Jason & Avon's Wedding

Friday, 7 March 2008

Last night was the bachelor party, so tonight was the rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner. I bathed, fed, and dropped of Chase at the Halsalls so that I could enjoy dinner and try to keep Chase on his bedtime schedule. There were lots of other out-town-guests with babies at Hanaki restaurant at Manoa Marketplace. I had fun talking to Corey and the UK couple about traveling the world, India, and other fun destinations.

Saturday, 8 March 2008

The wedding day. Chris left shortly after lunch to meet the guys and get ready for picture taking. I entertained Chase all afternoon (and the lion chair that Dave and Amy gave him for xmas made him really excited and hyper), managed to get some laundry done, and tried to put him to sleep so that I could get ready. He didn't go down until 2:45 pm, and the Halsalls were coming to get us at 3:30 pm, so it was close! I took a shower and got ready and then woke him up and got him ready just in time. We found parking at Punahou school, even though there was a track meet there too! My dad's friend Dave, who took the pictures at our wedding and took lots of photos of my dad, was there taking pictures. He took some of our little family before the ceremony started. That was really nice.

I had never been to Punahou Chapel before. It was really beautiful, with the stained glass insides and the lily pond on the outside. Chris was the best man, and his friend Vince was a groomsman, along with Corey. We had fun introducing Chase to everyone, and he enjoyed flirting with the little girls during the entire ceremony, talking and playing with them the whole time at the back of the chapel. The ceremony, which I videotaped, was nice, with Jason's homeroom teacher officiating the ceremony, reading letters that Avon and Jason had written to each other (as part of their "homework" upon getting married there). All 90 of us were armed and ready with bubbles by the time the couple and the rest of the wedding party came out. Chase wasn't too sure about the bubbles, but he's warmed up to them now that we have brought them home.

We hung around chatting with other couples while they took pictures. Then we headed over to the Ala Moana Hotel for the Chinese food reception at Royal Garden restaurant. It took a long time for the food to start coming, and I felt bad that Lauren (Vince's girlfriend) was vegetarian and couldn't eat most of the dishes, but Chase was fully entertained by the chandeliers and all the people who wanted to play with him and hold him (all ladies of course!). He didn't go to sleep until 9:30 pm! Of course, it's hard to in a loud Chinese restaurant. There was no formal program, and though we missed the cake, and there was no music or dancing, it was nice to meet new friends, talk to folks about Seattle, and introduce Chase to Jason's relatives who had sent gifts to him long ago when he was first born. We actually left with more stuff than we came with! I left with a lei, the flowers from the altar, leftover Chinese food (which included the chicken heads - yes, the chicken heads - and duck), an orchid plant, and the coaster favors that Chris' mom made. Chris and I laughed because there were many aspects of Jason and Avon's wedding that were like ours. They used our photographer, had the same favors, and the groomsmen wore similar shirts and had kukui nut leis. Jason's family pulled together to make everything happen, and they even passed out chocolate haupia jello shots at the end of the night!

It was a long day. Chase was a good baby and went to sleep when we got home. He was probably exhausted!