Candid Pictures

Here are some candid shots taken by our guests and us. More to come!

Kai-Photo Pictures

Mahalo!

Our first duty in town was to get our marriage license. A 3.5 mile walk got us there. I think we walked through the bad part of town to get there tho. Lots of payday cash loans, locks on gates, etc. The health department was in this old building that hasn't been upgraded since the 50s and has been degrading since, but everyone was super nice! We got to meet Kahu Bruce for the first time, the man who would be our officiant. Wonderful man! After that, we staked out a place to wed on Wailae Beach.

Thursday brought us a girls morning/bachelorette. No one else wanted to come so it was just the bridesmaids and I. We had great fun anyway! Later we went over rehearsal in front of the zoo and had our rehearsal dinner at Duke's. The food there was wonderful!

Friday was wedding day. The wedding went off great! It was absolutely beautiful! The bartenders at the Outrigger Reef on the Beach Kani Ka Pila Grille made some awesome drinks! We were surprised by the band with our first dance to the Hawaiian Wedding Song. We'll never forget that moment! Dinner at Roy's was amazing! Mahalo to Diva for putting up with us and to the chef for creating such a yummy meal! Even though we hadn't quite adjusted to the time change, somehow I didn't manage to get to bed til 2am! Unfortunately my body refused to let me sleep in past 7am every day! Ugh.

The rest of our time was spent exploring Oahu and meeting up with our 20 guests separately for lunch/dinner. We did take a one day trip to Maui, which was gorgeous! We took a tour of Kailua Ranch where a lot of films are filmed. It is also a working beef ranch. During the Vietnam war, 30% of the property was confiscated by the US government for use so there are still remnants of their use on the property including some quite sturdy structures! Our last day we spent snorkeling at Hanauma Bay. I didn't get to see turtles, but I did see some awesome fish! Unfortunately, there are no pics of that. When I get a chance to shrink all of the pics I will post them!

Mahalo to my 20 guests for making it to Hawaii for our big day! It means a lot to us that you took the time to come!

Don't forget to share your pictures with us! Send us a CD of them or email them to: Cindi.Justin2011.Wedding @ picasaweb.com (Just take out the spaces)

Attire & Update

Dress is cocktail attire. That means suits for the guys & knee length dresses for girls. If you don't own a suit, dress shirt, tie & slacks!

5 days till W-day! I am starting to feel less stressed. Just need to get the house in order and pack up for the big day!

Still have remnants of the cold I got over two weeks ago!

Bridesmaid gifts

Got the special order/made bridesmaid gifts today! They are stunning! Can't wait to give them to my girls! I hope they'll like them as much as I do!

Got to talk to my planner today and finally got to finalize some stuff. Just a few more things to go! One of them being quite important that I would really like to get done! Justin's having his bachelor party on Saturday. Then it's off to boring ole married life! HAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Favors & Pictures

Favors have been ordered! Just need to figure out how to package them now... I have an idea, but Target was not helpful today. :( I will have to make a trip out to Party City and hope they have what I want!

Everyone who is attending the wedding, if you could please email any pictures you take that you deem are good, please send them full sized to: Cindi.Justin2011.Wedding @ picasaweb.com (Just take out the spaces) We'd love to have a copy! :)

The Dress is Finished!

Lynn did an AMAZING job! I picked up the dress this past Saturday and promptly dropped it off to go to the Millvale Beer Festival and then to Kevin's (best man) grandmother's birthday party. After an exhausting weekend and getting sick, I realized today at work that we forgot belt loops for my sash! Oops! I left a message with Lynn and hope that we can add them quickly as soon as she gets back from FL. Just a few more things to do and we're ready! Rings are ordered too! Looks to be about 20 people confirmed attending. Everyone else is missing out! We're going to have a blast without you :P

2nd Dress Fitting & RSVP's

I barely made it to my appointment today. GPS does not know what the heck PennDot does! I was a good half hour late and almost had to reschedule, but Lynn did an AMAZING job on my dress! It looks like a completely different dress and well...I guess in a way it is b/c she had to salvage it! Either way, it looks much better than it used to! I can't wait to party all night in it! :D Now we just need some RINGS!

The RSVP cards are rolling in. If you haven't sent yours, please remember to do so before August 1st! That's NEXT Monday! We'd love to have you join us! It'll be great fun! :)

Bridal Shower

Last Friday, my sister flew into Pittsburgh to throw me a bridal shower. We had it at the Willow Restaurant and out of 30 invited, 10 attended, not including myself and my sister. We had a great time with good food as well as two non-cheesy bridal shower games. The winners took home Phalaenopsis orchids. The food was delicious! Fruit, spicy tuna rolls, cucumber rolls, empanadas, and chocolate raspberry cupcakes! Yum! :D There was also a rum based cocktail that was tropical tasting to hint at the location of our wedding. It was really good to see everyone as there were quire a few people that I hadn't seen in awhile due to my hectic school schedule! Thank you to everyone that came and thank you so much for the gifts! Hopefully we will be able to get together on an individual basis soon. It was nice to have all my friends in one place as I usually see them separately. They're all awesome individuals, but it was more awesome that this was a chance to show everyone else what awesome friends I had :)

Registry

I've been adding and deleting on the registry. It is slowly growing, but we're having trouble deciding on china and silverware! It's tough to shop for stuff and figure out what we need and don't need! Macy's has not been cooperative either. Many of the items I liked on their online store were not available to be put on a registry, what the heck?! Do you or do you not want to do business? They lost out on one item already. I found it on Amazon and put it on that registry instead!

