Welcome...

With having a destination wedding that is pretty costly to get to, Mr. Mek and I wanted to have more than just the wedding for the guests to look forward to. Unfortunately we are on a tight budget and can't afford a great adventurous event for all the guests. Our first (and best) idea....a welcome BBQ!

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What a great, casual way to hang out, introduce and bond with family and friends.

Our next task was to find a location to have said BBQ. I was thinking something by the beach, that (of course) had easy access to some sort of grill. Knowing a lil' of Hawaii (being that I had lived there in my younger years), my first thought was Barber's Point; it's a military beach of sorts, they have cabins and camping. Which got me thinking of other military facilities. Bellows, another military beach....and a much nicer one at that (it's Air Force "owned", no offence to my brother branches). A cabin at Bellow's would be perfect! We'd have access to a grill, a kitchen, the beach (and showers for after the beach). Perfect, perfect.

In June (about 9 months before needed date) I called Bellows to find out their availability. They were booked. Till May of 2009. No joke. I was bummed, but no biggie. What were our alternatives? Well, I thought about just trying my luck on getting a picnic table on welcome BBQ day, but what if there weren't any tables available. Or what if I can't get access to some sort of cooking device? What's a BBQ without the cooked food? I also was looking forward to the option of cold beverages, the alcoholic kind, and I knew no beach in Hawaii was going to allow that. Our last resort was to have it at our rented condo, but a BBQ inside didn't sound appealing. I did ponder the thought of having an ice cream social instead and having that held at our condo...that was my last resort option.

Months later and still no plan. I was aimlessly looking at the Bellows website again and came across a link for "facility rentals"....they have rental pavilions! I called Bellows again, and wouldn't you know it, by this time their cabins were booked till September 2009, but for welcome BBQ day all 3 pavilions were free. So for $75 I booked it.

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Yes, it might be a lil' pricey for a BBQ venue, but I can relax and be stress free about having to find a place, it's by the beach, there's a grill, you can drink at the pavilion (no drinks on the beach), and for a $2 volleyball rental there are volleyball nets nearby. Sold.