We made it!

We have now been in India almost two days, staying in Fort Cochin - a sleepy beach town by India's standards.  It is beautiful here with lots of green foliage and walks along the beach.  The town is known for the Chinese fishing nets that dot the coast.  It takes 4 men to operate one of these nets.

So far we have just been walking around and trying to get used to the sounds, smells, and tastes of this place.  The smell of burning trash is by far the worst and I can only imagine what the bigger cities will be like.  My mom says we will get used to the smells eventually.

Fort Cochin is in the state of Kerala, with the largest Christian population in the country.  Christmastime brings lots of tourists to the area and the town is covered in Christmas lights and paper star lanterns that light up at night. We were told that last night during the carnival they burned an effigy of Santa Claus.  We unfortunately were too jet lagged to make it though! The following is a picture of some of the lights in the town park, which was packed with people last night.

Above is Jeff's first meal - masala dosa.  Absolutely delicious and cost about $0.50!

Tomorrow we are taking a boat ride through the Kerala backwaters and the day after we plan on heading to Munnar, a hill station about a 5 hr bus ride away.


We are still figuring out the best way to upload pictures, so stay patient with us!

We're almost off!

The apartment is cleaned out, the storage unit is packed 15 feet high (let's hope for no earthquake), the cat is with her grandma, we've said most of our goodbyes, and we are almost packed for the trip.  Another 36 hours and we fly out! (And then another 30 hours of travel time before we actually reach India.)

Best Day of Our Lives!

Jeff and I want to thank everyone for making our wedding day so special. The feeling of love, family, and happiness continues to flow over us. I will make a flickr account as soon as I get all of the pictures together and will email it out!

Registries

We have three registries set up:

A travel registry for our time in India - also includes some info on what we plan on doing:
http://www.honeyfund.com/wedding/mccluskey

At Crate&Barrel:
http://www.crateandbarrel.com/Gift-Registry/Guest/ViewRegistry.aspx?grid=4573603

At Macy's:
http://www1.macys.com/registry/wedding/guest/?registryId=241034

Jukebox Heroes

We are going the ipod route and want your input on music! (Otherwise all we will be dancing to that night is The Smiths, Juanes, Neko Case and Joy Division.)

Please email us a couple of songs or comment on this post and help make the music great!

Photography - Snap Away!

Bring your cameras and take pictures for us!

Jeff and I are not getting a professional photographer for the wedding to cut down on cost, so we are asking our friends and families to take pictures during the reception and send them to us afterward. We hope this provides us with a wide variety of perspectives.

We are lucky enough to have some very talented family friends that will be taking pictures during and after the ceremony.

The above photo is from my brother's wedding in Sept. 2008 taken by Jeff.

What to wear

This will be a casual wedding. No tux required! (except for you Stu.)

Weather in Santa Barbara in November could be cold/foggy, so please bring a wrap!

Wedding Party

Maid-of-Honor
Ashley will be my maid-of-honor. We have been friends for our entire lives and there is no one else I could imagine asking.


Best Woman
Jeff chose his younger sister Jenny to serve as the best woman.

Bridesmaid
Also standing up for Claire will be her lovely sister-in-law Sarah. Sarah is also the designer of our invitations!

Flower Girls
We will have a flower girl representative from each side of the family, and the choices were easy! Madison, Jeff's niece, and Sophie, my cousins Todd and Cora's daughter, will do the job.


Ring Bearer
We are in the process of teaching our cat Spooky to serve as the ring bearer, but it has been more difficult than anticipated.

Hotel Accomodations

So you don't end up sleeping in an airport...

Budget:

• Motel 6, 443 Corona del Mar, (805) 564-1392, $93.92/night
  
• Lemon Tree Inn, 2819 State Street, (805) 687-6444, $109/night
  
• Orange Tree Inn, 1920 State Street, (805) 569-1521, $95-$120/night

Mid range:

• Franciscan Inn, 109 Bath St, (805) 963-8845, $140/night
  
• Best Western Beachside Inn, 336 Cabrillo Blvd, (805) 965-6556, $150-$200/night
  
• Hotel Santa Barbara, 533 State St, (805) 957-9300, $160-$210/night

Location, location, location

Picking Santa Barbara as our location was easy. Not only is it the city where we met and fell in love, but it's also my hometown and Jeff has lived here since college.

We will have both the ceremony and the reception at the Chase Palm Park Center at 236 E. Cabrillo Blvd. The ceremony will be on the patio with dinner inside the building.

The ceremony will begin at 4:00pm, followed by the reception at 4:30.

Our officiant will be Paul Lufkin, a long time family friend.

Driving directions

From 101 North, exit Garden St. Go left under the freeway and continue to the beach. Continue through the stoplight at Cabrillo into the parking lot. Use this lot, and the building will be on your left.

Parking Info:

Parking is $2.00 per hour so make sure to carpool! (Or take your chances finding parking along Cabrillo.) Pay by cash or check only. No credit cards.

Save-the-Date!

Jeff and I picked November 6, 2010 as our wedding date. We chose this month because we first started dating in November 2007 and we want to continue celebrate our love during such a beautiful time in California. The idea for a November wedding came from our second anniversary trip to San Francisco.

The Proposal:
Jeff proposed to me on December 18, 2009, at my parent's house, with the quickest way to my heart: hot sauce.

First Post

Hello! This is my first posting. I'm new to the blogging world and need to get familiar with it all. This blog will serve as a webpage for any wedding information as well as a log of our upcoming six-month tour through India and Southeast Asia.

Please send me any blogging tips you may have!