Big Island trip

D and I went to the Big Island Hawaii last week on vacation. We snorkled, we hiked and swam, we saw rainforest, volcanoes, amazing beaches, and oh yeah, we got married!

Hawaii has special memories for us, Dennis lived there for 5 years, and I could easily live there, I feel pretty relaxed there, so we decided to get married on the Big Island. The big day was September 30th on the beach at the Mauna Lani resort on the Kohala coast, just the two of us, Pinkie the wedding coordinator, Dard the officiant, and the sea turtles at sunset. D and I were giggling the whole time, nervous a bit, but super happy. We rented a car, and the car rental gal told us that if we were getting married on the island we had to do it with our shoes off, because "we weren't born with them, and we needed to connect to the ground." So of course, we took our shoes off and had a beautiful Hawaiian ceremony where we exchanged leis, rings and kisses. Here are some photos of the big day, and there are more on Flickr. D and I kept saying "I Do" in the wrong place, which made us smile more. It was a bit windy that day, and the Hawaiians believe that the wind represents our family members sharing the moment with us in spirit which made me tear up a bit. We also placed a lava rock somewhere on the island wrapped in a ti leaf as a blessing of our marriage. Yeah!

The only kissing picture that turned out.

We had a beachside dinner at the Canoe House, I had mahi mahi, D had seared ahi, and we had creme brulee for dessert, no cake, it was perfect. When we returned to our room, we found champagne and a book about hawaii, and I took my flowers home which are still alive and blooming on my kitchen counter. Double yeah!