To PA or to HI

Let me start of by first saying that I think Pennsylvania is the only state that all locals refer to as "PA" instead of Pennsylvania. No one in PA refers to PA as Pennsylvania. Lil' known fact for you guys. :o)

Now, I've already stated that our wedding will be in Hawaii, but before that choice was ultimately made we did have a venue picked out for a PA wedding. So this post is dedicated to ceremony venues. In PA and HI.

Although I've never made the phone call to see if they would even allow weddings to be located at this place...my first choice for ceremony venue in PA was The Pennsylvania Veterans' Memorial at Fort Indiantown Gap Cemetery. Yes, you heard me right, cemetery. I know this would cause some controversy with some of the guests, but this place has some meaning to me. Besides the fact that the memorial is absolutely beautiful; my grandfather, uncle, aunt, dad and myself were/are all military and my grandfather passed away May 2007 and is buried in this cemetery. While I know some people think of cemeteries as morbid and death, this memorial is a celebration of life. Let me just show you the photos and you judge for yourself...

click on image for bigger image

click on image for bigger image

For Hawaii our number one contender is the Byodo-In Temple in Kaneohe. It's a beautiful Buddhist temple and is a replica of the 900-year-old Byodo-In located in Uji, Japan. Very peaceful. Ceremony would be on the grass in front of the Koi pond, so the temple and mountains would be our background. Now, as a logical person without a current contract holding this place as my venue, I am looking at some backups (which I'll post another day). Can you tell I'm going for the dramatics for our wedding ceremony venue?!