Jim & Jody :: July 28, 2007

Photo Sneak Peek

2007-08-17T12:36:00.001-07:00

So, for those of you who don't already know this, there is a sneak peek of the wedding photo gallery online right now. You can click the logo below, or just go to: http://www.charoblog.com/clients/20070728/

Enjoy!

Work the camera . . . work it!!

2007-08-10T15:27:00.000-07:00

You oughta be in pictures!

Hello all! As you probably know, we are all married now and Jody is already living in Philadelphia. I am not however, I'm stuck with the lovely weather of Southern California for a few more weeks. Somehow I'll suffer through it.

Anyway, to try and share the wedding weekend fun with everyone, I have set up a photo gallery here on our website, so that everyone can upload and share photos, and print them if you want! Anyways, for those of you who have never used the Gallery program before, just click on the gallery logo below or the link over on the right hand side. Once you get to the gallery, click the register button on the upper right hand side. Once you register and get your confirmation email, a new album will be created with your name on it when you login to the gallery. Then you can upload all of your pictures so that everyone can see em! You can even make separate galleries and stuff. You can also add the pictures to a shopping cart, and have them printed on shutterfly.com if you want. If you have any questions, you can shoot me an email at jim@jimandjody.com.

Thanks again for making our wedding weekend so memorable, hopefully the pictures will help me remember some stuff I forgot!

Somewhere in Arizona

2007-07-23T08:39:00.000-07:00

It's My Party and I'll Drink Five Cosmos If I Want To

2007-07-15T22:04:00.000-07:00

This is how my bachelorette party started:

And this is how it ended:

The Big "Easy"??

2007-06-29T11:45:00.000-07:00

I'm too old for this s**t!

Well, I recently got back from my bachelor weekend with my brothers in New Orleans. First of all, I want to thank Marc, Dave, and my Parents (who paid for a good bit of this trip unbeknownst to them) for a wonderful time. New Orleans is a great town, and it already has some very special memories for me: from the time I peed off of a balcony in the French Quarter (Oddlyenough I hadn't even been drinking, I was just a little kid, and my grandmother wouldn't get out of the bathroom! I will tell you the whole story sometime if you like.), to JazzFest weekend.

My friend, Tisha, has a theory that people are either New Orleans people or Las Vegas people, and I'd have to say that I belong in the former category. I don't think that there is any town in the good old USA that I love more. The food is terrific, the music is terriffic, and you simply can't beat it for bars per square inch. I could do without, the heat, but it's not unbearable.

But, I think I've decided that I can't go to New Orleans more than once a year, or maybe once every 2 years. Still, it's good to know that I'm not too old to be having a drink called the "Hand Grenade" (apparently it's New Orleans' strongest drink) or the "Horny Gator". If you're lucky maybe I will mix you up some at the wedding!

Give it to me now!

2007-06-06T17:55:00.000-07:00

I want a hamburger... no, a cheeseburger. I want a hot dog. I want a milkshake...

Hello there cats and kittens. Many folks have been asking us where they may buy us gifts to celebrate our wedding. Apparently, we receive gifts! I, personally think it's a wonderful idea. If you are so inclined, we are registered at Target and Amazon. Please click either of the names there to go to the registries, or click one of the little logos below. AH! I am so creative sometimes. Thank you for your time, and for your gifts!!

The Dreams, They Start

2007-05-31T21:20:00.001-07:00

Last night, I had my first dream about the wedding. I dreamt that it was our wedding day, only one hour before the ceremony. I suddenly realize I hadn't bought a veil, I had forgotten to buy some important ceremony items, and the hair stylist tells me she doesn't have enough time to do my hair. I have a feeling this is the first in a long line of dreams to come...

Detail I Unexpectedly Care About #2 (Jim)

2007-05-20T13:06:00.000-07:00

I like flatware with square bottoms and the outside tines of the fork may not be wider than the inside tines of the fork, of course.

Detail I Unexpectedly Care About #1 (Jody)

2007-05-18T17:24:00.000-07:00

Wouldn't it be cool if we used the same ribbon that's decorating the cake, as ties on the dinner napkins?

How To Plan A Wedding In 2 1/2 Days

2007-05-09T22:01:00.000-07:00

Destination: Sunset Beach, NC and surrounding cities.

Day 1: Have someone else drive you around if you don't know the area. Eat breakfast out then visit the beach. (It tricks you into thinking you're actually on vacation.) Visit reception site. Taste food, ditch ugly mustard yellow napkins, and ogle the ocean view. Check out tidal levels and shading at ceremony site. Check out the pool and hot tub at the hotel.

Day 2: Drive to another town. Plan out every flower on every table and in every bouquet in an hour and a half. Don't forget to be stressed, relieved, stressed, and then finally relieved. Drive to the nearest large city to meet the cake baker in a coffee shop. Make sure they have free internet so you can look up flower girl dresses while you eat a chocolate chip muffin and wait. Afterward grab lunch (beer included) then visit the office supply store for the binder that you probably should have started a month ago. Drive home and watch Dancing With The Stars.

