When
we arrived at Olowalu, I had no idea what to do with myself. Phil's
mother was getting her hair done, and my Mum was in make-up and
suddenly I was confronted by something I was totally
unprepared
for on my wedding day: unbelievable boredom. Thankfully the rental
people arrived with the bamboo arch so I got to work with Jenn
&
Katie at hanging the cranes. Perhaps if I'd decided to start the
drinking at 10 am I would have been more engaged.
Obviously, I
expected I would be a excited, but really, I didn't start feeling any
of that until I got into hair and make-up myself. The best analogy I
can think of would be the calm before the storm... except the storm
never came. Throughout the rest of the day, there was never an
overwhelming emotion that washed over me, just a steady state of
happiness. In any case, it was an AWESOME day, and I'm sad that I'll
never be able to repeat it again.
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| Ladies,
fake eyelashes are your friends! This is the first time I've worn them
outside of Hallowe'en, and I LOVE the way they turned out. |
Checking out the
placement of my phalenopsis orchid that my fabulous make-up artist,
Jessica Waite, put in for me. |
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| Jessica
working on my beautiful bridesdude Katie. Our hairdresser Dan gave her
the most amazing half-updo. It was totally organic and beach beautiful. |
My
other fabulous bridedude, Jenn, and I check out my bouquet that had
just arrived. |
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| Jessica's make-up
box of amazingness. |
My totally organic,
funky hair do (no orchid yet) |
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| The knots on the
other side of my hair. (My photo) |
Katie's half-up do
(my photo) |
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| Sooo pretty! |
This is what false
eyelashes and airbrush can do for you! Look at those eyes pop! |
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| My dress hanging on
the shell mirror |
J & K
helping me into the dress. I was SO freaking sticky and
sweaty. |
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| It's
not very visible, but the necklace is gold & aquamarine and
belonged to my great grandmother - given to her by her husband who was
a Big Game hunter in Kenya. |
Something blue!
Saucy shoes from zappos. |
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| Gotta adjust the
ladies before hitting the road! |
And now, I've gotta
check out my back fat. Awesome. |
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| Assigning
name tags. We forgot the holders, so we ended up taping them to the
tablecloth. When something goes wrong, you just have to make it work! |
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| Pre
Set up |
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| Below:
some more breathtaking shots of Olowalu. You can see the West Maui
Mountains in the background! |
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| The
ceremony site. |
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| Rustic
chairs! Woo! |
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| Croquet Sign & Mallets |
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| Postcards for our guest book |
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| As
guests arrived, we served pineapple lemonade. We had planned to do
booze, but this was the MUCH better idea. Infinitely more refreshing. |
The Boys & Guests Arriving
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My
fancy-pants husband!
Below, him with his guys (my brother, his brother and his best friend) |
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| The
inlaws! I love my BIL's face here! |
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| My quasi-uncle (our
priest) and aunt. |
More arrivals! |
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| Friends from all different areas of
our lives! |
Now, THAT is a face you
want to see when they see your venue for the first time! |
The
ceremony was performed by my quasi-uncle (you know, the kind of family
friend that is so close that you drop the friend part and they're just
family), who is an Anglican priest. We combined the traditional
Anglican ceremony (chopping it down significantly) and some Hawaiian
touches for something we felt represented us pretty well. Neither of us
cried, although I came close duing my vows. I forced myself to smile
joyfully instead and that fought the tears back.
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| The
groomsdudes wait with leis in hand. |
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| My
charming, quirky fiancé walks down the aisle with his parents. |
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| Awkward
Man-hug! |
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| Jen's
arrival. LOVE the leis - tuberose and iilima. |
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| Katie
starts her walk. I really wanted her dress for myself. |
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| On
seeing me on the aisle. |
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| I
also smile like a geek. |
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| Check
out the billowing cranes! All that work actually paid off! |
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| And
the groomsmen look quite handsome, if I do say so myself. |
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"E lei kau, e lei ho'o’ilo i ke Aloha"
Love
is worn like a wreath through the summers and winters
Love
is everlasting.
In
ancient Hawaii, the Lei has always symbolized an extension of Love,
honor and welcome. A Lei that is closed is a never-ending circle and is
called
a Lei Mana which means surrounding Power. The understanding that the
Spirit
surrounds your life with this power and continuous love. The open Lei
symbolizes the giving of your love and reminds us of how you extend
your arms
in love. These Lei symbolize the sealing of this moment in this place
for all
time.
