R is for Reception, Hawaiian Style...

... The reception in Hawaii was great. Alma and I both thought so. We didn't have to do anything for it but show up. So much easier than the reception in Utah, which was a lot of work, but totally worth it. Alma's mom and sister did all the planning and the reception was beautiful. I met a ton of people whose names I've have already forgotten, but everyone was very warm and friendly. I even got to where a haku (the flower crown on my head) and Alma wore a lei. And it was so fun to wear my dress one more time.

We did, however, arrive to the reception an hour and a half late. Not for the reason you're thinking though. We were supposed to fly in from Kauai that morning, but the night before the entire island of Oahu lost it's power due to a lightning storm. So as you can imagine, the airport was completely backed up. Our flight was delayed two hours, and then our car rental took another hour to pick up, so we finally showed up at the reception at 3:30 instead of 2. Fortunately, the reception didn't actually get started until 2:30, which is when the power came back on in Laie. Somehow, though, Alma's mom had all the food prepared, the cultural hall decorated, and everything ready to go.

My new mother-in-law is a miracle worker. There was NO way she wasn't having that reception.

Us walking into the reception. Everyone was already eating because we were so late.

The happy couple. Isn't the flower arrangement gorgeous?

Cutting the cake that somehow got baked despite the power outage.

My new family

Part of Alma's new family

Us on the Hawaii Temple grounds