Destination Wedding-Hawaii

Renay and Joe were married September 23rd at a sunset ceremony with the gorgeous ocean as their backdrop.

Renay contacted me as she envisioned a seaside wedding but had no idea of how to pull it off. The only thing Renay did know was that she wanted to get married as soon as possible because her groom is in the military and could be sent to war at any time. So the rush to plan her special day began.

Renay was wonderful. She completely trusted that I would pull together her vision and create her dream wedding. We chose her gown at the fabulous Blush Couture in Dallas. It was absolutely perfect! Different and yet the perfect gown for her seaside ceremony. The wedding and reception were held the gorgeous the Ihlani JW Marriott Resort on the island of Oahu.

I arrived in Hawaii several days early to review the site and meet with all of the vendors who would provide the services for Renay and Joe's day. Renay was able to arrive with her family and enjoy the resort and take advantage of some of the fun things Hawaii had to offer while I looked after all of the details.

On Thursday before the wedding the bride and groom hosted a cocktail hour for their friends and family that had traveled so far to witness their wedding. It was a relaxed gathering and gave everyone a chance to get to know one another.

For the rehearsal dinner I scheduled all the guests to attend traditional Hawaiian Luau. At the rehearsal itself one of the bridesmaids was surprised with a proposal from her boyfriend! It was so romantic. She did not suspect a thing.

On the wedding day the bride and groom woke up and went snorkeling. Since their wedding was at sunset and I and my staff was their to handle all of the final details, they had time to enjoy their day and really make the most of their destination wedding.

When the guests began making their way to the ceremony site each of the female guests were given beautiful parasols. Upon arriving at the ceremony site all guests were given a lei. Rather than the traditional corsage and boutonnières for the parents I had special leis made for them. The parasols also acted as wedding favors. For the wedding flowers we used gorgeous green cymbidium orchids for the bouquets. The bride's bouquet had cascading ribbons with small white dendrobium orchids tied on that gracefully floated in the breeze.

Following the ceremony the guests were led to the reception site were they enjoyed passed hor'd and cocktails. Once the bride and groom finished with their pictures they joined their guests and everyone showered them with love as they congratulated the couple. Everyone then was seated at one long table for an intimate dinner where they shared stories and many laughs. The toasts were made and tears were shed. After dinner the dancing began. Instead of the traditional 1st dance being the bride and groom we decided the bride would dance with her father. After all she is his only little girl and it was a very touching moment to see them dance. It seemed perfectly normal for the parents dances to come first. The groom and his mom then tore up the dance floor with their fun dance. You could see they have a very special relationship that was wonderful to witness. Then the bride and groom finished off the dances with their special dance. The dance floor was then opened and the guests enjoyed mingling and dancing. Most were entertained by the grooms dance tricks.

When it came time to cut the cake the bride was visably upset as she had forgotten to tell us that she had brought her grandmother's cake topper and that it was sitting in her room. Not to worry, that was why we were there. I had my assistant run up to her room to retrieve the family heirloom. The cake topper was put into place and the tears were replaced with huge smiles as the bride smashed wedding cake all over the grooms face!

Renay and Joe selected my company,The French Connection, to provide her with her photography for the weekend.

My assistant, photographer and I all flew to Hawaii to make a bride’s dream of a wonderful destination wedding come true. To view more pictures visit our website www.tfweddingconsultant.com, select photography link and then select order photos online and then select portfolio at the top of the page.