Nadia and Mike, out by the front at Ko'olina. That's a golf course right behind them!

A LOOONG DAY!
An excursion, and a wedding, Muslim style

It was an early morning email for me one day, which I received from Nadia. Her email was rather specific. She loved my pictures, wanted great pictures, but there was one little hurdle that she had. Nadia wanted a Muslim wedding, and she had to find an Imam to marry her in Oahu, and a mosque to get married in. Now, I had gotten request for Muslim weddings before, but for one reason or another, their plans had changed, so I really wasn't sure if I could help her out. But since Nadia's plans were solid, I told her I would try my best to find an Imam in Hawaii. At worse, she told me, she would just hire out one of my ministers to perform a non-denominational wedding.

It took me about a week or so to find an Imam and a mosque here in Hawaii. The task, luckily, wasn't that difficult, as Oahu had formed a Muslim Association of Hawaii not too long ago. I quickly put Nadia in touch with the Imam and the plan was hatched. Nadia and Mike would hire me to do their photography for their wedding day. We would hit Ko'olina for photos, then head back to the Kahala Resort for pictures, then finish off the day with their wedding at the newly renovated Mosque in Manoa Valley.

Walking on the beach proved to be pretty difficult in that wedding dress for Nadia

Mike and Nadia met at a conference for their company. Ironically, they worked for the same company, in the same building, but did not run into each other at all before that conference. I still wonder how in the world that was possible, but that's the way it happened. Their friendship soon blossomed, and as the story goes, they were soon tying the knot in Hawaii!

This is the bluest ocean I had ever seen at Ko'olina

You can't tell from the pictures, but it was extremely hot at Ko'olina

After the photo shoot ended at the Kahala Resort, I took the liberty to head down to the Mosque an hour early to possibly meet with the Imam to ask him about what was possible, and what was not. Unfortunately, he wasn't there, but I was lucky to run into a handful of extremely nice Muslims who sat me down to discuss every detail of Muslim wedding traditions.

The biggest question I had was what I could and could not photograph during the wedding. I had my run in with very strict Catholic priest before who had extremely strict photography regulations and I did not want to upset the Imam. To my surprise, I could photograph anything I wanted! A Muslim wedding though, would prove to be different than what I was used to. There would be no vows, no ring exchange, no holding hands, or kissing. In some cases, I was told that even the bride and groom were not allowed to be in the same room during the wedding, or be allowed to sit next to each other. But this Imam insisted that Mike and Nadia sit next to each other for theirs.

This shot was taken at Kahala Resort

In the lobby of the Kahala Resort

Photographing Nadia and Mike's wedding was rather simple. Since they were not standing or moving around, I just had to rotate around them to get a few unique shots. Other than what I had earlier described, everything else about their wedding was pretty much the same than any other. The Imam sat down and give his advice on how to stay married and to have a great marriage. There were laughs here and there, and the usual wedding jitters.

This is the actual wedding ceremony at the mosque.

Now all I can say about this day, was that it was long long long. Unfortunately, the Imam got caught in traffic and ended up being an hour or two late to the ceremony. So when we started their wedding ceremony, the sun was completely down. I think we actually ended everything at around 9:30 or 10:30pm that night. We started shooting at around 1 or 2pm I believe...so this...yup, talk about a long day! It was completely worth it though.

Nadia listens to the Imam

Does Mike look nervous in that picture?

The night ended with one of the Muslims giving me a free copy of the Koran, then me looking for the person who blocked me in. Other than that, everyone was very cool. I breezed through the Koran a couple of times since then. Interesting book to say the least. But I'm not converting, I'm still a devout Christian.

So the story ends here on a happy note, like always. Weddings for me always end on happy note, as I that's when I get paid the rest of my balance. You know, I once attended a wedding as a guest, and after the wedding I started hanging around the couple for some odd reason. Then I caught myself. I was hanging around to get paid by them....haha...even though I had not done anything for their wedding....I was a guest! Hey, some habits are hard to break. But what can you say to a man who does 15 to 20 weddings per month right?

Mike, Nadia, thanks being extremely patient that entire day. You were perfect when it came to holding great smiles in the hot weather at Ko'olina. And like Spock once said to Kirk, "Live long and prosper."

Steve Young
The Hawaii Wedding Reporter
http://www.dreamweddingshawaii.com/