I do? I did!
It was the second time we were on holiday in Hawaii that Steve
proposed to me. Well, at least I think he proposed to me.
What he actually said was, on a balmy evening, after too
much white wine as we sat looking at the ocean, was "Eee
lass, this is grand eh?" (You have to imagine a North of
England accent here folks) "If I was going to get married
anywhere, it would have to be here". I looked at him, he
looked at me, and I knew by the way he'd become all misty
eyed that either he was overcome by emotion or his contact
lens had fallen out. And that's how, 2 years later, on
December 7th, 1995 we were married in the grounds of the
Hyatt Regency in Maui. He never did find that contact lens.
We couldn't travel half way around the world to be married
on a Hawaiian island and not take our parents. Well, yes,
ok, we could have, but they would never have let us forget
that we chose not to invite them, so we figured we would
take them along. So, the 6 of us flew from England, each
couple arriving in Maui on different days, after spending
some time on different islands and the US mainland first.
6 days before
the wedding we arrived in Maui to 85 degrees and blue skies. Each day was
spent much the same way, breakfast poolside and then
snorkelling in the mornings at mile marker 14. This was the
first time my dad had been seen wearing swimming shorts for
over 20 years and as he is just oh so slightly overweight,
it was no surprise when Greenpeace circled him twice and
started a campaign to save him. After snorkelling, we
usually had a picnic lunch on the beach and then did some
sight seeing on the afternoons. As we'd done most of the
tourist stuff before, we sent the parents off to do the
things we'd already done (the volcano, tropical plantation,
upcountry, sugar cane train, drive to Hana etc.) and then
the two of us would spend our afternoons swimming and
reading in the shade of a friendly tree. And so the week
went by, 85 degrees, blue skies, as I said before. That is
of course, until the day of the wedding when we were awoken
at 4am by torrential rain. At 10am it finally stopped
raining, and the water that had flooded the hotel car park
had disappeared, soaked into the scorched earth. When the
rain had finished, Maui was even more greener, more
beautiful and crystal clear than it had been before, as if
it had been cleansed especially for our wedding day. On the
morning of the wedding it was snorkelling as usual and then
the preparations began in earnest with my first stop at the
hairdresser. While Steve lay in a hammock on the ocean side
reading his book, I was having my hair pulled, teased and
decorated with flowers. Then, off to the beauty salon
where..... god knows, they tried, they really tried! 30
minutes later we were washed, dressed and raring to go. Our
parents and
other relations from California were waiting at the hotel
reception and as
we walked down the stairs together to get into our taxi, the
video camera started whirring and the cameras were clicking,
I felt just like a movie star - who said Lassie? But this
was no ordinary taxi we were taking - it was the 1929 Ford
Classy Cab that made the most fantastic "pheeeeeeeep.....
whooooooop" noise as we drove off. At least I think that
was the car, Steve did have a nervous stomach at the time.
And so, finally to the Hyatt where the Rev. Grimes married
us with a beautiful service, after which we ate cake and
drank toasts of champagne to family members back in England
who couldn't be with us in Hawaii. After a couple more
rolls of camera film, our party of 8 went on to the "Rusty
Harpoon" restaurant for a fantastic meal, it really was
excellent food and brilliant service, where speeches were
made and I read out a poem to Steve and more wine and
champagne was consumed than is good for a person to consume
in one evening. Ah, but we're not finished yet. We all
then got into taxis and went back to "Lahaina Coolers" bar,
were we had been such good customers during the week (hello
Kevin and Maggie! - how are the t-shirts?) they gave us a
free bottle of champagne; more drinking, more photographs,
and then finally, finally back to the hotel, exhausted and
happy. It was a great day, I can't say enough good things
about the staff at the Hyatt, the Rusty Harpoon and of
course, Lahaina Coolers - bar give them all a pay rise, they
all worked very hard for us and made our day, a very special
one indeed.
Glenda Young is also the authoress of the
weekly Coronation
Street Update on the net, and can be contacted at:
glenda@londonmall.co.uk
Previous experiences of a thirty-something...
Other Columnists
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Opinions contained herein are purely those of the author, and should be
considered seperate to those of Micro Media Services Ltd
Glenda Young is also the authoress of the
weekly Coronation
Street Update on the net, and can be contacted at:
glenda@londonmall.co.uk
Previous experiences of a thirty-something...
Other Columnists
Back to the London Mall
Opinions contained herein are purely those of the author, and should be
considered seperate to those of Micro Media Services Ltd