The answer to this should be easy, but nothing ever is. We put forth a good effort to register somewhere to help others pick something they knew we would need.

The problem is that shopping for a registry is exhausting and anything we found was either more expensive than we would want anyone to spend or so inexpensive as to seem silly not to just get for ourselves. We are not very good at putting things on wish lists and for that we apologize.

But really, we have everything we really need already. All we really want from our guests is your smiling faces in attendance or your well wishes if you cannot attend.

We've been getting a lot of questions recently about what everyone should wear to the wedding. While we don't want to dictate what our guests wear, we can give you some more information on what some people are wearing to make sure everyone is comfortable.

The bride is wearing an ivory gown with red bead work and a train. The groom and his best man are wearing black pin-striped tuxedos with ties. Others in the wedding party are wearing suits or comparable clothing.

Please do not feel obligated to wear a suit and please don't go out and buy one if you don't already have one. The event is not necessarily "casual," but a nice shirt and pants or a sun dress would be more than fine.

What's truly important is that you wear something comfortable, so that you will enjoy yourself throughout the day and can eat, dance and laugh to your heart's content. We are far more concerned that our friends and family attend and have a good time rather than if someone's outfit clashes with the flower arrangements.

We have finalized a relatively large guest list at around 250 people. Emily Post would frown at most of our etiquette in how we addressed envelopes but we just hope we spelled everyone's name right. We also are e-mailing those folks who we're not sure of addresses before we actually put anything in the mail. Realistically, invitations won't get mailed until Easter weekend.

If you're concerned that you may or may not be invited, just ask. :) No one will be offended and we'd love to have you if you'd like to come. See previous note about us not being very good with wedding etiquette.

When in doubt, the invitation is to everyone at that address (with the exception of pets due to the site restrictions). We would love for you to bring your kids and we should have plenty for them to do and eat.

As a note, we are not including RSVP postcards in the invitations. We personally have a poor track record of returning them versus just calling or e-mailing, so we didn't want to add the paper, stamps, time and expense unnecessarily (with apologies to wedding how-to books everywhere). If you can't make it, just let us know and we'll be sure you see the photos afterwards!

The ceremony and reception will be held at Genie's alma mater - Norfolk Academy. NA is centrally located in the Tidewater area, has a beautiful campus and plenty of parking for all our guests.

For those of you curious about how we can actually have a wedding at a high school, here are some pictures of the "pit" and fountains area from June of 2006.


The "Pit" area for the ceremony


The entrance and fountains that lead to the ceremony area

There is also a large reception area with glass walls that opens up to the center forum.

Norfolk Academy is located at:

1585 Wesleyan Drive
Norfolk, Virginia 23502
Google map of the site

It is visible from I-64 westbound and is off of the Northampton Blvd exit (Exit 282). Parking is available anywhere out front. Head towards the main archway entrance and walk past the fountains.