Isa and Sean's Wedding Plus - Segment 2

Well at my age it is important to journal details because “a picture is worth a thousand words” is a great quote but it doesn’t provide memory of dates and sometimes mentally vivid minutiae.

So if it seems that my journaling of events is a bit late, it is. I was in the throws of it all and writing was not in the schedule for the past six months (at least).

I’ll get to it, but just a few non-wedding things while it is fresh in my memory…

Two weeks after the wedding reception in Ben Lomond, our friend Kristy held her 40^th birthday party at Camp Solyo; more aptly described it as “Club Solyo” by another friend Rochelle. It is true; my home is a great party place.

Kristy’s party had an 80’s theme In 1980 I was 33 and it was probably the wildest time of my life. MTV was launched in 1981. Devo’s 1980 hit “Whip It” got heavy air play in the early days of MTV and surely this band was in my mind as a reflection of the 80’s. Therefore Lucia and I came to the party as Devo with the Energy Domes on our head. Madonna cone bras just wouldn’t be fitting (that’s a 90’s theme anyway). I loved Madonna in the 80’s and I have to say I stayed up all night watching Live Aid and still have the unabridged video of that whole concert. Live Aid was held simultaneously in London and NY and included acts like Madonna, Duran Duran, The Cars, The Pretenders and the finale “We Are the World”, new from Michael Jackson et al. It was the biggest benefit concert in history!

Anyway…back to my daughter’s wonderful wedding celebration.

Segment Two: Kauai

Hale Luana

The plan was to find a place similar to Shambalah Ranch that would hold a number of guests. Isa and Sean wanted to be wed in a beach at the North Shore, therefore ideally we would stay in Hanalei, Priceville area. The criteria was that it would accomodate most of the bride's wedding party and that it had a large enough area to hold a dinner party for approximately 30 people.

There were several beautiful places as I did the research but the price had to be right! Finally after looking through many and inquiring about details we found Hale Luana. It was not in Hanalei, or Princeville, but in Kilauea. We had never stayed in Kilauea and the only thing I knew about the town was the lighthouse, which we visited in the mid-90's when we stayed in Princeville with Nancy, Melinda, Pat and the kids. That was a great and fun time we had, but that's another story, another Blog (if I remember).

Kilauea is in the North, just before you make the left on the highway towards Princeville and Hanalei. The house was adjacent to a bed and breakfast, all owned by one family. The pictures looked great. There was a pool between the two properties. If we rented both the house and the two rooms at the B&B...we had room for quite a few. We determined who would stay in Hale Luana and it totalled 16, 14 adults and two children. It could have easily housed 4 more people, but it was perfect with 16.

The list of guests by room:

Main House

• Grace and Lucia
• Eileen and Chelong
• Patricia and Rita
• Tita Nena
• Brandon and David
• Rich, Cara, Zach and Lilly

B&B

• Gabrielle
• Greg and Chelle

http://www.haleluana.com/

Sean's family were going to stay somewhere else in the North Shore. The Laybourne family had a timeshare. Sherri, (Sean's sister) and husband, kids: Noah and Jesse and Lillian (Sean's Mom) were going to stay there.

Others who were coming and staying elsewhere; my first cousins and their husbands; Mil and June, Lele and Walter, The Browns; Greg, Jenny and Lucas, and lastly; Mia, Christian, Alessandra and Luca.

The Wedding Officiant

Isa and Sean had to rely on the internet to find a person to marry them. She chose based on what she read and on impression/gut feeling about them. She chose a woman named Claire (oops, had to come back and edit because her name was Virginia St. Claire, not Claire) and the package came with a photographer, Candace who was her partner. She had a good feel about her and her services.

Alas, the feelings changed when not long after the contracts were signed, Candace backed out because of some unforseen family priority and was replaced, then a couple of months closer the the wedding Claire backed out for some other reason.

Needless to say this didn't make the bride feel secure in the wedding arrangement plans. Here start some of the wrinkles.

to be continued...