P & L – Moana Surfrider Wedding :: Waikiki, Hawaii

This Moana Surfrider wedding is a great example of how a wedding can still be beautiful and beyond what was imagined when things don’t seem to work in your favor.

Last month, I posted a teaser image of P & L’s destination wedding at the Moana Surfrider. This was a very interesting experience, to say the least.

When P contacted me on Thursday night, I was excited about the opportunity to shoot their wedding on Molokai, which was their initial plan. L is absolutely in love with Molokai — so much that he calls it his “favorite place in the world.” Things changed, however, and on Friday P contacted me to say they were planning a ceremony on Oahu instead.

The thing is, when you plan to get married on one island, and then you change the location to a different island, you’re basically starting from scratch. And to accomplish this in a single day is no small feat — for anyone. Consequently, they didn’t have a venue or an officiant, and when I asked if she had any witnesses, P said “We’ll find a couple of people.” Gotta love her positive attitude! 🙂

And then, the big bummer — on Saturday morning, it was raining. I convinced P that a morning wedding would be best. They were planning on leaving for Molokai that afternoon, and I felt it was worth waking up early for [potentially] better light than what mid-day would offer. But, in the midst of having her makeup and hair done, there was no sign of the sky clearing anytime soon. And then, the rain stopped. As the clouds broke, I saw the amazing light outside and told P we should do it as soon as possible.

At this point, we still didn’t know exactly where we were going to have the ceremony. And even though they were guests at the Moana Surfrider, you can’t just wake up at a resort on a Saturday and expect to have a wedding ceremony somewhere on property. Well, at least that’s what I thought.

After meeting them in the lobby, we looked at a couple of spots to do the ceremony. The spot that I preferred was being used by some people, and just as I was about to ask them if they wouldn’t mind moving, they started to leave. In just a matter of minutes, we ended up having an intimate ceremony on the deck overlooking the gorgeous Pacific Ocean in amazing weather. And it was the simplest thing. You couldn’t ask for anything more, especially after thinking that it would be wet and gloomy for this couple who just arrived on Thursday from Washington, D.C.

In the end, I’m glad that I brought Loretta to assist me, because she and I ended up being the two witnesses.

I really wish P and L all the best. Their love for each other was truly transparent, and they were such a joy to work with.

Just an hour or so earlier, I was totally prepared to shoot the whole thing in the rain. It really is an amazing experience when a wedding couple can be so optimistic when there are so many reasons to despair.

Does anyone have any experiences where things didn’t seem promising, and it ended up being better than you ever expected? I’d love to hear your stories!

NOTE: By request of my client, I am using their initials instead of their full names.

//

Location: Moana Surfrider

Officiant: Rev. Mike Nelson