If you read my short bio here on the website, you probably know by now that in my previous life I was actually a screenwriter who lived in California. Was I successful? I would say very much so, because I escaped California without becoming a victim to Hollywood psuedo ethics (both political and moral). Life as a screenwriter is a fairly lonely one if you're not a staff writer working in the television industry. Basically it consist of meeting with producers and working on "could be" projects until you eventually get fired for another writer. In between those meetings, is when you work, or in my case, procrastinate until your agent bugs you to see if you're going to meet your deadline. Then of course, you say, "Oh yeah, of course man..." then go back to watching TV.

Well, during those long procrastination hours, I started on chatting on a TV show's website called "Vibe." It was a great chat room, filled with real people. It was also a rather cool place because film industry gurus would also chat there, along with the host of Vibe, Sinbad. Because I had a good relationship with with Sinbad's production company, David and Goliath, I would regularly get invited to spend time behind the scenes of the Vibe show. I had no affiliation with the Vibe show, thank god, the writing was horrible there. But I did come out making "A" friend out of there. And it wasn't the staff who worked there behind the scenes, or the celebrities that came in and out of that area on a constant bases. It was actually through the Vibe chat room, to a chatter name Dijah.

Dijah was only about 16 years old when I first met her, full of life, great morals, and interested in getting heavily involved with the music industry. I tried to fill her in on all the details as I could. I believe I was about 18 or 19 a the time. Well time went on, and Vibe shut down their production in place for the Rosanne Bar Show, but I kept in contact with Dijah as time went by phone and the Internet. Time flew by rather quickly. Before I knew it, I was back in Hawaii running this wedding company, and she had graduated from college and started pursuing a career in the real estate industry. Then, one day, she broke the news to me that she had met the most amazing guy! Bryan. A good hearted man, soft spoken, a god-fearing person, with great morals, and more so, a guy who would be a great father one day. Then one day, Brian proposed to her, and Dijah said yes.

And of course, I had to put the idea of a Hawaii wedding into her head. She bought it, hook, line, and sinker, and a year later, this happened:

Dijan and Bryan fulfill their vows at Magic Island!

Now all this time, ten, twelve years later, I had only chatted to Dijah. Never met her in person. Never met Brian either. And I never thought that the first time I would meet her, it would be 10 years later, at her wedding, with myself doing the planning. So that was very very cool.

The wedding ceremony as conducted by one of my emotional pastors, Bob Fa'apouli. He's a real minister, works with the youth a lot at his church, and has a very infectious smile. People say it's the photographer who is the most important ingredient at your wedding. I disagree entirely. The most important ingredient to any wedding in the minister. And I usually try to fit the minister to the couple, to make sure everything runs smoothly.

Dijah and Brian got married at Magic Island, and had a small party of 15 people there to watch her finally seal the deal. And, I got invited to her reception at the Willows. (My review of this restaurant will be coming real soon!) The pictures, well, they came out really cool like always.

A perfect match!!!

At the reception it was rather cool as well because it was nice sit down dinner buffet with Dijah's family. And let me just say this, from her mother to her grandmother, they are all great personalities. We all got along well together. I was even asked to say something to Brian and Dijah, so that was really cool.

As a general rule of thumb, I usually don't do weddings for friends of mine. More so, family members of mine. But Dijah and Brian were exceptions to the rule because they are just that awesome people.

Oh did I mention that they live in South New Jersey, literally only minutes away from Lincoln Financial Stadium, where my Eagles play? And they said I can crash on their couch when I come to watch games? How cool is that!