I'm having trouble finding the right words that could begin to describe Jericha and Paul's wedding in Hawaii on March 21. I'll fill in more details as time goes on.

They got married on Oahu in Kaneohe at the Hoomaluhia Botanical Garden.  It was a Baha'i ceremony with a lot of other elemants as well.  You can read Paul's blog entry about the program here.

Yummy food and drink by The Catering Connection.

There are some captions below for some of the photos.

Update: Jericha and Paul are back from their honeymoon and here is part of what she had to say about the pictures: "Oh my goodness!!!!! These are amazing!!!! I was blown away when I saw the 25 or so waiting on your blog! I don't think I'm capable of saying anything more articulate right now... I'm just soaking them in. Thank you!!!!"

Enjoy the pictures :)

Mahalo,

Michael

From the rehearsal, which was made more challenging by the fact the the lead officiant had a medical emergency and had to cancel at the last minute.  Paul (far left) orchestrated things.  Fortunately for a Baha'i ceremony, the vow -- recited aloud individually by the bride and the groom, in the presence of two witnesses appointed by the local Baha'i spiritual assembly -- is: "We will all, verily, abide by the Will of God." That's the only required element in the Baha'i wedding ceremony. Mission accomplished! (Thanks to Jericha's dad, Yakov, for filling me in on the details of that.)

Sorting out last minute details together.

Paul's brother (on drums) and singer Kalia's reflection.  They jammed together a bit with Max on piano to warm up.  Kalia and Max are students of Paul's mom, Sharon.  We were astonished at their talent.  Kalia was just amazing.  Paul and James are both musicians, thus the the drum kit and piano in the living room of their parents.

Kalia serenading the couple :)  I think this was during "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man"

Paul's mom presenting her mom, Gloria, with an 80th birthday cake--with her favorite icing. Yet another unexpected surprise at their rehearsal dinner.

Jericha receiving instructions from Kumu Keahi Renaud.  He lead the traditional Hawaiian portion of the ceremony.

Non-traditional elements of their ceremony included readings of Walt Whitman to Douglas Adams to Friedrich Nietzsche.

At the Byodo-In Temple after the ceremony.  The wedding Party + witnesses, and a local Baha'i official signed the official documents, and then we went to ring the Bon-so (sacred bell) and visit the temple.

Monika, part of the small bridal party, at prayer inside the Buddhist temple.

The reception was at the beach.  Can you tell? :)

It was too windy for candles here, so it was mostly small lights and tiki torches.

Not your traditional cake: the cake topper was a hand carved wood sculpture they selected.  It will go in their house :)  The mini fruit tarts were delicious.

There were some ducks in my backyard today.  Niether Calvin or Bailey liked them, so they flew away. This all happened in about 3 minutes, but it was fun :)

My flower pictures for Susan were just featured on Offbeat Bride :)

It's always cool to have your work featured anywhere, but especially on a site you like that you feel speaks to your audience.  Such is the case here :)  Susan has had a marvelous response to our collaboration!

Michael

If Mindi looks at all like my last phodography human, it's cuz they're sister's. :)  Mindi loved the pictures of Tiggy so much she asked me to do a session with Kuma.

Kuma is an Australian Shepard and travels just about everywhere in the car.  Look and you'll see what I mean.

Michael

Kuma *loves* to chase squirresls.

Kuma keeps an eye on the rearview mirror when not looking out the window.

Kuma digs Frisbee games also. A LOT.

Kuma saw that Mindi was coming out with his favorite treat--a soft serve ice cream cone, which he devoured in 4 bites.  I guess dogs don't get ice cream headaches ;)

Kuma after a lot of play time and ice cream....... ahhh to be a content and well loved dog :)

These pics are from a dography session I did with my good friend Lori and her fur kid Tigrerra, or Tiggy for short :)  Tiggy is still a puppy and she was a little shy at first, but all Lori had to do to bring her out of her shell was bring out a tennis ball....... an object of desire for many canines, big and small. I bet some dogs dream about tennis balls :)

It was raining outside, so we opted for an indoor session.

It's also appropriate to post this doggie session now because Tiggy's B-Day is Valentines Day. Really, I couldn't make that up!

Michael

Yummmmmmmm....... Tiggy loves her bone, too.