. ☺ ), so we're also looking for something that we can use in the meantime. What I'm trying to say is, we've been busy.
Also, I want to ask everyone to please, please, Please RSVP on the evite website so we can have an accurate head count of who is coming. We need to know how much food to buy and how many seats to prepare. It would be awful to be short of seats and food! The evite website is where we're keeping count of everyone. Even Doug and I RSVP'ed on that site so we'd be counted! It's just easier all the way around if everyone sends their RSVP to the evite website. If you've sent us an an email or said you'd come on Facebook, we probably asked you to also RSVP on the evite website, mostly because it has the guest function and will give us an accurate headcount. So, please RSVP on the evite website?
Jan 9, we've blocked off several rooms at the Holiay Inn Express that's a couple of blocks down from our venue. The address for the Holiday Inn Express is: 5401 Alameda Boulevard NE (map). The prices for our party are: $89.00 for a Standard Room and $99.00 for a Suite -- those are per day and plus tax. You can look at the Holiday Inn Express website to see what you're getting for your buck. However! (And this is important) You must call the actual hotel to book the rooms at these prices!!! Let me repeat that because it's important. You have to call 505-797-2291 in order to get the rooms at the above rates. It's important. If you register online, you won't get the above rates, so please call the hotel (505-797-2291) and tell them you're with the Scott / Lanford Wedding to get a deal on the rooms. Of course, you're welcome to stay anywhere you like, but this is the hotel that's most convienent to the venue.
Oh! I forgot! The hotel is holding the rooms until the end of February end of the second week of March - we got an extension! Yay!. Please book your room by the end of February end of the second week of March, or the hotel won't give you the rates quoted above. Just a head's up.
Jan 8, we sent out evites to everyone on our guest list, either directly through email or through Facebook. I think I may have sent out a couple of doubles, so please forgive my ditziness. Just call me excited. ^_^ Anyway, if you're on the facebook wedding group or got a "Save the Date" card and did not get an evite, please send Doug or Willow an email and we'll get one to you one ASAP. Also, it's really important to send an RSVP with the number of people who will be attending, even if you know that we know you're coming Both Doug and Willow sent an RSVP for example and we know we'll be there! ☺ We're asking everyone to send in an RSVP because the evite website will give us a complete headcount and that will help with the other planning (food, seating, etc...).
Jan 7, we have a venue! (Yay!) It used to be called Garduños on the Green, but that restaurant is closed, and now it's owned by the city. It's now called Fiesta on the Green, but if you try and look it up, you won't get a hit because they don't really advertise it. Anyway, the address is 9401 Balloon Museum Dr Ne, Albuquerque, NM (map). There's a Holiday Inn Express about two blocks from the venue, so we're going to try and reserve a block of rooms for our out of town guests there. If y'all would like to stay somewhere else, there are bunches of hotels and motels around that area of varying prices. Please let me know what your preferences are so we can try to help y'all out as much as possible from this end. Thanks! Edited to add: This venue is attached to the ABQ Golf Training Center (info) so all you bored golfers can wander over and shot a few balls (the lady who rented us the space asked me to mention this). All we ask is that you refrain from golfing during the ceremony itself. As of Jan 2, 2013, we're still looking for a venue, but it'll be announced here as soon as we have it. We originally planned to have it in our back yard, but we soon got over that madness. We'll post the venue here, as well as on our Facebook page and we'll send out emails. We want y'all to be informed. :) If we book a hotel conference room and get a group deal on the rooms, we'll let y'all know as well.
The date is still March 31, 2013. That won't change.
Info about the ceremony itself...
This will be a very casual affair. Doug and I are laid back people. We'll still have a few traditional features in our celebration, but this will not be your run-of-the-mill type wedding. For instance, we won't have a rehearsal dinner; nor will Willow have a gown or walk down a long aisle (no one is giving her away), we won't have bridesmaids, nor groomsmen, etc… In other words, we'll have very little pomp and circumstance, just family and friends and a nice, small, ceremony followed by a wonderful (we hope) reception. The wedding and reception will take place at the same venue. See? Not traditional, but it will be fun! We simply want our friends and family to join us as we pledge our love in a joyful way. Doug is referring to this as our "blue jean" wedding, so casual dress is all that's required. Don't be scared, there will be no hay bales to sit on. We do plan to have tables, chairs, and proper cutlery. :)
Now, for some interesting stuff...
For those of you who have smart phones with cameras, y'all can download the Wedding Snap App by texting DougWillow33113 to (415) 659-9877 and take all the pictures you want. Then upload those pictures to our album on the Wedding Snap website so we can all share. For those with a digital camera, you can upload pictures to the same website and use the code: DougWillow33113. We'll also have one-time use cameras for those who don't have either smart phones or digital cameras. We can have those pictures digitized and shared as well. After the celebration, Willow will take all the photos and try and cobble together an album and send everyone a copy as soon as that's finished.
It'll be a great time!
