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

Our fabu "At Home Reception".

I would like to temporarily interrupt this recap "broadcast"....not that I'm really interrupting seeing that I haven't posted in...umm....well, who's counting?! Anyways, I'm interrupting my recaps to post about our "at home reception" (AHR), although I'd like to think of it more as a casual summer BBQ than a reception.

You are cardinally invited!

I didn't talk much about the AHR because I didn't plan it. Nope, my dadders did. Thank goodness! I was (and still am) fried out from planning. Well, I did add a few things, but Daddy Mek did all of logistics; he handled the guest list, rented the tent, tables and chairs, ordered the food. He is wondrous!

The set-up. Rent's backyard. Tent. Food. Coolers. Badminton. Blongo Ball.People came and chowed down! We had pulled pork, veggieburgers, corn on the cob, baked potatoes, baked beans, macaroni salad, chips and salsa, fruit, veggies and cake (of course!).

And lots of drinks...wine in a box and beer included. :o)

Some of my lil' details. I put together a kiddie table. With (homemade!) crayon shaped stars, bubbles, coloring books, stickers and model planes. Wouldn't you know, the kids had such a great time, they didn't even touch the kiddie table. :oP

Although some of the adults did!

I even made centerpieces. Carnations and lollipops, two of my favorite things! Vases are from Ikea (50 cents!).

It was a great time with family and friends.

My dadder (bottom left), his siblings and mom.

Mr. Mek's brother and his wife. They are newlyweds!

Mr. Mek and me.

My cousin, who just happens to be dating one of my good friends.

And quite a reunion, I got to see family and friends I hadn't seen in years and meet the new men and babies in their lives. :o)

My old roomies from college.

Lets not forget the cake! Daddy Mek ordered a sheet cake from the local grocery store.

I also ordered a special cake for Mr. Mek and I, since we never had a wedding cake. The cake topper is actually magnetic salt-n-pepper shakers.
We attempted to play badminton (Lil' B tried to play too).

Lil' B had a blast too, so much that he didn't want to go home...even after everyone left to go home.

We partied till it the sun went down. :o)

Photography by Me! And Mr. Simpson (many mahalos!)

Luau "Reception"

Not sure if you noticed or not, but I've never posted about any reception details. Mainly because I don't have any reception details to blog about. In lieu of a traditional reception, we're taking our guests to a luau for dinner instead. This means no hiring of a DJ, no linens, no centerpieces, no caterer, no menus, no cake, which equals no stress. Instead, we're paying a flat fee per guest for a delicious Hawaiian menu, drinks and fabulous hula dancers as entertainment.

source

This also means eating with random people (other guests at the luau), no first dance, no father/daughter dance and no cake cutting. I'm alright with this. I actually am looking forward to a laid back dinner with family and friends, no pressure, no spotlight attention (other than the fact that I will, most likely, be the only one at the luau wearing a wedding dress), no stresses with vendors.

Yum...I mean source

Anyone else having a restaurant dinner instead of a traditional reception?