Okay, so here's the story. I have to go a bit from memory here because I seem to have misplaced my notes on Jim and Ann's love story. So that means there will probably be an amendment of some sorts to this blog once Jim or Ann reads it.

Now I don't remember much about how Jim and Ann met, but I do know why Jim fell in love with her. She is a great conversationalist, funny, intelligent, and not to mention...smoking. Jim is your prototypical masculine athletic provider than any sane woman would fall for. Is Ann sane...yes, from what I can tell...haha. Just kidding Ann.

One thing which I do recall is that Jim worked in for the Superferry here in Hawaii, when it was still in operation. Just for most of you who don't know, the Superferry is not Elton John on steroids, but a sleek, ultra-fast, ultra-maneuverable, high-speed ferry. It connected the islands to each other through boat, and it was a dream come true for many locals. With the Superferry, locals could drive their car onto this boat, and take a fun trip to the outer islands. But unfortunately, a strong environmentalism lobby shut it down claiming the ferry was an endangerment to dolphins and the environment. The truth, the anti-capitalist lobby, was made up of nothing more than rich mainland transplants who moved to Hawaii, who wanted to keep Hawaii free of development, and to it's poverish pot-smoking roots. They used the environmentalists movement to stop the Superferry, to stop capitalism from spreading to the outer-islands from Oahu. Unfortunately, they succeeded.

But enough of me getting off track! On to the wedding!

Jim and Ann tied the knot on the beaches of Lanikai. They stayed in a house not too far from the beach, and walked to their secluded spot on foot. The ceremony was conducted by non other Reverend Elias Parker. The ceremony was sweet, and included many Hawaiian traditions. The one addition to the ceremony was a ring ceremony for Ann's daughter, given by Jim. This is a very cool way to include a child into a new family. It starts everything on the right foot.

I remember telling Jim and Ann that I really don't like doing weddings at Lanikai beach for a couple of reasons. One, being that it's a rather plain looking beach, and if it was overcast, the colors in each photo would go pretty quickly. As you can see in the photos, as the clouds rolled in, the color of the beach and the ocean disappeared rather quickly. Lucky thing Jim and Ann look great, so they actually made these shots look a lot better than they should have.

My main reason why I don't like to do weddings on Lanikai Beach is because there is this crazy rich woman who actually goes around breaking up weddings, and causing a scene. This has never happened to me before, but I've seen it happen. She walks straight up to the couple during the ceremony, and starts yelling at the couple. She is not local, but one of those rich people who transplanted themselves to Oahu, who wants the beach for herself. Oh yes, she was against the Superferry as well...not surprising huh...I saw her on the news.

The great thing, this crazy woman, was nowhere to be found on that day. I had told Jim about about my concerns, and he said he would just take a chance. Lanikai Beach held a rather important significance to him, so he needed to get married there. If she had showed up, I think I would have practiced my Ray Lewis NFL linebacker moves on her anyway...haha.

So I leave you with this. The sparkle you see in Jim and Ann's eyes throughout every picture was not coached. That's 100% them....natural, un-posed. You really can't fake that type of magic.



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