March 4th, 2013 - Our wedding day. My alarm went off at 4:30 that morning. Yes, this avowed hater of mornings had to get up at 4:30 am on her wedding day. I kept telling myself that it was really 9:30 EST, and that wasn't so bad, but the truth was that I was so excited/nervous that I couldn't sleep anyway. I worried that I'd have huge bags under my eyes, but I didn't feel tired.
Larry and I had decided not to give wedding gifts to each other (Aren't rings and a trip to Hawaii enough?) but I left a little something for him to wake up to on the windowsill of the bedroom:
In every wedding that Larry has been a groomsman, he's brought a bottle of peppermint schnapps for the groom. A week earlier, he lamented that there would be no one to buy him peppermint schnapps on his own wedding day, so I picked up a couple of airplane bottles of RumpleMinze to surprise him. I also bought a pair of BRIDE and GROOM cake forks, because even though we wouldn't have a fancy wedding cake, no day is worth celebrating if there isn't caaaaaaaake involved somehow. In fact, I always said that the two most important things on my wedding day (besides the groom, of course!) would be: AWESOME PHOTOGRAPHY and DELICIOUS CAKE and I wasn't about to ignore those priorities just because we were eloping!
Naked Man was part of the day, too - if you don't know the story of Naked Man's significance, Jane found him on her own wedding day and stuck him in her dress. (That sounds dirty doesn't it? Just to clarify, we're talking about a doll.) Anyway, since Jane loaned Naked Man to me for my trip, it was only natural that I continue this tradition. Naked Man was also the model for the ring shot!
Once my hair and make-up were done, my dress was on, and I had something old (Nana's bracelet), something new (my wedding dress), something borrowed (Jane's earrings) and something blue (my flip-flops), I was ready to see my groom (which involved me saying through a crack in the bedroom door "Are you ready to see your bride?") and head to the beach to get married.
Our ceremony was at 10 am at Waimanalo Bay State Recreation Area. It drizzled during the drive there, but by the time we got to the beach, the rain had stopped. Whew! We met our officiant, Rev. James Chun, and our photographer, Dallas Nagata White, and walked down the beach to the spot we had selected a week before. I remember high-tailing it down the beach - in retrospect, I should've been holding my groom's hand and enjoying the walk, but I was pumped up on adrenaline and focused only on getting to the spot where we were going to tie the knot.
From our spot on the beach, we could see the ocean, the mountains, and a forest of ironwood trees. It was perfect, especially since I grew up spending summers at the beach and Larry grew up in the mountains. The sky was dramatic and cloudy after the morning's rain, and the sun was starting to peek through. There wasn't another soul on the beach - it felt very secluded and intimate - just us and nature.
Photo by Dallas Nagata White.
Before the ceremony started, I asked Larry to move a rag that was littering the beach so that it wouldn't show up in our pictures. He reached for it, said "That's not something I want to touch!" and lifted the offending item with a stick. "Someone had a little too much fun on the beach!", he announced while holding up a pair of panties and flinging them into the bushes. I wish that our photographer had captured that moment because it was the perfect pre-ceremony comic relief.
Our ceremony was short, simple, and meaningful. Our officiant included a couple of readings about love, thoughts on marriage, and some scripture before he got to the vows. (Symbolic of the 21st century, he read our vows from an iPad!)
Photo by Dallas Nagata White.
I wasn't sure how I would react during our ceremony, but I was fairly certain that I was going to be a crier. I even felt a little emotional as we were driving to the beach. But once the ceremony started I didn't feel teary at all - just happy. I remember thinking that everyone says your wedding goes by in a blur, so I tried to focus on the moment, look into Larry's eyes, and sear the memory into my brain.
It still feels like it was a dream.
Photo by Dallas Nagata White.
We pledged our lives to each other, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish all the days of our lives.
Photo by Dallas Nagata White.
Photo by Dallas Nagata White.
And then he pronounced us husband and wife and we kissed!
Photo by Dallas Nagata White.
And hugged!
Photo by Dallas Nagata White.
Photo by Dallas Nagata White.
Photo by Dallas Nagata White.
We spent the next couple hours with our photographer. She captured some amazing shots of us in the trees, on the rocks, and in the water. Let me tell you, it was windy on the beach! Sure it led to some lucky shots with my hair and dress billowing behind me, but most of the time my hair was in my face, and the wind blew Larry's hair into a style he dubbed "rooster hair", and even filled Larry's pants with air! (When he saw the pictures afterwards, he poetically described this phenomenon as "diaper butt.")
Photo by Dallas Nagata White.
Photo by Dallas Nagata White.
Photo by Dallas Nagata White.
Photo by Dallas Nagata White.
Photo by Dallas Nagata White.
Photo by Dallas Nagata White.
Photo by Dallas Nagata White.
Photo by Dallas Nagata White.
After the ceremony and portrait session, we had the day to ourselves. Our plan was to explore the island in our wedding attire. Since I'll (hopefully!) only get to wear a wedding dress one day in my life, I wanted to wear it as long as possible. Larry's gift to me was a wedding mix CD and we popped it in the CD player of our little red VW and drove up to Oahu's North Shore - an area famous for huge waves and crazy surfers in the winter.
We ended up in Haleiwa, and stopped at Giovanni's Shrimp Truck to grab some garlic shrimp for lunch. The girl who took our order asked if we had gotten married, took our picture, and had us sign the truck with a Sharpie. My husband even peeled this shrimp for me!
We meandered back the way we came, in search of wedding cake. We stopped at Ted's Bakery and picked up a slice of coconut cake and a slice of chocolate haupia cream pie and fed them to each other with our BRIDE and GROOM forks. Then we headed back to the windward side - sunburned, windswept, and married.
We had planned to go out to a nice dinner in our wedding clothes, but after a such a full day, we were exhausted, so we went back to the apartment to take a few more pics on the beach, relax, and admire our ring fingers.
Nature put on an entertaining show...
...and so did Larry!
And then we ate cheese for dinner and washed it down with some celebratory wine (and schnapps)!
Smith & Roellke-Smith, ESTD. 2013
And that was it! After ten years together, a 17 day engagement, and a secret wedding that we planned in ten days, we became husband and wife on a beautiful day on one of the most beautiful places on earth.
Simple, special, and perfect.
Big thanks to all the people who made this crazy plan of ours a reality. xo
Venue | Waimanalo Bay State Recreation Area
Officiant | Rev. James Chun
Hair and Make-up | Faith & Beauty
Photography | Dallas Nagata White (See our favorite photos here.)
Snapshots | Rachel Roellke-Smith & Larry Smith (plus a couple of kind strangers!)
Groom's Attire | Tommy Bahama & Patagonia
Bride's Attire | Simply Dresses
Bridal Flip-Flops | The Dessy Group
Rings | I.Gorman Jewelers & Lenkersdorfer Jewelers
Lunch | Giovanni's Shrimp Truck
Cake | Ted's Bakery
Cake Forks | Tiny Love Treasures
4 comments:
Yay!! So many congratulations again! It's been fun reading about your journey :)
This whole series of entries has been wonderful. Congratulations! Beautiful, beautiful photos.
Wow!I wandered over from Elise's blog and what a beautiful love story, wedding and couple. The photos are gorgeous! Congratulations!
Your Wedding in Hawaii is looks enjoyable in pictures. I love all the pic and their colors you shared in this post.
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