An obligatory lei surrounding the invitation to our travel-themed wedding in HawaiiMy bridesmaids and I got ready in my hotel room at the Kahala Hotel. How’s that for a wedding morning view?
It never made sense to me why bridesmaids should wear the same dress, when they might look their best in different things. I’m all about celebrating diversity — plus, I trust my girls’ tastes — so my only instruction to them was to find a long blue dress. I was absolutely in awe with what they brought back.
Meanwhile, the guys got ready at my parents’ house a few minutes away from the Kahala Hotel
Our photographer took advantage of my parents’ coconut tree in the front yard.Anthony joined me at our hotel for the first-look photos. No peeking around the corner!
After our first-look photos, we moved to our wedding venue in downtown Honolulu
The best part of getting married in downtown Honolulu is that you can walk over to the historic Iolani Palace for extra photos.
Both of our dresses are from Saja, a wonderful little designer boutique in Tribeca
Setting up the courtyard for our ceremony
I love that he got to walk down the aisle with his parents, too.My adorable cousin walks down the aisle with a “I came for the cake” sign,” very appropriate for our food-themed ceremony
My brother read us an excerpt about marriage from a feminist writerAnthony’s sister read us a quote about love from one of our favorite movies.
Instead of unity candles or sand ceremonies, Anthony and I represented our union with food that symbolized us — I’m a macaron, and he’s a Ritz cracker.Feeding me a Ritz cracker
Signing our marriage licenseFor a seating chart, Anthony used a world map, since each table was themed after a city that we’ve visited together.Find your seat!My cousin provided us with a live band during our cocktail hourIt’s not a wedding without a photo booth!My aunt baked us four beautiful cakes. Here’s our cake toppers that I ordered from Etsy! They look like us!
Semi-naked cakes are my favorite.To match our travel theme, our favors were little suitcase tins filled with Hawaiian macadamia nutsEach table was themed after a city that we’ve visited together. On each table was a book and four pictures that we took in that city.Setting up the courtyard for our dinner reception
Our dinner buffet included Hawaiian food like macadamia-nut mahi mahi and kalua pig.
Anthony’s cousin danced a beautiful hula to my favorite Hawaiian song
My Maid-of-Honor’s speech made me cry, of course.The Best Man’s speech made me cry, too!We played the Shoe Game, but with rubbah slippahs — a nice Hawaiian touch.Our first dance was to KCi & Jojo’s “All My Life”
It’s not a true Filipino wedding unless you have the Money Dance!It looked like a music video
jenNYdreams 