Thursday, May 3, 2007: Wedding Day!

Melanie's hair stylist arrived a bit after 6am. The biggest drama of the entire morning was Mark's bow tie -- note to others: buy the pre-tied kind if you must wear one! Melanie's work event was ending that morning, so we snuck out the side door and drove the 2 miles to our wedding location where years ago, King Kamehameha relaxed and watched the gathering of fish from the surrounding sacred ponds for his luaus. This spot is one of Hawaii´s most sacred.





The wedding took place at around 9:15am. It was presided over by a priest and attended by an organizer, cellist, violinist, photographer and videographer.



The entry music was Pachbel's Cannon. Two key pieces requested were: Stardust and Handel's Messiah (Alleluliah) Others: Boccherini: Menuet, Edelweiss from the "Sound of Music", Vivaldi -- Four Seasons, Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night's Dream Schumann: Romance #3, Handel: Water Music and Bach: The Cello Suites.





Mark read:

The fountains mingle with the river,
And the rivers with the ocean,
The winds of heaven mix forever
With a sweet emotion:

Nothing in the world is single;
All things by law divine
In one another's being mingle;
Why not I with thine?

See the mountains kiss high heaven
And the waves clasp one another
No sister flower would be forgiven
If it disdained its brother:

And sunlight clasps the earth,
And the moonbeams kiss the sea;
What are all these kissings worth
If thou kiss not me?

(Love's Philosophy, by Percy Bysshe Shelley)





Melanie read::

True love is so hard to find;
When it is finally found,
it is never blind.
Instead it brings an added light,
in which to see the inner beauty
hidden from common sight.

True love is a sacred flame
That burns eternally,
And none can dim its special glow
Or change its destiny.

True love speaks in tender tones
And hears with gentle ear,
True love gives with open heart
And true love conquers fear.

True love makes no harsh demands
It neither rules nor binds,
And true love holds with gentle hands
The hearts that it entwines.

(Author unkown)





Mark also noted three important things: 1) Melanie's beauty, 2) How Mark was always finding new things to appreciate about Melanie and 3) How after almost 15 years together, he could honestly say that he had never been as in love with her as he is now. When the priest asked Mark if he would take Melanie as his wife, he responded, "ABSOLUTELY, I do". He threw his glasses off prior to kissing the bride.