MARRIED!!!

Dear Family and Friends,

Thank you for your presence and well-wishes for our wedding on July 16.  We have been blessed again and again.

250 of our favorite wedding pictures have been uploaded to my Picasa album here.   Thanks again to John Hawkins, Dee Garrett, my parents Donna and Robin and sister Ashley, and Ellen Robinson, who contributed the bulk of the photos posted here.  The professional photos were done by Garrett Nose, a fantastic photographer and my dad's high school classmate (http://www.garrettnosephoto.com).  Incidentally, he also took photos of my parent's wedding.

If you have photos that you would not mind sharing with us, the best way to do this has been creating Picasa albums that we can download and save, and then emailing us the link.  Thank you to all those of you who have already done this.

You can find complete sets of:
 - John Hawkin's photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/really/WillLaurenWedding#
 - Garrett Nose's photos at http://tinyurl.com/WillLaurenWeddingNose

Love and Aloha,
Will + Lauren

Maunawili Demonstration Trail

Lauren has the hiking bug!  After reading a description of the 9.75-mile Maunawili Demonstration Trail hike in her copy of Oahu Revealed, Lauren thought it sounded like the one for us.

We pulled off the side of the road at a hairpin turn on the Pali Lookout...

...and then proceeded to hike for 20-30 minutes down a false trail.

To our credit, the bogus trail started immediately to the right of the Hawaii State Parks trailhead sign, and it looked solid enough at the beginning.  But as the mud rose to our ankles, and as we crossed a stream for the fourth time, and as we found ourselves increasingly uncertain about where the trail actually was after coming around a bend -- well, we pulled out our photocopy of the Oahu Revealed pages saw the trail described as "very well-maintained," and wisely decided that we must have screwed up somewhere!

Once we trekked all the way back to the car, I noticed a little footbridge 20 feet down the road, which was the start of the real trail.  And it was everything the guidebook promised.  Well-maintained, scenic, a challenge over the course of the day but only steep for very short stretches.

We hiked for the next 4-5 hours, enjoying the incredible views that popped out every once in a while between trips through lush forest.  We went through all the usual stages of hiking: enthusiasm, hunger, PBJ satiation, optimistic distance estimation, pessimistic distance estimation, boredom, singing, deep boredom ... and finally, victory!

One of the coolest things about the hike from this Florida boy's perspective was that we could look back from the end of our hike, and see the entire curve of the mountain that we'd just traversed.  You don't often get the opportunity to look at so much terrain back home.

Here are some of my favorite shots, starting with a short video.

[As my discerning readers are doubtless aware, PBJ improves any vista.]

Last but not least, huge thanks to Grammy for picking us up at the end of the hike and driving us back to the car we'd parked at the trailhead.  I was not eager to hike the 9 miles back. :)

I'll be posting all the pics I snap from the wedding and honeymoon trip to this smugmug gallery, and all the pics from this hike are up there.

Day o' Wedding Tasks, and Ono Hawaiian Foods

Quick blog post today: we spent all day on what Lauren's sister, Ashley, would term "wedding slavery."  Went our separate ways, packed and shipped boxes, got hair styling consultations (this does not involve any actual cutting of hair), etc. etc.

We actually had fun with it, finished ahead of schedule, and had some downtime to nap (Lauren) and catch up on the internets (Will).

Big payoff at the end of the day was dinner with Robin at Ono Hawaiian Foods.  They were out of laulau, but their Kalua Pig and poi was just as good as everyone remembered.  Lauren promised herself going in that she would limit herself to only TWO bowls of poi this time, after The Incident from our last trip...

Great food, great to have some quality time with Robin.

Lunch with Kung Kung, Engagement Photo Session, Dinner at Grammy's

Another great day on Oahu.  We drove into town to lunch with Lauren's grandfather, Kung Kung.  After a very Hawaiian false start ("We called, and you said you were open today!"  "Yeah, but no one was showing up so we decided to close..."), we ended up eating at local Chinese mainstay Mandalay.

In the early evening, we had a wonderful "engagement" beach photo shoot with our wedding photographer, Garrett Nose.  Garrett was a real joy to meet and work with.  It's really neat that he's a high school classmate of Lauren's dad, and especially neat that he also photographed Lauren's parents' wedding.

Now, before you click on this link to the slideshow of selected images from that engagement photo session, I must warn you: THIS IS SMOOCH-HEAVY STUFF.  Garrett had us kissing non-stop.  It got kind of ridiculous.  He'd tell us to kiss, and then he would say: "OK!  Hold it!  Hold it!  I'm waiting for a good wave.........."