Lei
Exchange with Family
For you, the families of the bride and groom, this is a special day in
your lives as well. Those who were your children are no longer
children. Those
who looked to you for love have become sources of new love. Now they
are
accepting the responsibility of this marriage for themselves, and they
will
build together the traditions of their common future. Their marriage
will join
your two families, drawing together the wisdom of many lives to build
their new
life.
The
rest of you are special friends of ___________ and ___________ and you
have
become even more special by being here to share in this celebration.
You have
been their community with whom they shared good and bad times. The
qualities of
your friendship have enriched the quality of their lives. Now you will
witness
and confirm the beginning of their marriage to each other.
And now, with loving aloha, please
present your leis to one another and
your parents, as a symbol of a new beginning… a moment of time together
in
Hawaii where you can look back to and reflect on the occasion you began
to
weave your lei of life together for eternity.
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Hawaiian
Marriage Blessing - Ho'ao Pule
E ka Haku, e kokua mai ia maua
e ho’omana’o i ka
manawa a
maua i launa mua ai,
Lord,
help us to remember the time we first met,
a me ke
aloha nui i ulu ai ma waena o maua.
and
the strong love that grew between us.
E kokua mai
ia maua e ho’ohana i kela aloha
i na mea
ma’amau i ‘ole e ka’awale
Help
us to apply that love in practical things so nothing divides us.
Ke nonoi ha’aha’a nei maua i na
hua’olelo ‘olu’olu
a piha me ke aloha,
We
humbly ask for kind words filled with love,
a no na
pu’uwai makaukau mau e noi i ka huikala,
a e huikala
aku.
and
for hearts always ready to ask forgiveness, as well as to forgive.
E ka Haku,
ke waiho nei maua i ko maua male’ana i loko
o koa lima.
‘Amene.
Lord,
we leave our marriage in your hands. Amen. |
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| The
set-up. God, it really was perfect! |
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| I
love this picture of us. |
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| At
this point, one of our guests stood up for a part that was for family
only and then became very confused. I almost killed myself laughing;
that's totally something she does all the time! |
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| Yay!
We're married! |
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| And
off to our awaiting Litchee Bellinis! |
And
now for some gratuitous shots of us kissing and being otherwise
smoochy.
Feel free to scroll on by!
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| Both the above and below shots were
taken near a monkey pod tree. They're so big! At dinner, they were filled with
chirping birds - it was such an amazing back drop to the whole event! |
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| We
set up a croquet course for our guests (and for us) for the cocktail
hour - it was a blast! It totally got people mingling and laughing. |
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Some of the cocktail hour
food (so good!).
Above:
grilled vegetable summer rolls
Below:
coconut chicken skewers with thai chili and apricot dipping sauce |
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| Clearly I don't take losing
well... |
Reception
For
the reception, we sat outdoors - which turned out to be a great idea
that was almost a disaster. A cloud passed by (more like it ran us
over) and we were stuck inside it (meaning it was misting on our
shoulders) for five minutes or so. Any longer than that would have been
a problem as we didn't have a back-up plan! In the end, the sunset was
spectacular; the birds in the trees and the ocean crashing against the
shore were totally mindblowing and our guests kept telling us that this
had been a once-in-a-lifetime experience for them.
Which was
exactly what I'd hoped would happen!
Thoughts on
an Ipod Reception
As
we decided to do an ipod reception, we were a bit worried about the
response from our guests. After all, when you make your own playlist,
you're responsible for the music and can't blame any choices on a
crappy DJ. And, even more than that, I think you need two things. One,
put someone in charge of watching the ipod so that no one messes around
with it. Two, you know what you've put on there, so you're responsible
for changing things up if you don't like what's on. Having said that,
we had people on the dance floor all night and our
guests had a great time, so I'm glad we saved the money and went this
route.
One
word of advice: make several different playlists - dinner, oldies,
dance, lounge, rock, etc. After all, you're responsible for reading the
mood of the party and responding accordingly. We ended up running out
of time in our second hour and had to skip through some of our songs.
