Monday: Tour of Holualoa Coffee Mill

In the morning, before our appointment in Kona Town to get a marriage license, we toured the Holualoa Coffee Mill. Melanie got some amazing photos of a lizard. The green berries each contain two coffee beans -- when they are ripe, they turn cherry red.

Three Days at the Fairmont Orchid

After getting our marriage license, we drove to the Fairmont Orchid on the Kohala coast; the location of Melanie's work event. We were very impressed by how Melanie's company went about hosting this event -- particularly the hiring of several very, very good local musicians and caterers. Surprisingly enough, for instance, this was where we found the best Poke, a local Hawaiian dish.

Melanie was honored at a breakfast meeting on Day Two. A bullet-point slide of her accomplishments was shown and read aloud. Later that day we went kayaking in waters filled with endangered turtles and we harmed none of them.

That night we went on a little boat cruise. On the final day Melanie was treated to a special spa treatment, while Mark went sailing to a spot where he snorkeled; again with the turtles. The spot turned out to be within a mile of where we would be married.

Drive to Polulu Valley Through Hawi

On Wednesday, as a side trip, we drove up to Polulu Valley, through Hawi, with our new friend Erik, husband of one of Melanie's coworkers, Margaret.

Wednesday, May 2: The Wedding is Within 24 Hours!

On the last night at the Fairmont Orchid, it was our prenuptial dinner, though no one but us knew this -- we were treated to excellent Hawaiian "slack" guitar music by Makana and later had front row seats by the pool watching yet another Hawaiian musician play. "Stick around for the finale," we were told by one of the event coordinators associated with Melanie's company. This was our last night before the secret wedding and so we were spending a nice quiet time by the pool enjoying the music when suddenly bam bam bam -- amazing fireworks on the beach just behind us! The photo of the fireworks is not ours, but this was very much what it looked like. It was quite amazing to have fireworks on the beach on the night before our secret wedding!

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.

Hale Kukui: Our Cabin in the Orchards above Waipi'o Valley

The benefit of an early wedding was that we were at our cabin up above Waipi'o Valley by noon. Our simple cabin was at Hale Kukui orchards. Though it wasn't the right time of year for most of the fruit, we did pick a few ripe oranges to have with the wonderful breakfast of Taro bread french toast Melanie made -- mmmm, yum! We couldn't have picked a better place to spend our wedding day and the next two nights.