Our Wedding
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There have been many huge events over the past couple of months, and nothing has been posted to this blog. It is a crying shame, of course, but now that school is complete (more on that later!), perhaps I can fill in some of the gaps. The biggest gap on this blog, of course, is the story of the successful start to my marriage to Elizabeth. The wedding ceremony was held on Maui, Hawaii, on December 30, 2005. Before then, we had about a week on the island with our families, and after the ceremony, Elizabeth and I took our honeymoon on the island of Kauai. |
We traveled from LAX to Maui (Kahului airport) on Christmas Day (Sunday December 25). Elizabeth's parents had arranged for the entire wedding group to stay at Kahana Villa resort on the west side of the island. It was quite comfortable, and had easy access to pools and ocean. We tried to have at least one semi-organized event per day with the families: group dinners (whether cooking in one of the apartments, or at a restaurant), a great snorkeling trip with Pacific Whale Foundation, a driving trip along the Highway 360 to Hana, a luau at The Old Lahaina Luau, whale watching, and of course, just laying around on the beach.
On Friday, December 30, we held the wedding. We had employed the services of Marla Tanouye of First Class Weddings, and so many of the details were taken care of. Elizabeth's dress had been altered, the tuxedos were available, the site was ready, the flowers arranged, the musicians well-tuned, the photographers and videographers charged up, the cake decorated, and the reception dinner cooked. We employed Mariah Milan for the photography, and we quite satisfied with the pictures. The site that we had chosen for the wedding itself was the Molokini Lookout at the SeaWatch restaurant in Wailea. This was a site on the cliffs overlooking the Molokini Crater, and an excellent place for a sunset wedding. Actually, some of sunset pictures were so amazing that they almost look unreal. My sister was my witness (Best Woman?), and Marcy was Elizabeth's Maid of Honor. We had a duo of a harp and violinist to provide music for the ceremony and picture taking afterward. The dinner at the SeaWatch was tasty, as were the toasts to our future together. The love and generosity of our families has always been there for both of us, and it was there for us that day, too.
On January 1, as our families returned to the mainland, Elizabeth and I flew to Kauai. We had a reserved a condo for the week at the Kuhio Shores, and it turned out to be a great place to stay. Kauai is much less commercialized (but quieter and more restful) than Maui, and we enjoyed the week of rest after the bustle of the previous week. The condo was very comfortable, quite well equipped, and we spent much time just gazing out at the water. We rented snorkels for the week, and one of the best snorkeling spots on Kauai was a short walk away. I liked Kauai a lot, loved our time there together, and want to go back. It was a fine place to start off the marriage.
A short view of pictures can be found at Flickr. (A bigger set is there, too.) Some other good pictures are below.
 | Black sand beach, on the road to Hana in Maui |
 | A tasty pig, cooked in a sand-covered hot pit, at the Lahaina Luau |
 | A packed condo in Maui, when the wedding party ate in |
 | More dinner. |
 | They might be related. |
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 | The view from our condo in Kauai |
 | Kauai, along the north shore |
 | In our Kauai condo, before dinner at The Beach House. |