So a month and a half later, I’ve finally cleared off my desk enough that I can get back to the wedding story. I told you what happened the day before, but now I’ll let you have a peek into the day of the wedding, from Bridezilla’s point of view.
The morning of the big day started out fine. I hadn’t scheduled anything until 10 AM (breakfast), but because I was still jet-lagged, I woke up around 5 AM, much to Ray’s chagrin (he actually can’t complain, though, because he was just as awake as I was). So we lazed about for a few hours before really getting up and having breakfast at 8, and I was psyched to be ahead of schedule.
I had just gotten out of the shower when my MoH arrived at the bungalows. She was on the phone with Jan, who was at the flower shop in Honolulu, and there was some problem with some of the flowers (they had supplied one haku lei and one boutonniere instead of two haku leis for the two flower girls). I handled it pretty quickly, wrapped in a towel and dripping, basically telling Jan that if they don’t have two haku leis, then I don’t want just one, and they have to refund me the money. Somehow, another haku lei (albeit not the same color) magically appeared! Isn’t it funny how that happened?
So the only other snafu of the day was the weather. We should have known when we decided to get married in a rainforest that it would rain. Actually, we did know, which is why we had the Butterfly Pavilion as a backup plan.
The ceremony went by in a blur to me. I kept trying to hold onto all these memories, and they are still all there, but it’s so hard to put into words. My mom ended up playing “O Promise Me” on the violin while we did the lei exchange. A peacock walked into the middle of the Butterfly Pavilion during the ceremony. And the flower girls had so much fun dropping flowers they decided to follow me and Ray after we went down the aisle, dropping more flowers.
By the time the ceremony was over, the sun came out, although there were intermittent showers. It was a Hawaiian blessing, the officiant told us. Also, one of the butterflies we released ended up on my bouquet, so there were lots of pictures of my bouquet with the butterfly.
At the reception in Hawaii, which was also at Waimea Falls, just at their catering area (the Pikake Pavilion), my dad decided to surprise me with a band. We had planned on not having any DJ or anything, just a bunch of MP3s playing, you know, to save money. But my dad went and hired a band, unbeknownst to me or Ray, and I was totally shocked. I actually think it was the best gift he could have given me, though, because while he was totally nervous around my mom’s family, as soon as he stepped up to the mic and started playing and singing with the band, he was totally cool and comfortable. Everybody loved him, and everyone loved the band, too. I even sang a few songs, as did my brother Mike!
So both the day and evening were a success. I was really happy, and I couldn’t have asked for a better day, rain and all.