Four Seasons Ko’olina Intimate Wedding

 

Here is the Full Wedding Story…

As we saw things changing here on island, just as they did on the mainland of the United States, as well Europe and China, I knew staying home on that rainy Saturday was the best option for my family of 4. Hawaii is such an outdoor and active place, being locked in the house with a three-year-old and five-year-old is just enough to make you go bonkers. It was during that evening though, after the kids were put to bed, that I got a phone call from Morgan – frantic, and looking for solutions as her best friend’s destination wedding in California was canceled. Morgan was the maid of honor and completely heartbroken for her best friend. She called feeling helpless, but not hopeless, and asked if I could help her put together and capture her best friend’s wedding the following day on the beach. After hearing the details of what had happened, I shed a tear as I felt horrible for the couple, and I signed on to a project that was more about Aloha than it was work. Once we formulated a game plan, I reached out to my photography community, a group called “The Rising Tide Society”, and found a fellow photographer that was actually an ordained minister and videographer. We were set, this plan was in motion!

Ryan and Jen are both from Austin, Texas. They both work at a software company, where they met. Its at this same company that Ryan won a sales contest for an all-expense trip to Hawaii. The trip that they won, however, was scheduled the week prior to their wedding, and they almost didn’t go – but heck, it was a free trip to Hawaii with a stay at the Four Seasons in Ko’Olina. They had to go! As the trip progressed though, so did the rapid spread of COVID-19, as did the CDC’s guidelines. Things were changing very fast. While they were enjoying their trip to Oahu, they would never in a million years have believed that they would be hit with such horrible news, that their wedding was canceled. The wedding venue called to explain that they were no longer able to host groups of over 50 people.

You can almost feel the wind leave the room, here they were in Paradise getting ready to spend the rest of her life together, and instead of enjoying themselves they were calling their guest and notifying them that the Ceremony was off. After a year of planning, they were devastated. They decided though that now more than ever, they should be married. They filed for a marriage license first thing Monday morning. And were wed Monday night.

We planned to show up and document their wedding, we were going to capture their special moment and be their guests. There was only one problem though, that day, Monday, the weather forecasts rang out about serious wind and rainstorms. It was torrential raining all across the island, but I wasn’t going to let this couple down. I packed an umbrella, dry sack, rain jacket, hat, and scarf. I had to try my best to keep my gear safe – In any other circumstance I would’ve canceled, but this was different.

When Jen walked down the staircase of the four seasons, the rain stopped. It was like a movie. There was an hour of no rain in gorgeous soft clouds surrounding us at the beach. Morgan flew out to be a part of the ceremony, leaving me and the minister as the other two guests. Jen and Ryan were planning a 150 person wedding, and ended up having a wedding of 3 guests. This wasn’t how they planned it, but there were little miracles and magic that happened that day. And when it was all said and done, Ryan and Jen realized that they had the perfect wedding, they celebrated each other and their love, and the skies and clouds opened up to honor their union

Venue: Four Seasons Oahu, Hawaii

Dress: Four Seasons Oahu, Hawaii Boutique

Hair and Makeup: Four Seasons Oahu, Hawaii