Day 2 1/2: Sleep in, you'll be exhausted from the endless decision making. Walk to the coffee shop for the second latte and bagel in two days. Drive to rental place and book chairs, tables, linens, etc. Crap, no napkins. Drive to another small town, eat lunch, buy more souvenirs. Pack up, drive to airport, go home.

Also, don't waste time while in the car: discuss ice buckets for champagne, cake ribbon colors, program information, arch or no arch, rehearsal dinner locations, bride's dress, mother's dresses, flower girl dresses, transportation, and the current lack of napkins.

Happy Together

2007-04-28T10:34:00.000-07:00

Throughout the wedding planning process, I have definitely been luckier than most brides-to-be, in that my fiance is doing his share of the wedding planning (maybe more). We picked a date together, decided on the reception site together, and hired the photographer, cake person, and florist together. Unfortunately, there's one thing we can't do together: pick out my wedding dress. In the beginning I did what every good bride should do, and kept an open mind. I started at David's Bridal putting on dress after dress of white satin, white chiffon, white lace, and white beads, all over a white girdle, white push up bra and white rhinestone covered heels. I didn't find a dress, just my own version of hell. They force you to stand on this tiny box looking into a huge three way mirror on a stage in front of all the other brides and their moms, sisters, and a few bored looking guys and rowdy kids. I may not have known what I wanted, but I definitely found what I didn't. Our wedding is three months from today and I still don't have a thing to wear. Maybe Jim will come shopping with me this weekend.

We Are So In Love, We Blew Out The Power

2007-04-13T13:05:00.000-07:00

OK. So it wasn't exactly our love. It was probably the 50 mph wind gusts that knocked down power lines causing huge power outages and several brush fires across West Los Angeles. Since we couldn't watch TV, listen to music or check our email until almost 11 o'clock last night, we decided to order chinese food, drink beer, and read each other the questions off the Trivial Pursuit cards by candle light. I hope our honeymoon is as exciting.

March Madness

2007-03-29T12:41:00.000-07:00

March was a big month for us. On Sunday we returned from New York on our, what Jim calls "Our Engage-iversary." A year ago Sunday Jim proposed to me in a whirl of hysterics (all mine) and spent a beautiful night on the Queen Mary in Long Beach. Three blissful (or trying, as Jim says) years ago yesterday, our blossoming love became official after some sushi and hand-holding on the 3rd St. Promenade. And tomorrow Jim will be turning 33. In celebration of our over 1000 days as a couple, we are going to eat steak. This picture is the only picture that we took together while in New York. I think it sums things up pretty well.

Not Because The Official State Beverage is Milk

2007-03-19T07:10:00.000-07:00

Many people have been asking us the same question: Why North Carolina? Well, I say, why NOT North Carolina? Nothing says I feel beautiful and in love like wearing a big, white dress and high heels in the heat and humidity of the south in July. Jim and I were thinking of a foreign wedding, but decided it was more important to have our family around us, so we moved it stateside. Jim's brother, Marc, has a beautiful house in Sunset Beach, NC that backs up to the Intracoastal Waterway that he offered up for the ceremony. Free and on the beach? We couldn't resist.

Hotel & Reception Information

2007-03-13T14:43:00.000-07:00

Love and information. . . love and information, that's what I am all about.

So, many of our devoted readers have been asking for hotel information for the wedding weekend, and here it is. The reception is going to be in Ocean Isle Beach which is the next beach over from Sunset, so we figured it would be best to get the rooms close to where the reception is (and, there's a lack of hotel rooms in Sunset Beach). There's a block of rooms reserved at The Islander Inn for 7/26/07-7/29/07, so come early and stay late! The contact information is as follows:

The Islander Inn
http://www.islanderinn.com/
(888) 325-4753
Rooms are saved under the Kieffer/Critchfield Wedding
The rates are:
July 26th - 29th Ocean Front $179 Sound View $159

Go ahead and book your rooms . . . if you dare!

The reception will be at The Isles restaurant (http://www.islesrestaurant.com/), so go on and take a look.

. . . The countdown continues.

Welcome

2007-03-11T10:50:00.000-07:00

Hello there world, I'm a pretty princess!

That's what this blog would say if it could talk. I bid you a fond welcome to our wedding blog. It's the first, in what hopefully will be a long line, of many collaborative efforts between Jody and myself. We're creating this so that you can join us on our "journey" into wedded bliss . . . Believe me, I didn't want to write that, but that's what all the other wedding blogs say (I've been doing research!), so I think it must be some sort of rule.

The main purpose of this blog is to keep folks up to date on the trials and tribulations of what it really takes to plan a wedding in 2007. It's what happens when couples stop being polite, and start being REAL. Actually, it's to let you guys know what's up with our planning process. Also, it's here to tell you how and when you can book your rooms, etc. So, please feel free to take a look around, and we hope to see you at the big bash in July!