Wedding

Today was Bryan and Vivian's wedding. The ceremony was planned to take place on the lawn at the Westin Kaanapali Ocean Resort Villas. This is a beautiful time share property with a lovely lobby, landscaping and pools. We got there early to take pictures and ended up waiting around for the bride. It was a very warm morning. When the bridal party was finally ready, most of the guests stood near the back while first the kids and then the attendants processed past. Finally, the bride arrived accompanied by her parents. The music was provided by a local Hawaiian singer playing slack key guitar. Bryan's brother-in-law, GP, was the officiant and he performed an amusing but also short and effective ceremony. After the ceremony, some time was spent taking pictures with the newly married couple and then everyone was free to go off and spend the afternoon as we pleased. I took my nook to the cabana and read with the sound of waves crashing on the beach below me. I felt like I was in a Corona commercial (but with more people, and no beer).

We re-dressed for the reception and headed back to the Westin. This time the dinner was in a tent a little further down from where the ceremony was held. Table seating was free for all. The formal events started late, so there was a lot of milling about and chit-chatting among the guests. Apparently, Bryan went surfing with a few of his buddies and ran late! Dinner was a very nice buffet spread including saffron rice with seafood, teriyaki steak, bbq ribs, and a cream of potato soup. Dessert included fruit tarts, guava custard tart, banana cream tart, coconut cookies and peach lychee cobbler. A small wedding cake sat among the various mini dessert tarts. They also provided an open bar with mixed cocktails, beer and wine, fruit juices and sodas. As we ate, we watched a beautiful sun set over the ocean. After dinner, there was some speechifying by the attendants. Then we were treated to a wonderful show, including Hawaiian hula dancing! The dancers were wonderful and we all got a chance to try our hand at doing some hula. The highlight of the evening was a samoan fire dancer. He was amazing, touching the fire to his hands, feet, tongue, twirling it all around. I could tell it was the genuine article because he walked near us quite a few times and I could feel the heat from his torches.

Following the show, Bryan and Vivian's friends put together a slide show with music of old photos from both their lives. It was a good 35 minute show, probably one of the longest wedding slide shows I've seen. After this the couple finally cut the small cake and we got to sample some tasty fruit flavoured cake (as opposed to fruit cake). It was a very long but lovely day and Neve and Mason lasted through the entire thing (with a nap in the afternoon to tide them over).