Our Wedding, Our Unique Way

Aug 18

This post shares the details of our private ceremony Hawaii wedding and how we intertwined our wishes, values, and love language of quality time into becoming husband and wife.

Leaving a “Love Legacy”

Weddings are very personalized these days, which makes it all the more fun to take your personality as a couple and bring it to life.

We wanted our wedding to align with one of our biggest missions as a couple: to create a “Love Legacy.”

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I believe there is no “right way” to have a wedding, but I also believe it needs to be in alignment with your values as a couple. For many, their wedding becomes more about ‘people pleasing,’ than actually being present for the big day.

THIS was one of the big reasons we did our intimate wedding day in Kauai, Hawaii, just the two of us (alongside a minister and a camera crew).

Honoring our love languages

Another big reason we wanted a private wedding ceremony was because we each have a love language of “quality time.” A private ceremony, just the two of us, gave us just what we wanted: epic quality time.

Since having our friends and family join us to celebrate was also important to us, we also had a wedding celebration party (months later), out on a farm, to share our love with everyone.

Honoring our covenant

Presence and peace were two of our highest values for our day(s), where we wanted to honor our covenant with God, in the most beautiful place on earth. No entertaining, no stress and setup, just showing up with so much enthusiasm for something we always wanted but never knew was possible (marrying one another). God’s hands have been all over this, in the most beautiful ways.

Presence and peace lead to simplicity

Presence and peace were so important to us, especially after the previous year, because we had already flipped an entire house this past year, plus had had a lot of change and additional projects, so we craved simplicity.

Even choosing what to wear was simple, believe it or not. I ordered a dress online (I didn’t want to do the bridal store experience) that was flowy and fit the vibe of an outdoor Hawaiian wedding ($65), plus wore jewelry as my shoes, and I did my own hair and makeup.

We really wanted to have our first look to be walking down the aisle, so in order to do this, we put a sheet up in the car to divide the two of us, so that we wouldn’t see each other beforehand on the drive over to Shipwreck Beach on the South Shore.

A simple planning process

We hired a company (email me for the link!) that was a one-stop-shop for weddings in Kauai, where we got to select the type of wedding ceremony we wanted (Hawaiian Christian), and the bouquet, the leis, the photography and video options. Besides making the selections, paying for the services, and having a few phone calls with the coordinator, we got to show up the day of and truly have our dream wedding, realized. They EXCEEDED all of our expectations.

We had our playful ceremony near the water, where we got to say our own vows on the most beautiful day of the entire trip. Our chosen ceremony had 2 hours of photography, plus videography, and we also went to take photos up on a cliff with a drone!

On March 3, 2021 at 11 am, I walked down the aisle, through the wilderness of trees, to my husband and officially became a Smithson. It was the most magical day filled with so much Spirit and God’s beauty surrounding us in every way possible.

This amazing experience (which it was) was the best decision ever, and it exceeded our expectations, tenfold. I’m so glad we followed our hearts and honored our values, and did things that lit us up, even if it was the road less traveled.

I truly felt like a Hawaiian Queen walking down through the wilderness to my King, in what still seems like a fairytale. God’s hand has been all over this friendship, relationship, and now marriage.

Watch our wedding ceremony (I promise you’ll feel like you were right there):

And for more of our backstory, here is our love story: