Andy and Michelle's Wedding at the Hilton Hawaiian Village - Day 3 Continued

Go back to beginning of Day 3

So what did we forget? Well let's see, Rings - check, Officiator - check, wedding party - check, hmmm, marriage license - OH NO - that was still in the safe in Michelle and Andy's room. So I took off my heels - put on my flats - grabbed Kyle and off we sprinted back to the Rainbow Tower for the marriage license!

Thank you Kyle for remembering the safe code and room number!

After our little sprint, we were ready. The wedding planner escorted the officiator, Andy and the guests to the gazebo to prepare for the ceremony.

We all took our positions and waited for Hannah, then Michelle and Kyle to walk down the stairs to the gazebo.

Wow what a beautiful bride. I could see that glint (aka tear) in Andy's eye as he saw Michelle for the first time!

Michelle took her place beside Andy for the ceremony. It was intimate, personal and perfect.

The officiator was awesome. He performed wonderfully and was relaxed and just all around great.

Michelle and Andy did the sand ceremony which just made the ceremony that more romantic.

They said their vows and then came the kiss. And what a kiss it was!

Next came Andy's vows to Kyle and they were pronounced a family!

Kyle looks happy doesn't he?

After some photos at the gazebo it was off the the beach we went for more photos. Kyle's feet started to hurt and he was adorable as he ran around the beach in his socks!

The ambience at the beach was amazing. Not only were there beachcombers and people enjoying the beach. There were even some ukalele players. The pictures were awesome and we got to enjoy the beginning of the sunset.

After the pictures at the beach we walked to the Bali by the Sea. Andy, Michelle and Kyle did the cake cutting ceremony for the pictures and we were ready for dinner.

The restaurant set up a beautiful table and Michelle picked an awesome menu. The chef then outdid himself! The food was the best of the trip.

The Maui Onion Soup was to die for and the wedding cake was amazing.

To top it all off the chef sent out erupting Diamond Head truffle chocolate desserts. We had to video it because it was just too cool!

After a wonderful dinner, we went for a drink at the Tapa Bar. There were lots of people enjoying the local band. Andy and Michelle got a dance and Michelle through her bouquet into the crowd. Ironically enough the girl who caught it was engaged by the end of her Hawaiian holiday! I guess Andy and Michelle inspire love and commitment!

After a long day we were off to bed! It was - in the words of Andy's dad - the most romantic wedding!

Andy and Michelle's Wedding at the Hilton Hawaiian Village - Day 3 - Wedding Day!

Missed Day 2? - Getting ready for the wedding and dinner the night before

Day 3 of our trip to the Hilton Hawaiian Village was Andy and Michelle's wedding day!

The girls and the guys decided to eat breakfast separately (the bride really shouldn't see the groom before the wedding!) We had a great girls breakfast and a nice chat. Michelle was a little nervous that morning, but after a text from her groom and a call from back home, she was calm and ready to get married!

I had a hair appointment at 11, so of to the Mandara Spa in the Kalia Tower I went. They were great in there. The staff were friendly and listened to what I wanted. I hated my hair - but I figured if everyone told me it looked nice then I would believe them. Afterall I am the worse judge of my own hair - lol - don't worry it didn't look like this in the end!

Hannah came in a little after me to have curls put in her hair and a flower for her role as flower girl.

Tip: If you are getting married while in a resort - work into your budget a trip to the salon to get ready - it was simple and made the day go easier!

Then Michelle's mom and finally Michelle. Since I was done earlier I went to check on the boys who were enjoying their morning by the pool - ahhh isn't it nice to be men and not have all the primping and getting ready to do? Just jump in the shower and it is done!

After some sushi with the boys at Hatsuhana I was off to get my stuff and meet Michelle at the hair salon.

Sure enough she was ready so we walked back to her room to get her ready.

The boys got ready in our room - Kyle got to have a bath in the funky bath and the boys took it easy until it was time to go the the chapel.

After a small "I hate my hair" breakdown - again remember it is better to let other people decide whether or not your hair looks good - and a glass of champagne - she put her dress on and was the most beautiful bride!

So after a lovely gathering of dressed up ladies, off to the chapel we went.

Warren and I were constantly in communication to keep the bride and groom apart. It is a large resort - but not that large!

We made it to the bride's room in the chapel and I texted Warren to say all was clear.

The boys arrived and we were ready to go... or were we?

Continue to next wedding post.....what were we missing?

Andy and Michelle's Wedding at the Hilton Hawaiian Village - Day 2

Missed Day 1? Click here.

On Day 2 of our wedding adventure, we met for breakfast again with Andy and Michelle. This was the morning before their wedding.

They brought down some quiz books that some friends of Michelle had given her as a bridal shower gift. They were how well do you know your bride and how well do you know your groom. Andy and Michelle asked us if we would go through and see how they answered each question.

Michelle pegged almost EVERY question! Andy - not so much - lol - but to be honest I think that is the difference between men and women. It's just how it is! To Andy's defense he got the ones that mattered!

So Michelle and I had to go and do some shopping down in the Main Street area the Waikiki, because we had to pick up a couple more things for her wedding. One of which was something to do the sand ceremony with. The sand ceremony is where Michelle has a jar of sand that represents Michelle, and a separate jar of sand that represents Andy, are poured into a common container at the sand ceremony. See Sand Video here.

We decided that a couple of shells would be perfect as this was a Hawaiian ceremony and it was a perfect symbol. It was something that Michelle and Andy could take home and have it on display in their home, as a reminder of their perfect day.

While we were shopping and walking around, we were getting a little tired and hungry, Michelle said why don't we get an ice cream and I asked, "have you tried Cold Stone Creamery?".

She said "no, I haven't should I?" and I said, "you haven't lived until you have eaten at Cold Stone Creamery!" We had found Cold Stone Creamery on our visit to Hawaii last summer. So off we went and splurged on a Peanut Butter Cup Perfection and a custom made banana chocolate concoction in a waffle dish. We declared this to be Michelle's Hen Party as she didn't have one before!

We wandered back to the hotel and had a great chat!

Next I was excited to see Michelle's dress. We stopped in to see the boys - who were sitting at the pool bar working on Andy's vows. And ran into Kyle and Hannah (Michelle's son and niece). They had spent the morning with Michelle's sister - Shara - at Pearl Harbor. I had promised them we would go swimming today so we made a date to go swimming after I went up to see Michelle's dress.

Michelle's dress was beautiful and perfect for a Hawaii wedding! She was having some leaking in closet/bathroom from the room above and was worried about her dress. She was told by the maintenance guy that apparently it is common for people to hang dresses etc. on the sprinkler system. This causes the sprinkler to go off - which will end up ruining anything hung on the sprinkler - Tip - don't hang stuff on the sprinkler!!!!

So off to get ready for swimming with Kyle and Hannah. We met up and started in the ocean on Waikiki Beach. It was kind of rocky and a little scary for the kids. They also saw a fish - it had a large black spiny fin that went up when you went near it. This scared them enough that we decided to check out the Lagoon.

Note: the beach in front of the Hilton Hawaiian Village is the widest strech of Waikiki Beach. I prefered the beach in front of the Sheraton Hotels. It was narrower, but there was more sand - so it was more comfortable. Also it wasn't as rocky.
Note: The Hilton has done a great thing here. They created the Lagoon on their property. It is a great place for kids as it is like the ocean but also like a big pool. There is no current and the water seemed warmer - could have been in my mind but it seemed like it.

We had a great time playing in the water and playing with the kids. But as all fun time must come to an end, we had to go back to our rooms to get ready for dinner. We were all having dinner together at the Village Steakhouse and Seafood restaurant.

This was our first dinner together - all 10 of us that were here for the wedding (Andy, Michelle and Kyle, Andy's mom and Dad - Dorothy and Greg, Michelle's Sister - Shara, her niece - Hannah, her mom - Etta, and Warren and I). We had the pleasure of meeting Andy's parents for the first time. They were lovely people and we were so happy to exchange travel stories and get to know them.



We had asked to sit outside as the restaurant had a lovely verandah. They were able to accommodate us, especially as it wasn't too busy. They gave us a beautiful table right at the end of the rainbow tower on the main floor, which was on a balcony overlooking the ocean, the boardwalk and the Lagoon. As the evening wore on though, the wind picked up and it got quite cool and we ended up having dessert inside. The food was good, but the service was slow and seemed disorganized.

I had the seafood - scallops and shrimp with rice, and I had calamari to start. The calamari is sounded a little nicer than what it was, essentially it was justfried calamari. And I was hoping that it would be more than that. Others had salads and were quite happy with them. Some people enjoyed the Mahi Mahi and others had steak. As for dessert - Michelle and her mom shared a Bananas Foster with Caramel Mousse.