Waves can take a while.  I'm just sayin'.

After working up a big appetite at our smooch-festphoto session, we headed to Lauren's grandparents' house for some fantastic pot roast, potatoes, rice, veggies, cake, strawberries, and ice cream.  As I told Grammy at the time, I've never left their house hungry!  Thanks again, Gram.

Visit to Maunawili Falls, Fourth of July dinner

Aloha from Hawaii!  I landed late on the evening of Saturday, July 3, made the now-traditional first stop at Zippy's for some local comfort food, chatted with Lauren's parents for as long as my eyes would stay open (about 10 minutes), and then shuffled off to bed.

On the 4th of July, Lauren remembered that we had never successfully made it to her favorite hiking destination, Maunawili Falls.  We had a bit of downtime on our hands, and she was very excited at the thought that today we could finally get out to the falls.

Excessive mud had stymied us on two previous attempts.  There turned out to be a ton of mud on this day of hiking as well, but the worst of it was hidden on the last quarter-mile of trail, far enough in that there was no way we were going to turn back!

When we reached the waterfall, I could see why Lauren was so shocked that I still hadn't seen it, and why she was so enthusiastic about taking me.

Let me be frank: I've been very lucky.  I think I've seen more amazing things than a person my age has a right to.  Even given that, Maunawili Falls stands out as one of the most remarkable places I've ever visited.

Get this:

• 2-3 waterfalls flowing year-round.
• Emptying into a pool >10 feet deep.
• You can swim under the waterfalls.
• There are rock outcroppings about 5 and 10 meters up on either side, from which daring locals jump.  (The pool is deep enough for this).
• Oh, and this is a 1.25-mile hike from Lauren's back door.  (And even shorter if you take a questionably-legal shortcut).  What?!

Coming around and seeing the falls for the first time, you have one of those moments where you wonder if someone forgot to clean up their Hawaiian movie set or something.  Absolutely spectacular.

Here are some bonus pics of Lauren and me hiking to and from the falls:

We got home from the hike, hosed off the worst of the mud and showered off the rest.  And then we enjoyed a fantastic, home-BBQ'd meal with Lauren's parents and her grandma.  Still jetlagged and tired after a long, exciting day, we went to sleep early, and this year just listened to the fireworks rather than watching them.

Traditional Hawaiian Wedding Prayer

My cousin, Ryan McCormack, who is one of the most talented, spiritual, and beautiful souls that I know, is going to do a traditional Hawaiian wedding prayer for our wedding ceremony and also as the opening prayer for our reception.  Here's what he wrote about the reception oli ("O Ua Ao"):

The prayer/oli I want to do for the welcoming is called "O Ua Ao" and is an oli for auspicious new beginnings. It invokes the image of an emerging dawn at east O'ahu stirring the morning winds to caress the native grasses growing in the uplands.  It clears the way, and welcomes all to the celebration.  Ok, let me know what else you need.

Here's the transcription and translation of the ceremony oli, which is incredibly beautiful, excerpted from the “Pule Hōʻao,”  or traditional Hawaiian wedding prayer:

O `imi`imi o nalowale a loa`a
Loa`a ho`i ka hoa ē
Pupu`u ako o ke anu o ka Ho`oilo
Na ke aloha i kono e hui `olua ē
Eia loa`a maha
O haka moe
O haka i ka lani
Pili `olua ē, hō`ao ē
Moku ka pawa o ke ao
Ke mōakāka nei ka hikina
Ua hiki ho`i lā nui

Here all seeking is over,  the lost has been found,
A mate has been found
To share the chills of winter
Now love asks that you be united.
Here is a place to rest,
A place to sleep,
A place in heaven.
Now two are becoming one,
The black night is scattered,
The eastern sky grows bright.
At last the great day has come

Groomsman trip to Santa Barbara

Life has been pretty crazy in the run-up to the wedding.  So crazy that I haven't had time to do detailed blogging of the weekend in Santa Barbara that my groomsmen treated me to in late May.

Albert, Bill, and Nathan went all-out to make this weekend happen.  It was awesome.  Rather than wait for the free time to blog the trip "properly," I think it's better to just call out some highlights now and post some photos for the friends and relatives reading along. :)

[The full dump of my photos from the trip is in this smugmug gallery.  I also took 3 short videos (two on purpose, one by accident), posted on my Picasa space.]