Here are our
playlists:
Welcome
Music & Cocktail Hour (all Vitamin String Quartet covers)
| 1. Stairway to
Heaven |
19. Somebody Told Me |
| 2. Where the
Streets Have No Name |
20. You Shook Me
All Night Long |
| 3. Don't Panic |
21. Smells Like
Teen Spirit |
| 4. Chasing Cars |
22. Shiver |
| 5. Boulevard of
Broken Dreams |
23. When I Come
Around |
| 6. Hella Good |
24. Live and Let Die |
| 7. Yellow |
25. Thunderstruck |
| 8. 1979 |
26. I Was Made for
Loving You |
| 9. Enter Sandman |
27. She's a Rebel |
| 10. Here Comes Your
Man |
28. Yesterdays |
| 11. American Idiot |
29. Rebellion (Lies) |
| 12. Sweet Child O
Mine |
30. Penny Lane |
| 13. In the End |
31. Highway to Hell |
| 14. In My Place |
32. Back in Black |
| 15. T.N.T |
33. All You Need Is
Love |
| 16. Holiday |
34. Ticket to Ride |
| 17. Pride (In the
Name of Love) |
35. It's the End of
the World as We Know It |
| 18. Clocks |
36. Boys Don't Cry |
Dinner
Mix
| 1. Valerie - Mark
Ronson |
12. Burning Fire -
Arthur Conley |
| 2. Some Kind of
Wonderful - Joss Stone |
13. Bonnie and
Clyde - Brigitte Bardot &
Serge Gainsborough |
| 3. California Soul
- Marlena Shaw |
14. Wrecking Ball -
Emmylou Harris |
| 4. Nowhere to Run -
Martha Reeves |
15. Lover, You
Should've Come Over -
Jaime Cullum |
| 5. Your Love Gets
Sweeter - Finley Quaye |
16. Sukiyaki - Kyu
Sakamoto |
| 6. For What It's
Worth - The Staple Singers |
17. The Scientist -
Natasha Bedingfield |
| 7. I Can See
Clearly Now - Holly Cole Trio |
18. Shiver Me
Timbers - Tom Waits |
| 8. Les Fleurs -
Minne Riperton |
19. He Needs Me -
Shelley Duvall |
| 9. Don't Speak -
Leela James |
20. Black Horse and
the Cherry Tree - KT Tunstall |
| 10. Chasing
Pavements - Adele |
21. If You Fin
Yourself Caught in Love -
Belle and Sebastian |
| 11. Spooky - Dusty
Springfield |
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First
Hour of Dancing (mostly oldies)
1. There She Goes
(My Beautiful World) -
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
Our first dance! |
9. You Really Got
Me - The Kinks |
| 2. Don't Stop Me
Now - Queen |
10. Rock the Casbah
- The Clash |
| 3. Brown Eyed Girl
- Van Morrison |
11. Don't Stop
Believin' - Journey |
| 4. Sloop John B -
The Beach Boys |
12. I'm Yours -
Jason Mraz |
| 5. Sweet Caroline -
Neil Diamond |
13. My Sharona -
The Knack |
| 6. Tequila -
Ventures |
14. Rock and Roll
All Night - Kiss |
| 7. Born to be Wild
- Steppenwolf |
15. Walk This Way -
Aerosmith |
| 8. Jumpin' Jack
Flash - The Rolling Stones |
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Second
Hour
| 1.
Teenage Kicks - The Undertones |
8.
Mercy - Duffy |
| 2.
Take On Me - A-ha |
9.
Hips Don't Lie - Shakira |
| 3.
Run - Snow Patrol |
10.
Sexyback - Justin Timberlake |
| 4.
Play that Funky Music - Wild Cherry |
11.
All These Things That I've Done -
The Killers |
| 5.
Mr Brightside - The Killers |
12.
Home for a Rest - Spirit of the West |
| 6.
You and Me Song - The Wannadies |
13.
With a Little Help From My Friends -
The Beatles |
| 7.
Blister in the Sun - Violent Femmes |
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Out of Town Bags
Okay, so in
ours we included:
2 bags Maui
Onion Chips
2 bottles of
water
2 bottles Kona
Brewing Company Beer
6 mini packages
of Hawaiian Host Chocolate Mac nuts
welcome letter
cd
Maui Gold Pineapple
Hersey Kisses with Mac nuts
2 Hawaiian Mugs (from Hilo Hatties)
Paper
Goods
Vendors
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