Just so's you know, we're registered at two places: Amazon and Bed Bath & Beyond. I know that it might seem unusual for two people our age to be registered anywhere, but Doug's been living the bachelor life for a long time and his stuff is, well… the less said about that the better. :) Willow has led a very nomadic life and everything she owns she can fit in her car. We just bought a house and filled it with enough furniture to make ourselves comfortable, but there're still a lot of blank spaces.
Ah, romance...
Or, y'all can donate to our honeymoon fund. We're nerdy nerds (or is that geeky geeks?) so we're going to a nerdy convention called Dragon*Con in Atlanta, GA in August of 2013. Here's the information for those who are curious. We have the tickets and our hotel room is booked. Dragon*Con is a great place to spend money for two geekazoids, and the hotel room is gonna be a bit expensive. Not to mention paying for a pet sitter (can't leave 'em alone in the house for a week, and I don't think they will like Dragon*Con). ^_^ But it's one of those things that people like us really like to do. We'll be driving out to save money (and because we love road trips). You can donate through our PayPal account here:
But Mostly!
We want to thank everyone for celebrating with us, either at our wedding or from afar. We are so very happy to have found each other. It may have taken half a lifetime of searching and waiting, but we're certainly going to make the most of the next half of our lives loving the heck out of each other. Thank you, everyone, for sharing our joy.
Welcome to our wedding page! 
As of March 17 Happy St. Patrick's Day! Wow, only fourteen more days until we'll all be together celebrating our big day. Deep breath! Okay... So here's the skinny on where we're at. We've given the numbers to our caterer and venue. That means we're locked in on how much food we're going to serve etc... We can go higher, but we can't go any lower. So don't worry if you gave us an RSVP of "maybe" and change it to yes/no because we'd rather have too much food than too little. Oh, and I want to remind y'all of the smart phone app for taking pictures mostly because we think it will be great if everyone can share their pics with everyone else. Also because life happened to our photographer and she's not able to make it to our wedding. That's okay because we do understand that life happens. But Doug and I have decided not to scramble at the last minute to find and hire another formal wedding photographer so it'll be fun having everyone taking and sharing pictures. Ain't technology grand? We'll also have one-time use cameras for those who do not have smart phones, and anyone who wants to bring their cameras can bring them, but we are asking that you please share the pictures via the wedding snap application if you can or via email. So that's about it. If anything else comes up, I'll be sure to update it here and Facebook. But we're coming close! Both Doug and I are looking forward to seeing all y'all on Sunday March 31, 2013. Yay!
March 8 Doug is taking the day off on Monday, March 11, and we're finalizing everything we can -- caterers, venue, DJ -- everything! So we kinda need y'all to let us know if you can come or not by this weekend. Even a strong maybe would be great. Please go by the evite website if you haven't already give us a yes, no, or strong maybe. We're running out of time! Agh! Is now a good time for me to start running around and pulling my hair out? I promise not to do that. ^_^ Anyway, just wanted to let y'all know that we're finalizing everything and we want you to be counted!
Feb 20 Hey everyone! Time is getting tight around here! It's getting close to a month to go according to that little countdown up there. Whew! I really really need people to give us their RSVPs if they haven't already. AND! If you haven't taken advantage of the hotel deal we set up, then y'all need to get on that because they're only going to hold those hotel rooms open for so long. To refresh your memories, the Holiday Inn Express right down the road is holding rooms for our party at the low price of: $89.00 for a Standard Room and $99.00 for a Suite -- those are per day and plus tax. There're more details below of how to take advantage of these prices. I just called them and no one so far has booked a room with them. The nice lady on the phone says that the cut off date is the second week of March. So get to steppin' people! ☺ 
I also need an accurate headcount for the caterer, venue people, and all that good stuff. Man, this planning business is hard! I'm so not trying to be a nag about all of this, but I don't want to have too little food, not enough seats, or anything like that. I want this to be fun for everyone, not stressful or uncomfortable. It would be a pain for everyone involved (since nearly everyone is coming from out of town) to have to rearrange everything at the last minute because we have the headcount wrong. So, even if you think you might be coming please send in your RSVP (including how many people might be coming with you) to the evite website as a "maybe" so we can include you in on the food, seating and everything else that needs a number. It will just make things easier all the way around. I would rather have too much food and too many seats than too little food and not enough seats.
Feb 1: Wow, it's been a while since I've updated the page! But that's not because I've been sitting around doing nothing! We now have a caterer and a DJ lined up, and we're looking far and wide for wedding rings that I (Willow) can wear since I have a bad reaction to every metal and metal-like substance under the sun. After trying and rejecting tungsten, ceramic (which aren't ceramic, they're a different kind of tungsten), and carbon fiber rings, we're down to bone, ivory, and wood. So we're looking at wooden wedding rings from this website. Both Doug and I think that they're very nice rings and we're now deciding on which woods to use. Unfortunately, we may not be able to get them before the ceremony (because, you know, we only had a year to do this. ☺ ), so we're also looking for something that we can use in the meantime. What I'm trying to say is, we've been busy.