On to the bloggy slideshow!

Kicking things off right ... at the Mountain View Quizno's:

Insane coffee and pastry at The French Press:

Wine-tasting at Stolpman and Fiddlehead:

Dinner at The Wine Cask:

OK, yeah, so we played some Dominion:

...but this is what happens when Jenny and Diana call:

I worked through every obstacle...

...to get to my Pinkberry froyo:

OK, yeah, FINE, we PLAYED some DOMINION.

The beach in front of our hotel (the Harbor View Inn), where we'd later take a great sea-kayaking ride:

Visiting with Soren and family.  He is, after all, merely the smallest bachelor:

Dinner at Bouchon was frankly ridiculous:

But we finished up our on the opposite end of the spectrum, snarfing excellent burgers at the local favorite, the Minnow Cafe:

Thanks again to Albert, Bill, and Nathan for an awesome time, and to Diana, Jenny, Anna, and Lauren for letting the gents in their lives play hooky for a while. :)

Centerpieces Part 2: Lauren's Mock-Ups!

This weekend I worked on mocking up possible centerpieces for the wedding, to see if my ideas could actually work out well in reality.  Trader Joe's was having a sale where the beautiful, vibrant, giant orchids that I would love to have in our wedding were on sale for $10 per branch, a ridiculously low price considering that Koolau Farmers quoted Grammy $30 per branch.

Based on the ideas in the previous post, here's the first centerpiece I created:

This is a small centerpiece, only 5" tall, and would sit on the cocktail tables.  I used pebbles instead of sand and (I think) 3" circular bowl.  I bought the pebbles and the vases at Michael's.  This bowl cost $1, and one bag of "river pebbles," which was able to spread to all the vases in this post, was $3.30.

Based on previous ideas, I also tried submerging an orchid completely inside a hurricane vase:

But I have to admit not liking this one so much.  It looked a bit like a head floating in a jar (?!).

Then I went on to try the centerpieces for the tables.  First I took a 8.75" high cylinder vase filled with the river pebbles to hold up the orchid stalk.  Note that I had to remove about half the blossoms from the bottom of the stalk in order to create this effect:

It is a simple design.  I like the starkness of the elements and the simplicity of the lines.  I am concerned about the height of the piece (14" tall) that would prevent people from talking across the table.  I am also concerned that this centerpiece is so simple, that it would just look like a flower in a vase.

So here's my personal favorite:

I like that it looks like there's more thought to it; it clearly uses the "orchid and sand" imagery; there are more elements.  Problems include: the flowers tend to fall out; Will said (and I agree) the layer of sand is monochromatic and less interesting to look at.  Will also said that this centerpiece might be too small to carry a round table seating 8, and I also agree.  Perhaps if there were loose orchids around the bottom to cover some of the monochrome sand and make it look larger?  I really want to go somewhere with a table of correct dimensions and see what it looks like.

I also learned: we can't just take sand off of the beach and throw it into a vase.  Apparently in fresh floral arrangements, you need to use only sterilized sand, or the flowers will die or something.  

Here's what Asa Flowers said:

I always have concerns when family wants to do the centerpieces.  First its not that simple, to get all the materials together and set up a work room at the hotel.  Second, it puts a strain on the person doing this since they are not in their element and familiar with the process.  Third, guest should be there to enjoy your special moment with you.

The basic ideas here are OK.  I think firstly, beach sand should not be used, we have pure white silica sand which is beautiful and pristine.  We would do this by having the glass cubes with an insert to hold the flowers, Like a cube within a cube idea so the sand does not get wet.  A cluster of Pink Cymbidium Orchids can be placed within, giving it a crisp, clean look without seeing any of the mechanics.  A nice clean contemporary look.

 6" x 4" x 7" Glass Cube Vase, lined inside with Pure White Silica Sand, filled with Pink Cymbidium Orchids (built inside a plastic insert, can be taken) (Vase and Sand on loan). $165.00

This was very helpful, and I'll continue to price out options.  FYI, here's a pic of all of the centerpieces I put together, against a tape measure:

Mom, Will, Gram, Ellen - thoughts?!    Love, Lauren

P.S. I just found this other idea that I LOVE:

Here are some websites with pretty good prices:

• www.1888orchids.com, $13 per stem, Purple and White Phalaenopsis Orchids - Ten Stems Cut Orchid Flowers
• Flowersales.com, Spray Cymbidiums Stems, $21 per stem
• myflowerbuyer.com, Cymbidium Orchid wedding flowers, $22 per stem

Flowers! Centerpieces!

