Big Island Minimoon

Our wedding was my third trip to Hawaii in 4 years (Mr. Mek's 2nd trip), between that and having lived on Oahu in my younger years, I have already done almost everything there is to do on Oahu...times 3. This time I wanted to do something a lil' different, so Mr. Mek and I decided to fly to the Big Island for a few days.


We stayed at the Kilauea Military Camp (KMC), which is a cottage and resort based at for active and retired military. Not only was is super affordable, but it is located right in the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. We had a cute 1 bedroom cabin with a jacuzzi tub and fireplace, ALL to ourselves.

source for top right photo

Just like on Oahu, the weather was less than desirable. Initially, we had planned to hike the volcano ourselves, but since it was cold, windy and very wet, we ended up taking a van tour instead. We were the only ones on the tour though; it was like we had our own personal tour guide that day. :o)

Kilauea's blistering lava flows meet the sea

Craters, lava, museums....nice way to spend a cool rainy day.

Pele, the volcano goddess.

We walked though a 500-year old lava cave formed when an underground channel of molten lava drained from its cooled walls forming a massive, hollow chamber. A rain forest awaits at the other end of the tunnel.

KMC had a lot of indoor activities (thank goodness!), besides spending time alone in the cabin (ahem!), we had some drinks and went bowling (they also had an arcade and a movie theater).

Yeah....we suck. Mr. Mek's Wii bowling skills are no match to real bowling.

After a week + of family and friends, it was really nice to take it easy and spend some alone time together. And then....it was back to the "real" world. Blah!

Ohhh Hawaii...'til next time.

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!

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!
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Previously:

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

A Hawaiian Affair: Ceremony Details

While we were having our intimate "first look", my bestie (and her fabulous hubby) worked diligently at putting our ceremony site together. I felt a lil' bad having my guests work on our wedding day, but that's what best friends are for, right?! They did a wonderful job and if I hadn't told them before, THANK YOU! mwah!

Bestie Lauren being my wonderful ceremony decorator. :o)

I didn't talked about this, mainly because it was a last minute project and I just never got around to it, I made custom water bottle labels and just placed them over the original water bottle labels. We provided transportation for our guests, so it wasn't like they were able to leave after the ceremony to get a drink; we provided beverages for them. No dehydrated guests on my hands!

It was actually quite cool and cloudy on our wedding day, so our palm fans weren't really needed. But I was glad to have them, just in case.

We had a very flowerless wedding. Our "pew" decorations weren't any different. It's amazing what a paper lantern and ribbon can add to an aisle.

Very simplistic. Very us.

Next up: The Ceremony!

All images courtesy of Frank Amodo.

__________________________________________
Previously:
The first look.
Gettin' glammed.
Welcome BBQ

A Hawaiian Affair: The first look.

In my last post, I briefly mention that we were not only planning on meeting before the ceremony, but that we were also exchanging cards to each other. Only we both forgot to get each other cards. Opps. That morning, while I was looking for the thank you card I had for my H&M stylist, I realized I had 2 extra cards. Perfect! One was rushed over to Mr. Mek.

I actually don't remember much about leaving the hotel or the drive to the ceremony venue. I remember my mom telling me that the shuttle was at the hotel, which meant Mr. Mek was leaving since he was taking the shuttle with the guests to the venue. I remember frantically trying to get all my crap together and then throwing it all in my bestie's car. Then magically I was at the temple.

Our Photographer set up our "first look" meeting. He strategically placed Mr. Mek so that I could sneak up behind him and tap him on the shoulder to turn around.

It went something like this:

Then I was all like, "Mr.Mek, I have a card for you." and he was all like, "What a coinkydink, I have one for you too." Okay so not really, but you get the idea.
Mr. Mek wrote this:

"To my Boopsy:
You make me happy, you make me smile, you make me proud to have you in my life, but most importantly you make be BETTER. No matter where we are or where we end up in our lives just know that we will be there together...forever and ever. As long as we have each other, we have everything.
You are not only my wife, my best friend and my partner...you are also my world.
Yours always,
Mr. Mek."

::sigh:: He's a keeper.

This is me probably telling Mr. Mek how adorable he is. :o)

Of course, writing such sweet thoughts is rewarded with smooches!

and giggles.

It was nice intimate moment between two in love. And the photographer and the tourists who happen to be around. :o)

Mr. Mek putting both cards back in his pocket and next...we're off to the ceremony

All images courtesy of Frank Amodo