Invites are Out!

Half the invites went out yesterday and the other half are going out today. They should be in your hot little hands by today or Tuesday, if you are local, or at the very least, by the end of next week for those that are farther away! :) I hope you can come and celebrate with us! It's going to be a wonderful time in tropical beautiful Hawaii! Don't forget to send your RSVP's back to me so I can get an accurate head count for the reception! See you there!

The Invites are Here!

My invites came in the mail today from Wedding Paper Divas. The paper is awesome! Nice thick and heavy card stock! I was surprised to see that my actual invite was not adhered to the back of the solid card and did not come with anything to adhere it with. Luckily I had some double stick tape and that did the job nicely! Except I ran out...trip to the store fixed that issue!

I decided to print the addresses on the envelopes using our laser printer. That was quite frustrating as I have international addresses to deal with and they are quite long to say the least! I also do not have a tray for the envelopes so have had to do them one by one, which probably saved me some more mistakes!

Anyhow, I somehow misplaced a few addresses, but I have most of them so these guys should be going out soon! You should see them by next week! Don't forget the RSVP cards are due back to me by August 1st!

Invites Are Ordered!

I know, I am pushing it, time-wise! I was awaiting more information and I wasn't getting it so I ordered the invites anyway. The pertinent information is there so that should be ok. If there is anything else to be added you guys will hear from me either from email or phone! If not, it'll be at the wedding! I can't worry about it anymore. They are ordered and hopefully they will get here by July 1st so I can address them really quick and get them all out to you!

Just a few other details to take care of and I might eventually be able to breathe a bit!

Bridesmaid Shoes & Invites

Not the best picture, but this is what the bridesmaid shoes look l ike. They are a light gold color even tho this picture doesn't show it. Sorry, I took it with my camera phone! The shoes are by Katie & Kelly. They were so cute (and a great price, $40!) that I had to have a pair too, especially since I needed dressy sandals and have been lacking a pair for some time! I might even consider wearing them after the formal pictures too! They're so much more comfortable than the cute, but very uncomfortable 4" heels I got for the wedding!

The invites are picked out, but I need to talk to my planner on Monday before ordering. Who knew this could be so complicated?! I wish I didn't care whatsoever at all and let her plan the whole thing instead! We're getting close!

Reception, Bridal Shower & Registries

Finally nailed down our reception site! Took a long time and a lot of weighing pros and cons, but we're going with Roy's Restaurant! Would've loved to do a luau, but the food was important to us and the luaus did not have good food usually. So we're going to have to entertain each other instead!

Bridal shower is on July 16th at the Willow Restaurant hosted by my sister, the maid of honor.

Registries are all signed up for, but we have yet to put items on the lists. We're working on it! We're registered at Amazon and Macy's.

Seamstress for the Dress

So I took my dress to the seamstress recommended by Carlise's today. I spent three hours on the pedestal stand while she cut the dress shorter. It's worse than we thought, the dress is completely falling apart! She will check the whole thing to make sure it is secure, but it was more work than expected. To top it off, three hours in the shoes I bought for the wedding are PAINFUL! My toes went numb! I need to find comfortable shoes to wear after the photos are done! Of course, it's extra hard to just stand there in heels w/o moving. One more thing to check off my list!

Update

Aloha!

Sorry there hasn't been much of an update. School has kept me busy and I am finally DONE! But I have to take my physics boards, so much of everything is still on a hiatus till I am done with that also! Behind the scenes, the girls are working on picking their dresses, but that is about it so far. Not much time left! Need to make some quick decisions by the end of the month and I will have more to post about! Back to cramming!

Save the Date Cards Are SENT!

Well, most of them at least! I still have 3 more to put into the mail on Monday so keep an eye out for those Save the Dates! :)

Wow!

I had to call on Monday to order the envelopes for the save the date cards because it wouldn't take my order online over the weekend. The lady said it would ship the next day. I half believed her b/c you know how these places are when you order! Well boy was I surprised when I was awakened by the door bell during my nap with the pooch and there was a box with the envelopes I ordered! I guess I know what I'm doing this weekend!

Hotel: Outrigger Reef on the Beach

Ok, for all of you wanting to know...we will be staying at:

Outrigger Reef on the Beach
2169 Kalia Road
Honolulu, HI 96815-1989

Save the Date Cards

They have finally arrived! Soon as I get some envelopes they will be in your mailbox! Sorry it has taken so long, but I have been swamped and unfortunately, the wedding has been pushed to the back burner :(