Also, I want to ask everyone to please, please, Please RSVP on the evite website so we can have an accurate head count of who is coming. We need to know how much food to buy and how many seats to prepare. It would be awful to be short of seats and food! The evite website is where we're keeping count of everyone. Even Doug and I RSVP'ed on that site so we'd be counted! It's just easier all the way around if everyone sends their RSVP to the evite website. If you've sent us an an email or said you'd come on Facebook, we probably asked you to also RSVP on the evite website, mostly because it has the guest function and will give us an accurate headcount. So, please RSVP on the evite website?
Jan 9, we've blocked off several rooms at the Holiay Inn Express that's a couple of blocks down from our venue. The address for the Holiday Inn Express is: 5401 Alameda Boulevard NE (map). The prices for our party are: $89.00 for a Standard Room and $99.00 for a Suite -- those are per day and plus tax. You can look at the Holiday Inn Express website to see what you're getting for your buck. However! (And this is important) You must call the actual hotel to book the rooms at these prices!!! Let me repeat that because it's important. You have to call 505-797-2291 in order to get the rooms at the above rates. It's important. If you register online, you won't get the above rates, so please call the hotel (505-797-2291) and tell them you're with the Scott / Lanford Wedding to get a deal on the rooms. Of course, you're welcome to stay anywhere you like, but this is the hotel that's most convienent to the venue.
Jan 8, we sent out evites to everyone on our guest list, either directly through email or through Facebook. I think I may have sent out a couple of doubles, so please forgive my ditziness. Just call me excited. ^_^ Anyway, if you're on the facebook wedding group or got a "Save the Date" card and did not get an evite, please send Doug or Willow an email and we'll get one to you one ASAP. Also, it's really important to send an RSVP with the number of people who will be attending, even if you know that we know you're coming Both Doug and Willow sent an RSVP for example and we know we'll be there! ☺ We're asking everyone to send in an RSVP because the evite website will give us a complete headcount and that will help with the other planning (food, seating, etc...).
Jan 7, we have a venue! (Yay!) It used to be called Garduños on the Green, but that restaurant is closed, and now it's owned by the city. It's now called Fiesta on the Green, but if you try and look it up, you won't get a hit because they don't really advertise it. Anyway, the address is 9401 Balloon Museum Dr Ne, Albuquerque, NM (map). There's a Holiday Inn Express about two blocks from the venue, so we're going to try and reserve a block of rooms for our out of town guests there. If y'all would like to stay somewhere else, there are bunches of hotels and motels around that area of varying prices. Please let me know what your preferences are so we can try to help y'all out as much as possible from this end. Thanks! 
The date is still March 31, 2013. That won't change.
Info about the ceremony itself... 
This will be a very casual affair. Doug and I are laid back people. We'll still have a few traditional features in our celebration, but this will not be your run-of-the-mill type wedding. For instance, we won't have a rehearsal dinner; nor will Willow have a gown or walk down a long aisle (no one is giving her away), we won't have bridesmaids, nor groomsmen, etc… In other words, we'll have very little pomp and circumstance, just family and friends and a nice, small, ceremony followed by a wonderful (we hope) reception. The wedding and reception will take place at the same venue. See? Not traditional, but it will be fun! We simply want our friends and family to join us as we pledge our love in a joyful way. Doug is referring to this as our "blue jean" wedding, so casual dress is all that's required. Don't be scared, there will be no hay bales to sit on. We do plan to have tables, chairs, and proper cutlery. :)
For those of you who have smart phones with cameras, y'all can download the Wedding Snap App by texting DougWillow33113 to (415) 659-9877 and take all the pictures you want. Then upload those pictures to our album on the Wedding Snap website so we can all share. For those with a digital camera, you can upload pictures to the same website and use the code: DougWillow33113. We'll also have one-time use cameras for those who don't have either smart phones or digital cameras. We can have those pictures digitized and shared as well. After the celebration, Willow will take all the photos and try and cobble together an album and send everyone a copy as soon as that's finished.
It'll be a great time!
Just so's you know, we're registered at two places: Amazon and Bed Bath & Beyond. I know that it might seem unusual for two people our age to be registered anywhere, but Doug's been living the bachelor life for a long time and his stuff is, well… the less said about that the better. :) Willow has led a very nomadic life and everything she owns she can fit in her car. We just bought a house and filled it with enough furniture to make ourselves comfortable, but there're still a lot of blank spaces.
Ah, romance...
Or, y'all can donate to our honeymoon fund. We're nerdy nerds (or is that geeky geeks?) so we're going to a nerdy convention called Dragon*Con in Atlanta, GA in August of 2013. Here's the information for those who are curious. We have the tickets and our hotel room is booked. Dragon*Con is a great place to spend money for two geekazoids, and the hotel room is gonna be a bit expensive. Not to mention paying for a pet sitter (can't leave 'em alone in the house for a week, and I don't think they will like Dragon*Con). ^_^ But it's one of those things that people like us really like to do. We'll be driving out to save money (and because we love road trips). You can donate through our PayPal account here:
But Mostly!
We want to thank everyone for celebrating with us, either at our wedding or from afar. We are so very happy to have found each other. It may have taken half a lifetime of searching and waiting, but we're certainly going to make the most of the next half of our lives loving the heck out of each other. Thank you, everyone, for sharing our joy.