So I'm looking at Asa Flowers, who are the folks that will be doing our wedding (as soon as I get around to contacting them ... also assuming that we have enough in the budget -- they're pretty high-end), and I looked at some of the stuff that they do.

Here's an example of a table with flowers on the napkins and small centerpieces from Asa Flowers' website.  Mom, Dad, Gram, and Auntie Lena are on the Centerpieces Committee, hurray!  I think this is along the lines of what I would like to do.  I like the concept of adding a flower to the napkin, and would have to coordinate with Four Seasons to figure out which (free) napkin setting they are using (because I'll bet we would be charged for napkin rings), and how to add the menu, program, bookmark to the place setting.  I'm guessing most of the paper would be under the napkin.

Here's a closeup of the plate setting.  I also need to check with Four Seasons to make sure I know what our colors are!  I think I chose last time I was there, but can't remember (because it was also the tasting time, and that whole trip is one delicious blur, mostly because they brought out about 4 or 5 tastings of wine ... whew!)

The other alternative that I just thought of, that would be a lot easier, would be to just throw loose orchids on the table.  That's what we'll do - duh.

For the actual centerpieces themselves, I know I want something with a base, and that has flowers coming out the top.  Here's again a design on the Asa Flowers website:

There are even orchids in the second floral vase down.

I really want to stick to the "sand and orchid" theme, so I think the bottom of the vase would be sand, and the top would be orchids.  Here's a website with square vases that we could use.  What I like about the above is that it's simple and possibly easier to transport.  Note that our tables will be round, not long.

Here's a second idea for centerpieces:

What I like about this is the additional light, the single orchid, the ease of putting it together.  This could end up a more economic option.  Those orchids look great!  I like the set of three.  We would use LED lights instead of real candles.

Finally, here's the Asa Flowers decorating for the cocktail tables.  It looks like "fishbowl" vases with a bit of sand on the bottom, and loose orchids on top of the sand, inside the bowl.  I really like this look but worry that it will be too easy to break?

Finally, here's a pic of a grooms-person-button-thing:

So cute.  However, this may be moot as hopefully I can convince Will to wear a maile and pikake lei (the "seaweed thing").

Cake!

Four Seasons asked me to send in a picture of the cakes I liked.  I said, "I don't really care; just make it taste delicious!"  So no fondant or whatever for us.  Butter cream frosting all the way.  Also no fondant flowers.  I don't understand fondant flowers -- why not just use real ones?  So here's the cake I am going to send them as a sample:

I like this cake because it's simple, pretty, uses (I'm going to ask for) real flowers, just stick 'em on there.  Also I like the edging along the bottom -- very simple, and it recalls pikake, which will be the accent flowers for the wedding.

If we can't achieve such a smooth cake without fondant, no worries!  Bumpy cake it is.

Bouquets!

Of course the one piece missing from the puzzle is bouquets.  I've been looking at pictures, and although I initially thought that I would be most interested in something very unstructured, free-form (think: JCrew wedding promo pics), now I'm leaning more towards something simple and structured.  I initially wanted at least some kind of dangling pieces to blow in the wind, but the more I look at pictures, the less concerned I am about that piece.  I think that the orchids are so beautiful, and the big ones that I like are so structured and clean-lined, that a simple, small, structured bouquet would be best.

For overall concept, I want bright, popping colors; round shapes; very similar bridal and bridesperson bouquets, something along the lines of this:

I think that for my bouquet, I'm actually leaning towards the green-colored bouquets:

I actually like this one a lot because of the bright colors, the green with the purple centers, the round shape an carefully composition that suit the clean lines of the orchids.  I think as a larger bouquet (maybe 10-12" in diameter?) it will be magnificent.

I think the bright green color is going to be very pretty against the white of the dress, and may be the only green that shows up in the wedding pics.  Which is fine  :)

For the bridesmaids, this is a little harder because purple orchids tend to be less large and magnificent.  Perhaps therefore smaller round bouquets (6-8" diameter) of white orchids would work, especially if matched with some kind of bright greenery to tie in with mine:

Or even have just the white orchids, but get the ones with purple in the center, minus the leaves sticking out in this one (I think this is my fave choice):

I think the white flowers against the purple dresses we picked will be beautiful.

The groomspeople and groom will be wearing maile, which is great, so they may not need any boutonniere.  However, if they did, here's a cute simple one:

Mom, can you print this so Gram can see it?

Love, Lauren