As I write this blog post, it is 5am in the beautiful Maldives and I am on the second day of my honeymoon. Having drastically changed time zones twice since leaving Hawaii, I'm a bit jet lagged! And yes, this does mean I did get married :). Being up so early gives you time to think, and to write blog posts! Reflecting back on my wedding celebration, it amazes me how fortunate Nick and I are to have such wonderful friends and family, how good the choices we made turned out to be, and how lucky we got with the weather!

As people were coming such a very long way for our wedding, most were taking at least a week off work to make a holiday of it. Nick and I therefore planned a week of activities and get togethers for all our guests. It was really a week long celebration, and all of it was fun and memorable, and everyone came away from the week with new friends.

We ourselves were arriving on the Sunday before our actual wedding, which was on Saturday 13 March 2010. We started our big wedding trip off by flying to Tokyo from London. We had originally planned to fly from London to LA then Honolulu, but having flown that journey several times during the planning stages of our wedding, we knew how long and uncomfortable it was. Add to that the fact that several months before the wedding, British Airways, who we had booked with, announced strikes to begin most likely in the beginning of March! We were able to cancel the flights without penalty, and when my Dad invited us to spend a couple of days with him in Tokyo before the wedding, we jumped at the chance. Nick had never been to Japan before and was eager to go. We spent one full day and one night in Tokyo with my parents and my cousin Tanya and her fiance, which everyone enjoyed thoroughly. Then we flew to Honolulu.

My first day in Honolulu was, quite frankly, terrible! Firstly, after arriving at Trump Waikiki, I found that the comb on my veil had broken in transit. I contacted our wedding planner Christina straight away and sent her a pic of the damage (see below) to find out if I would need the veil placed on a new comb, and if so, who could do it.

Then, it rained. Not your typical 5 minutes of Hawaiian rain followed by a cool breeze and sunshine, but proper, cats & dogs, constant downpour, London type rain. This went on for the whole day. I was beside myself, thinking our outdoor wedding would be ruined and that all our guests had come here for a Hawaiian holiday and were going to have such terrible weather!

Next disaster was that we were scheduled for a special Woo family dinner that evening in a nice restaurant and I didn't have anything to wear! I hadn't thought to pack any nice going out clothes, just shorts and summer tops - none of which fit me anymore anyway after losing 13kg since last summer for the wedding. Nick and I ran off to Ala Moana shopping centre (in the pouring rain) to get dress pants for him and a dress for me But we barely had any time before we were supposed to meet up with a couple of our wedding guests for drinks before the family dinner, and Nick spent long enough choosing his pants that there was no time left to buy a dress for me. I would have to wear shorts and a t-shirt to dinner that were too big!

I was close to tears. Everything was going so horribly wrong. I began to wonder if these were all signs from the universe cursing our wedding! But Nick, bless his little cotton socks, realised how down I was. When we walked past BCBG Max Azria, he spotted a nice white dress and insisted we go in and try it on. He was so great - he zipped me up in the change rooms, sat patiently while the sales assistant brought me several thousand dresses to consider, and gave constructive and helpful opinions that helped me choose a gorgeous dress. He also told me to send a text message to our friends to let them know we'd be 15 minutes late, and not to stress about it (turns out they were running late too so it was fine). Here is the dress we bought:
I ended up wearing it to the Rehearsal Dinner as well - I love it! The floral detail on the shoulder strap is gorgeous, very bridal.

And just like that, everything started to get better - retail therapy proves it's worth yet again! That, and an amazing and considerate fiance :). We met up with our friends, had a few drinks (one glass of champagne for me and no alcohol for Nick, who only drinks on very rare occasions). We had an amazing dinner with my family, and my Dad gave us an early wedding present and an incredibly touching card that reduced me to tears. Christina informed me the hair stylist said the veil was totally fine to use, and not to worry at all. The next day, we woke up to blue skies and sunshine, still the occasional rain shower and very strong gusty winds, but a huge improvement!

The rest of the week went by so fast - Monday we got up early and got our marriage licence, then hired a driver and mini-van to take us and some of our guests to the best beaches on Oahu (with a stop for lunch at the shrimp trucks naturally). Tuesday we met up with Nick's family (I met his sisters and aunts for the first time), had lunch with guests that had just arrived, and had welcome drinks in our apartment at Trump for all our guests to meet and mingle. Wednesday we went on a catamaran snorkelling trip with some of our guests and swam with turtles, then had the first ever Woo/Wright extended family dinner at Nobu, which was such a joyful occasion. Thursday Nick and I went for beauty treatments in the morning, met up with more guests who had just arrived for lunch, met with Christina for our final planning session, and took all our guests to the Paradise Cove luau as a welcome and thank you present. "Chief Nick" went up on stage to do a hula solo in a hot pink sarong and coconut bra - worth the price of admission alone!
Here's a link to the full (and hilarious) video on You Tube:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDk4Ntwb2mM

Then suddenly, it was Friday - the day before our wedding! Nerves started to kick in, I felt quite tense and emotional. I had a facial in the morning, then packed up everything I would need for the wedding and the day after. I was paranoid I'd forget something as I'd be staying over an hour away from Waikiki at the Turtle Bay Resort. Nick, Seema (my maid of honour), Seema's finace Rob, and myself went to the Turtle Bay Resort where Seema and I checked in.

Then we had the rehearsal, where Nick's dad, who is the Bishop of Otaga and would be performing the ceremony, read through every line of the service during the run through. I just managed to hold it together and not cry. Then we had the rehearsal dinner, where I did cry. Then it was bed time, and oh my Lord, the morning of the wedding!!! Which I will relay in great detail in my next blog post :).