Ben & Courtney in a photo taken by Amy Lincoln

Ben Lincoln & Courtney Sherwood
July 30, 2006

The Ceremony

Time

Start gathering at 10 a.m. for coffee and light appetizers. The ceremony begins at 10:30 a.m. sharp.

[The ceremony will be held outside on a lawn beside the Lewis River]

Location

The Lewis River Golf Course, Woodland, Washington

Directions

From Portland, take Interstate 5 north to exit 21 (Woodland). Turn right at the light and drive about 5.5 miles east. After you pass the Lewis River RV Park, turn right onto Lewis River Road. Then turn right again onto the golf course driveway. If you need help with transportation, please contact us at least two weeks before the ceremony.

The Reception

Brunch

A buffet brunch reception will be served at the Lewis River Golf Course following the ceremony, starting at 11 a.m. Please contact us if you have dietary needs we should take into consideration.

Attire

Weddings can provide a fun opportunity to dress up for some people, a stressful time to worry about clothes for others. Your first priority should be comfort. This is a casual wedding. Feel free to interpret that however you'd like -- or to flaunt the casualness of it all and break out that new ball gown or tux you've been itching to wear.

Accommodations

Saturday and Sunday nights

We have set aside a small block of rooms at the Best Western Woodland Inn and Suites, which can be reached at 360-225-1000. Please book your room by July 10, as the hold will be released. The Best Western offers web access, and has a pool and a fitness room. Most rooms have microwaves and mini-fridges. Tell them you're with the Sherwood-Lincoln wedding.

Please contact us by July 5 if the cost of a room at the Best Western is a financial burden, and we'll see what we can do to find you more affordable lodging. We may be able to find free (but crowded) accommodations for you, or help you connect with someone with whom to share the cost of a room.

Additional nights

If you will be arriving in the area before Friday or leaving after Monday, you may want to consider spending your additional nights in Portland. Woodland is a beautiful family-oriented village, but Portland offers many more cultural attractions for out-of-towners.

Beds at the Northwest Portland Hostel are available for less than $20, and will put you in a fun, trendy neighborhood. Travel sites, like hotels.com, can help you find a range of other options.

Wedding-related activities

Friday - Garden Party

Ben's mom and step-dad, Sue and John Riles, will be hosting a pre-wedding garden party to celebrate our wedding and bring our families together, starting at 6 p.m. Friday night. Wedding guests are invited.

Saturday - Hiking

Weather permitting, Courtney plans to lead a hike near Mount St. Helens on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. The trail leads past ancient lava formations to the south of the volcano. There are three alternative turn-back points, so less experienced hikers can join us for the easier part of the trek and those who wish to forge on can go farther. If you'd like to join us on this hike, be sure to pack hiking boots or running shoes, warm weather clothes and a light jacket or other layers. Although it should be warm at low elevations, it could be chilly and drizzly up high. The drive to the trail is about an hour each way.

Sunday - Hanging Out

Courtney's parents, Nick and Nancy Sherwood, have rented a room at the Best Western, where guests can gather Sunday afternoon following the reception. We may set up a laptop to collect digital photos of the ceremony and reception, if you've taken any and are willing to share.

Fun on your own in Portland and Woodland

Around Woodland

The Cedar Creek Grist Mill is a refurbished historic grist mill, where grain was ground to make flour in the late 1800s. Volunteers staff the building -- and sell fresh ground flour -- during limited weekend hours. The mill is roughly nine miles outside Woodland, and can be reached by taking Cedar Creek Road to Grist Mill Road.

The Hulda Klager Lilac Gardens, at 115 South Pekin Road, have hundreds of beautiful flowers and are a nice place for a picnic lunch or just a stroll.

The Wash Festival, a family-friendly countercultural art- and community-oriented weekend, will be taking place near Woodland the weekend of our wedding. The organizers have told us that wedding guests are welcome to drop by. There is no charge. Please read the web site and be willing to respect the spirit of the festival if you choose to go.

For more ideas, check out LewisRiver.com.

In Portland

Whatever your interest, there are hundreds of entertaining things to do in Portland. PDXGuide is a good starting point, but feel free to ask Ben or Courtney for suggestions catered to your specific interests. If you're around on July 27, you should definitely check out Last Thursday, an eclectic art walk on NE Alberta Street, not far from where we live.

Who are Ben and Courtney?

Ben Lincoln

Ben works as a database programmer for University Medical Group, which is affiliated with Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland's biggest employer. He's really into online role-playing video games, primarily Everquest 2 and sometimes World of Warcraft. He's also a huge fan of the Portland Trailblazers. After a bus totaled his Ford Escort earlier this year, Ben gave up life as a car owner. He walks to work and home each day, a four-mile round trip.

Ben was born in L.A. and lived in Indiana when he was young, then moved to the greater Portland area when he was 10. After graduating from Beaverton High School, he earned a BA in economics at UC Davis.

Ben's family includes: mom and step-dad Sue and John Riles; dad and step-mom Jim and Kerry Lincoln; siblings Amy, Nathan and Natasha.

Courtney Sherwood

Courtney covers the high tech industry as a business reporter at The Columbian, the daily newspaper of Vancouver, Washington. She's an avid reader of books, magazines, newspapers and web sites and she enjoys food experiments, which occasionally qualify as "cooking."

Courtney was born in Bangkok, Thailand, and traveled around the world as a child of the U.S. Foreign Service when she was young -- living in Poland, Norway, Taiwan and China. She graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in northern Virginia, then earned a BA in English at Grinnell College in Iowa.

Courtney's family includes: parents Nick and Nancy Sherwood and brothers Morgan, Darcy, Austin and Chance.

The two of us

Ben and Courtney met through the Internet in early 2002. They have a cat, Mister, and miss their other cat, Jazzy, who recently passed away. They enjoy watching movies, eating out, talking, going for long walks, goofing around and just chilling on their comfy couch. Both are deeply in love with Portland, and are very happy to be living in such a beautiful city.

Gifts

We live a full life in a cluttered apartment and are fortunate enough to have all of our pressing material needs met. Just having our loved ones gathered around us on our wedding day is all the gift we need. Please, don't feel obligated to spend time or money worrying about a gift.

We understand that many people have a hard time separating gift-giving from weddings, and to accommodate them we have set up a registry at Target. It can be accessed online here or in stores.

Target doesn't allow us to list "creative expressions of your friendship," so let's add that to the list, as well. Art, crafts, poetry, a nice card, a kind word, or your presence on July 30 -- any of these would be more gift than we could ask for.

How to reach us

If you have any questions or concerns, please e-mail Courtney. She can be reached at csherwood -AT- gmail -dot- com.

Ben Lincoln & Courtney Sherwood July 30, 2006