Marissa Rebecca Padilla and Michael Thomas Collins were married Sept. 15 at La Mesita Ranch, an events space in Santa Fe, N.M. Judge Kenneth J. Gonzales of the Federal District Court in New Mexico, and an uncle of the bride, officiated.
The couple met in Washington in 2005, when Ms. Padilla joined the staff of Representative Tom Udall, the New Mexico Democrat — now one of the state’s senators — for whom Mr. Collins also worked, though they didn’t begin dating until 2013.
Ms. Padilla, 37, is a vice president for communications and public affairs in Washington at the Global Strategy Group. After her stint with Mr. Udall, she also served in the Obama administration, in the both the Transportation Department and the Health and Human Services Department, where she was the principal deputy assistant secretary for public affairs. She graduated from the University of New Mexico.
She is a daughter of Monica J. Garcia and Richard L. Padilla, both of Santa Fe. Her father owns and operates Padilla’s Cooling and Heating in Santa Fe. Her mother is the office manager for Fiquet Hanna Duckworth, an Eastern medicine and acupuncture practitioner in Santa Fe.
Mr. Collins, 40, is a lobbyist at Mehlman Castagnetti Rosen & Thomas, a government relations firm in Washington. He worked for Mr. Udall until 2015, most recently as the senator’s chief of staff. The groom graduated from Pitzer College in Claremont, Calif.
He is the son of Merle Kout of Deerfield, Ill., and Thomas M. Collins Jr. of Agua Fria, N.M. The groom’s mother is an independent accountant, doing bookkeeping for individuals and business. His father is a freelance journalist, and a regular contributor to the northern New Mexico edition of The Albuquerque Journal.
