Going to the Hawaii and we're ....

...gonna get Maurrrrri-ed.

Sorry, cheap play on words, bad pun and all....couldn't resist.

The date has been set. We set it a while ago but I've had computer-itus and haven't played nice with the net enough in recent months so just haven't blogged any news. We're gettin hitched overlooking the ocean in Oahu (Oh-Are-You) on May 31st 2007. Sounds like a goooood date to us.

We've had the rings made and they're beyootiful! I wanna wear mine now! Josh, as a wedding gift, 'secretly' had a necklace made for me by the same jewellery company who have made our wedding rings. Which he will give to me the night before, or on the day, for me to wear on our wedding day, with the view to passing it down to any daughter/s we might have...or a daughter-in-law. It sounds, from what he has described, beautiful! He felt he had to run it by me in case I went ahead and bought a necklace which matched other jewellery I might wear on the day and he also wanted to make sure I loved it. It involves white gold, a celtic design and a London Blue Topaz (the topaz being one of my favourite jewels).

The wedding photogs have also been booked. I found them on the WPJA site (Wedding Photojournalist Association)and we looked at their gallery and I was really impressed. They are a husband/wife team who reside in Ohau.Which was obviously important to us as it cut out the cost of flying a photog to Hawaii.The reason why I first clicked on their website was their location and the fact that their company name attracted me; Alluring Grace. Josh has spoken to them via email and phone and from the sounds of it, they are a fantastic couple, so I can't wait to meet them!

Here they are, go peek!

The first thing we actually booked was a wedding planner, who has had 20 years of planning weddings, particularly destination weddings. A couple of people have asked us why we booked a wedding planner, out of curiousity, as it seems an unneccessary and possibly extravagant expense.

The reasoning is simple; if we were having the wedding in Melbourne, where we knew the lay of the land, could meet with people face to face etc....well we would do it all ourselves. The wedding is going to be in Hawaii, however, where we don't know who is who and can't do the legwork, meet people, suss out who is legit and who might rip us off, which locations are stunning and which have been glorified in the internet photos etc. Susan, our wedding planner, knows Hawaii and has planned so many weddings there that she steers us straight to the places and people she knows are awesome. She gives us options, we decide, she does the planning,legwork and booking and we show up on the day. It certainly cuts out a lot of potential stress and all at the flat rate of $450. She gets so excited about it all too.Planning wonderful, memorable weddings for the couple is her passion. We were leaning towards Turtle Bay resort but she told us to steer clear because the place has been subject to union strikes and staff walking out on weddings and whatnot, leaving couples in the lurch. If you're interested in a wedding planner down the track, or even right now, I've listed her website a little further down. She is based in Vancouver but deals in quite a few different locations worldwide.

She is simply a wonderful lady! She gives us great options on everything, from table arrangements to music etc. With table decs, she sent us an option that I really liked, a simple orchid sitting in a low, square glass vase in water, with the head of the flower bending over....oh hang on I'll just show you instead, eh....



The flower is cool, we can either have that or a similiar one, I have to look and see what I like best. I'm not the biggest flower-fan although, don't get me wrong, I do love flowers but I'd rather keep costs down and flowers are expensive. When it comes to weddings, the flowers reign in the bouquet stakes. However, as far as decorating is concerned, I'm more of a 'candles everywhere' kinda chicky. That whole 'gothic romantic' kinda feel.

Anyway, c'mon, we're getting married overlooking the ocean, in Hawaii! The surroundings are so beautiful....flowers, greenery, ocean and sand, all in every direction you could look in and a sun preparing to begin setting....you tell me....do we really need to pay for flowers?

The reception willl be held in a ballroom that will open out to our own private garden area that has a waterfall as it's central feature. I don't think we need to worry a whole lot about decorating.

The resort we are having the wedding at also has something that completely sold me as soon as I heard about it; a massive lagoon within it's grounds that is home to six dolphins. And, yes, you can swim with them for a fee. One of my dreams, on my 'must-do-before-I-die' list, is to swim with dolphins! At first I was a bit, I dunno, hesitant about the idea because I don't like when animals, mammals and whathaveyou, are held in captivity. On further investigation though, I found that the resort has a conservation/education program in place, they really take care of the dolphins and are committed to the education of people in regards to conservation.

Here's the wedding planner....

Wedding Lady

Anyway, mum, my sisters and I are planning to go dress hunting on my birthday weekend, three weeks from now. Wow, I just realized as I was typing that last sentence that it will be almost a year to the day that Josh proposed to me, when I dress-hunt. It's been a YEAR already?!?