Pacific Island Weddings

Captain America

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Watch — Hennessy Winkler

Beautiful

It was their ‘Moment in Time,’ a beginning of their lifetime of moments.

When I perform a marriage ceremony, I always conclude each one with the words, "marriage should be successful..." And it should be.

It's always a blessing, a genuine blessing when couples we've assisted with their wedding reach out a little further down the road of time. Debi and I so appreciate Mary Carlson Beatty and Joe Beatty for sending us these beautiful pictures of their ceremony at Poolenalena Beach on Maui.

Married 10-years ago March 29 they continue to grow their love, one day at a time, week after week, year after year. Congratulations and thanks for the memory.

One of our pretty March brides!

Forgot one important thing...picture taken by Scott B. Hughes of Hughes Photographics - Maui

A few years after the world-changing events of 9/11, I was asked to perform a wedding ceremony at the Grand Wailea's Seaside Chapel. The couple exchanging nuptials were both widowed…on the same day, each losing a spouse in the horrific attacks of September 2001.

Before that murderous day, they (the couples) had known each other, connected by similar careers in government service. The surviving spouses, bonding strongly over a mutual loss eventually fell in love, choosing this popular South Maui resort for their nuptials.

The chapel was filled to capacity with members of intelligence agencies, law enforcement and family. I completed my opening commentary then at the request of the couple, in heart-rending tribute to their fallen spouses, the musician presented a powerful and haunting rendition of “Wind Beneath My Wings” to honor their memory.

I took the accompanying picture of the so-called, “Survivor Tree” during a recent trip to New York specifically to include in this brief essay. An appropriate metaphor for this story, this glorious survivor was discovered in the smoking rubble of the Trade Center’s South Tower. It appeared to be past any hope of survival, charred and broken as it was. But somehow life persisted; transplanted in a Brooklyn park, it was coaxed, nurtured and loved back into existence then returned to its original location near the South Tower memorial.

In the dark months and years following their brutal loss, this couple also had moments of deep despair, their lives also smashed into smoking rubble. Yet here they stood, vibrant, alive and thriving in the full blossom of love, love that cannot be denied and can never be destroyed. As the apostle wrote so long ago; “Love believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things…Love never fails.”

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The preceding account is offered with imperfect recollection regarding specifics of this particular event. The full scope of this wedding was only disclosed when I arrived; I was taken by surprise and did not have opportunity to record specifics but retain, with full clarity, the important details of this ceremony.
ron winckler, Feb. 2017

Sunset, December 18

Kaho'olawe Island off the coast of Makena, Maui. Actually, it's our front yard.

It never gets old.

Vow renewals. Revisiting that moment when the ring was placed and the promise was made is a fitting way to honor promises once made. Celebrating twenty-years of faithful commitment, the husband arranged all the details. He was exacting; “Peonies are her favorite and the ones used for her bouquet.”

“Can I Have This Dance” was their favorite song, the song performed for their first dance as husband and wife. He was adamant on this choice. We arranged everything exactly as requested. Meeting on the beach fronting a resort in Kaanapali, Maui the husband arrived along with his wife’s sister and her husband. His spouse of two-decades arrived in an electric cart provided by the resort.

The bouquet of white Peonies made her cry, the ceremony made them both cry but it was the dance on a sandy beach as the sun became one with the Pacific horizon that I’ll remember (Wilmont Kamaunu Kahaialii was the musician, he nailed it.):

“I'll always remember that magic moment
When I held you close to me
As we moved together, I knew forever
You're all I'll ever need.
Could I have this dance for the rest of my life
Would you be my partner every night
When we're together it feels so right
Could I have this dance for the rest of my life”

The musician nailed it. The couple danced, her head on his shoulder, his arms gripping her, almost as if he loosened his hold she’d slip away forever. She looked at his face as they moved together, tears streaming. I glance at her sister and brother-in-law, they both wept unashamedly. It was touching yes but, I thought to myself, a little over the top. The sister noticed my questioning expression, leaned over and whispered to me; “She has brain cancer, we weren’t sure if she would survive to this day.”

“Could I have this dance for the rest of my life,” it was their first dance, it was their last dance. Two weeks later she was gone.

Treasure the moment with the love of your life. The time comes to all lovers when it is “the moment” that you will miss more than life itself.