Happy Holidays!!

This year has been eventful, to say the least. Hope this upcoming year is just as fun and eventful as the last. Happy holidays!!

Our "honeymoon"...mini moons..I mean, many moons ago.

The weather was unusual for Hawaii. While the winter months are usually cooler and rainy, it was extremely windy while we were there. And while the weather was still 20 times better than March in Central PA, it was still not swim suit wearing, beach swimming weather. We were in Hawaii for a total of 11 days. It was our wedding and mini-moon rolled all into one. Here's a quick rundown of some of the things we did:

You already saw us hike Diamond Head; we also did a small hike on Maunawilli Falls Trail. Lots of mud, (man made) stairs, and a cool refreshing waterfall.

We did this hike the day after our wedding, remember when I said that I got eaten alive on our wedding day? I was not exaggerating! Need Proof?!

Oh what?! You can't see them? Here...let me point them out to you...

Seven. 7. Seven misquito bites and that's only on one arm. Forget my other arm or my back.

Went shopping at the Aloha Swap Meet (one of my favorite things to do when visiting Oahu)! We meet my girlfriend there and, totally unplanned, we were wearing the same shirt. How middle school are we?!

We didn't go swimming, but we still made it to the beach.

Mr. Mek spit rhymes over beats made by street performers in Waikiki.

We par-tay-ed with our friends!

Has no idea what's going on in these two bottom photos...but they crack me up every time I see them.

We went to the Dole Plantation, got a lil' pineapple ice cream, took a train ride to toured the pineapple fields and ventured through the pineapple maze (for 2 hours!).

And our Hawaii mini-moon didn't end there, we then took off for the Big Island for a few days. More to come!

Ornament Inspiration

While this ornament is the inspiration for the color pallet for this inspiration board, it is actually one of my good friends who inspired me to use this ornament. She absolutely LOVES anything and everything with celestial, moon and stars, so why not have a moon and stars themed wedding?

source

The colors are mainly navy blue, with an accent color of yellow. I totally picture this wedding happening in the early evening, before the sun sets, with the reception party to venture on under the moonlight (maybe under a clear tent).

bridesmaids flowers cake necklace wedding dress tent sparklers ornament heels setting invite

Hopes this is inspirational for my friend! ::winkwink::

A Hawaiian Affair: Shake your grass skirt!

Our wedding must have been exhausting; once our guests loaded up onto the shuttle...about half of them passed out...

except my handsome Mr. Mek, who was just glowing. And why wouldn't he be glowing?! He just got married to me!

Sooo...you might have noticed that every time I referred to our "reception", it was in quotation marks. Well, that's because we didn't have a traditional reception. There was no grand entrance, no toasts, no cake cutting, no dancing. Instead, we took our wondrous guests to a luau. Not even a private luau, but one open to the public (ie. LOTS of tourists were present). Because the dinner part of our wedding day was very casual, we didn't hire our photographer for the rest of the evening. Yep, we only had him for the ceremony and picture time. The rest of the evening we relied on our family and friends (and some taken by me, bride or not, you can't separate a photographer from their camera) to supply us with photos from the luau.

We took our guests to Germaine's Luau; which is probably the more casual of the luaus on Oahu(versus Polynesian Culture Center and Paradise Cove), but has more of a party atmosphere...which is what we were going for.

You can see how they had the seating set up:

co-worker "C" & PA friend "A", Isn't it cute that they color coordinated with each other!

Part of the admission to the luau (besides the awesome Hawaiian buffet dinner) was drinks. Every person got tickets for 3 drinks of their choice (non alcoholic beverages were unlimited). We "splurged" ($8) on these glasses for our drinks, which were twice as big as the cups the bartenders give you for drinks. Every time we went up for drinks the bartenders would either refuse our drink tickets or give us an extra shot to congratulate us getting married.

The luau kicked off with the imu (underground oven) uncovered, and the Kalua Pig is brought out. Soon afterward, we feasted on an all you can eat buffet that had an array of tasty Hawaiian and American selections; unfortunately no one got any photos of the delicious food. I think we were salivating at this point and only had eating on our minds. :o)

As the show was beginning to start, the host asked for 3 male volunteers. Bestie Lauren's husband started yelling "Auntie, Auntie....WE HAVE A GROOM!". That got their attention, and Mr. Mek was called to go backstage.

Bestie Lauren and hubbers Kirk

Mr. Mek came back out sportin' coconuts and a grass skirt.

He was to have a hula dance off against 2 other luau guests. Contestant wins by audience cheers. Mr. Mek definitely was a good sport about it, but he lost to the guy with the pink grass skirt.

Next the real dancers came out and put on a great show! A lil' eye candy for the guys and the girls. :o) Side note, doesn't the girl on the right kinda look like Mrs. Penguin?

The moon was amazing that night. It might be hard to see in this photo, but there was ring of light around the moon. Gorgeous night!

So I lied. There was some dancing. And by that, I don't mean the hula dancers and Mr. Mek's lil' hula dance. Mr. Mek and I were called onstage and we had our first dance (to the Hawaiian Wedding Song) in front of EVERYONE; our 20 guests and the 200 "guests" of Germaine's. As someone who doesn't like to be the center of attention, I think I was mumbling to Mr. Mek the whole time about how people were looking as us.

Secretly, I'm glad our friends took photos.

Everyone had a great time.

How cute are my 'rents?!

The end of the luau was the end of our wedding night. Our guests piled onto the shuttle to head back to Waikiki. Originally we had thought we might go to a local bar for a post wedding drink, but everyone was pooped and totally crashed on the way back to Waikiki....me included!

You've seen me get glammed, our intimate first look, you've seen all the details of our wedding, followed through our lei ceremony, watched us exchange rings, met our famlies and viewed our favorite photos. Welp, that's it for the wedding day recaps. No worries, you haven't gotten rid of me yet. I still have a few Hawaii vacation/Honeymoon posts and I still have a budget recap for you guys!
__________________________________________
Previously:

Picture Time, Picture Time!
My Ohana
Ceremony - Take 2
Ceremony - Take 1
Ceremony Details.
The first look.
Gettin' glammed.
Welcome BBQ