Kath and Danny’s wedding was really gorgeous. They had it over on the west side of the island in this area called Ko’olina, right behind the JW Marriott hotel out there. There was a grassy patch of land, overlooking a private beach and some stunning cliffs where they had both the ceremony and the reception afterwards. It was the first real “destination” wedding I’ve been to, although not the first beach wedding. I’m really not sure why everyone wouldn’t want a destination wedding (although, admittedly, it would wreak havoc on carbon footprints and global warming). They are however, really relaxed and amazingly gorgeous. Hawaiian shirts, flip-flops, khakis –the very fact that we were overlooking a beach made it sort of ridiculous for me to be in my suit. I actually wish I had decided up front to dress in local styles at each of the weddings. Too late to change now, but it would have been fun.
In any case, Kath and Danny had one of the most creative weddings that I’ve seen. They went to the same university, and many of their friends as well, so they had little references to their alma mater sprinkled throughout the ceremony and reception. They even integrated it into their vows. The ceremony generously short, maybe no more than 10 minutes, and the walk-out was planned beforehand for the bridal party to each dance their way out. With both of them being chemical engineers, they used this theme throughout the wedding also. They had this great periodic table seating chart with everyone’s initials representing as elements, tables that were named after famous scientists, and a cute pre-game dinner where guests at the tables had to identify some of the contributions of their scientist in order to go and get food. It could have been nerdy and dorky, but instead it turned out to be smart, creative, and fun. I loved the fact that they decided to do cupcakes instead of a big cake and that they had the cutest little luau couple as their cake top.
Obviously, there were a million ways in which this wedding was different from Son and Trang’s, but one of the biggest and most important for me was the fact that many of my relatives were here. It was of course nice to catch up with all of my relatives, and my cousin thoughtfully seated me and Young at a table with all of my cousins. Getting family gossip is always an enjoyable way to pass the time. Seeing my aunts and uncles, and also seeing their reaction to my cousin getting married was both sweet and interesting. It made me think about how my parents (and my relatives!) might react to me getting married, and no doubt this was on their minds also as all of my aunts pointed at me and intoned “you’re next!”
I may not actually be however, as instead of the traditional garter toss, Kath and Danny decided to change things up and have the guys do a football toss. People who were not successful in throwing a football through a hula-hoop were tasked with publicly sharing their worst pick-up line, and presumably be in the running for being the next man married. Unfortunately for Danny, most of his friends are not so great with a football in their hands. Indeed, I was the only one who managed to throw it through the hula-hoop, eliminating me from both the embarrassing pick-up line routine and perhaps from being the next non-single man around. Oops.
I was surprised at how small I felt the wedding was, even though there was over a hundred people there. I think I have been at so many big weddings of 250 people or more that those numbers are what I feel is normal. More and more I think I may end up having a huge wedding, just because my notion of regular is so much bigger than it was before. Yet at the same time, I think it might be fitting to have a destination wedding – after all, who should have a destination wedding, if not me, this crazy wandering world nomad? Yet, its probably fair to say that I’m getting well ahead of myself. We all know that my opinions don’t really count when the time really comes, so I’ll stop hypothesizing and just leave the real planning to my un-found wife.
Obviously, there were a million ways in which this wedding was different from Son and Trang’s, but one of the biggest and most important for me was the fact that many of my relatives were here. It was of course nice to catch up with all of my relatives, and my cousin thoughtfully seated me and Young at a table with all of my cousins. Getting family gossip is always an enjoyable way to pass the time. Seeing my aunts and uncles, and also seeing their reaction to my cousin getting married was both sweet and interesting. It made me think about how my parents (and my relatives!) might react to me getting married, and no doubt this was on their minds also as all of my aunts pointed at me and intoned “you’re next!”
1 comments:
You should definitely switch it up and dress in local attire for the other weddings! Especially since they're weddings in Kenya and India. That would be awesome. Don't feel boxed in by the original literal concept of backpacking in a suit - go with the flow and don't be afraid to change it up.
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