Dress

I've had a few people asking about dress codes for the wedding and reception. The invitations will say cocktail dress, but I'm never sure exactly what these shorthands mean—we actually spent a while reading through etiquette stuff on the internets to figure out what fit best—and I'm sure I'm not the only one. So we thought it would be best to actually describe things in more detail; I'll start and Melinda can add to this later.

I'll be wearing what the tailor describes as a Nehru suit, in deep blue, with no tie; it has raised 'mandarin' collars instead. I think that's probably a good guide for the men present. A couple of people have asked if it's OK to wear a tie, worrying that I'll be offended if they do, so I should make one thing clear: I dislike ties because I don't like how it feels to wear one, not because I have any objection to people wearing ties. We're really just giving you a dress code so you know what to expect - we're not going to be offended if you show up looking different from that.

While I'm on the subject, I've been really enjoying the tailor experience. I think it helps that the guy bears a strong resemblance to Peter Hook (though I have as yet to catch him doing the dance), but it's not just that. There's something utterly charming about getting this kind of personalised service, as compared to the mass-produced everything I would buy for most day-to-day purposes.

Ceremony venue

We actually decided on this and reserved it a while ago, but for some reason never got around to blogging about it. We have a confirmed ceremony venue: Magnolia Park. It's a fairly small, suburban park up on a cliff with views across Elliott Bay to West Seattle and the port. On a really good day (like yesterday, when we biked up there to get an idea of where exactly we want to be for the ceremony) you can see Mount Rainier looming dramatically in the distance. There's no guarantee it will be that clear—the mountain is over 50 miles away, after all—but the chances are at that time of year it will be sunny and pleasantly warm, and there will at least be views over the water.

Practicalities

Although it's not a huge distance from downtown or the reception venue (map), it's too far to walk (we were hoping to use a park a few blocks from the Edgewater, but because it's still under construction they aren't issuing ceremony permits for it yet). A large proportion of our guests are going to be from out of town, and we neither want to encourage you to rent cars (which you definitely don't need to do for Seattle area tourism), nor make the evening complicated for you, so we're organising transport from and back to the reception venue. We haven't worked out the details yet, because we're trying to find a provider who won't rip us off by charging a half-day coach hire rate for the 6 mile round trip, but the important thing is that you don't need to worry about it. Guests will just have to get to the Edgewater, which is within ¾ mile of the hotels we have block bookings at, and a carriage of some sort will whisk you to the park, and whisk you back after the ceremony and a little time to chill out and wander around in the park.

There is one other thing, which is that everyone should wear shoes that you can stand on a grassy hill in. The walk to the Seattle waterfront (any part of it) involves 3 or 4 blocks of fairly steep downhill, and in the park we'll all be standing on uneven grass. So please don't torture yourselves.