So after dinner we were tired and everybody was ready for bed. We had decided that Andy and Michelle were not allowed to sleep together on the night before their wedding. Michelle and Kyle stayed in their room and had a mommy son night. Since we were fortunately upgraded to a 2 bedroom suite at the Grand Waikikian - Andy stayed with us in our second bedroom.
They said their good nights, and on the way back to our room, we ran into some girls giving out drink tickets to a local bar.




We took Andy's picture with them and voila - Andy's stag night! LOL
We were all exhausted and off to bed we went.

Onto Day 3 - Their wedding day!

Andy and Michelle's Wedding at the Hilton Hawaiian Village - Day 1

We just returned from a wedding in beautiful Waikiki, Hawaii on the island of a Oahu. We went for our dear friend's, Andy and Michelle Walker, wedding. It was a lovely, lovely few days, and we will cherish them.

Unfortunately we did not have enough time or a lot of time to spend on this holiday as it was a last minute idea for everybody to go. But we decided we would look into it and sure enough, we found a good rate - with a route of Toronto to Vancouver and then Vancouver to Honolulu.

Just a thought about the type of trip over here for air travel to Hawaii from the East Coast - as Toronto is considered to be the East Coast. It is about a 4 1/2 hour flight from Toronto to Vancouver. Then we had a three hour layover, and a then a 5 1/2 hour flight from Vancouver to Honolulu. We've also done a trip to Hawaii before where we did a 1 1/2 hour flight to Chicago and then an eight and a half hour flight to Honolulu. I much preferred the short flight and then a long flight for the main reason that you can actually rest on the plane -that is if you can sleep on planes. You can get a good four hours or so sleep, if not more on the longer flight. However, I wanted to try flying to Hawaii through Vancouver so this worked out perfectly.

The actual flight times worked out quite well for us as we arrived in to Honolulu at approximately at 9:30 p.m.. This was good because by the time we got to our hotel and got checked in and settled, we were really really tired. So we just went straight to bed, which really helped the jet lag, in fact, we didn't find that we had any jet lag pretty much the whole week. The only thing that I noticed was that we were waking up really early in the morning so we would wake up at like seven sometimes earlier - sometimes 6 a.m.. This actually worked out quite well, because we could do work out and communicate with people at home since there was a five hour time difference Toronto.

We booked the Grand Waikikian - the time share property at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. They had overbooked at the regular village and were moving guests here so we were upgraded to a 2 bedroom condo - which was brand new, beautiful and awesome!





So on our first morning in Hawaii, at the Hilton Hawaiian Village hotel, we met Andy and Michelle, Michelle's son Kyle, and her niece, Hannah, at the Tapa's Café for breakfast. They do a pretty good spread for a buffet, both a hot and a cold buffet. On the cold buffet, you can get cereals, lots of fresh fruit, cheese, hard-boiled eggs, all your grains, like mini bagels and toast, cream cheese, and smoked salmon. On your hot buffet you could get your traditional American breakfast with scrambled eggs, bacon, and sausage, and hash browns. The breakfasts were quite expensive as they usually are in hotels, $20 for the cold buffet and $30 for the hot buffet.

We normally try to book a condo or something that has a fridge that we can have our own breakfast in our room and sometimes we even bring a box of cereal. However since we were traveling for the wedding, and we wanted to eat with our friends, we had breakfast a few times in the Tapa Cafe and Warren had breakfast one morning in the Rainbow Lanai restaurant in the Rainbow Tower of the Hilton Hawaiian Village. Warren had this with the boys on the day of the wedding as we were trying to keep the bride and groom separate on that day.

After catching up and getting up to date on wedding plans, we decided to rent a couple of cars to drive up to the North Shore. Andy and Michelle had not been out of Waikiki since they had arrived, and Waikiki can be quite overwhelming. It is more like a big American city, like Miami, than it is traditional Hawaii.

So because they had to get their marriage license in Hawaii, they thought it would make sense to rent a car, pick up the wedding license and then drive up to the North Shore. We told them about the Turtle Bay Resort as we been up there quite a few times, and we really wanted to have lunch up at the restaurant Ola, that overlooked the beach at the resort.

They learned one lesson that I will happily pass on - if you are getting married in Hawaii and you need to get a marriage license - don't go on Martin Luther King Day or any other public holiday.

Thankfully, the lady who does the marriage licenses was actually quite helpful as she left a note on the door of the licensing office telling people a number to call them and where to go to get their license if it's a holiday or a weekend. So they went over to this lady's house and they signed everything they had to sign and they took their oath and they got their marriage license all in her driveway. Then they were on their way.

Continue to next post.