How to Plan a Hawaiian Wedding

Hawaiian weddings are typically tradition-filled to show respect for the family, ancestors and culture. This ensures luck, prosperity and happiness for the bridal couple.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Hawaiian Wedding Dresses
• Origami Books
• Origami Paper
• Leis
• Hawaiian Wedding Cakes
• Hawaiian Music
• Conch Shells

1. Include variations of Christian-Protestant traditions in your ceremony - traditional for most Hawaiian weddings. Plan for the ceremony to include a combination of English and Hawaiian.

2. Select a white holoku (Hawaiian wedding dress) for the bride to wear.

3. Choose a white shirt and pants with a colored sash for the groom's wedding attire.

4. Order maile leis (garlands made out of fragrant green leaves) for both of you to wear. The lei symbolizes "aloha" and how ancient Hawaiians communicated with nature.

5. Request that the bride's lei be woven with pikake (white jasmine) and the groom's made from ilima (a flower with very thin yellow-orange petals).

6. Provide leis for the mothers of the bride and groom to wear. Triple strands of pikake are a good choice.

7. Follow an early Hawaiian tradition by having someone blow into a conch shell three times at the start of the ceremony to signify the Lord's divine presence.

8. Incorporate ethnic customs that reflect the rich mix of cultures in Hawaii. Look to Filipino, Chinese and Japanese cultures for ideas. For instance, you might incorporate the Chinese tradition of setting off fireworks to ward off evil spirits and bring good luck to the marriage.

9. Plan a money dance (called a Pandango), which is a Filipino custom used at most Hawaiian weddings. During the bride and groom's first dance, money is taped together and wrapped around the bride and groom. The dance continues until all the guests have a chance to contribute to wish the couple good luck.

10. Fold 1,001 origami (tsurus) cranes out of metallic paper prior to the wedding. The crane lives for 1,000 years and represents good luck, good fortune, longevity, happiness, fidelity and peace.

11. Order a Hawaiian wedding cake made of wheat flour. The wheat, known as the "staff of life," symbolizes the start of your new relationship together.

12. Cut the first slice of the cake together to show your commitment to share whatever path lies ahead. Then feed each other a small piece as a way to show that you will love, honor and respect one another.

Tips & Warnings

• It is considered poor taste to mash cake into your partner's face during a Hawaiian wedding.
• Have the 1,001 cranes professionally mounted and framed so that you can display them at your wedding reception for guests to admire.

on 11/22/2005 In a traditional Hawaiian wedding the bride does not have to wear a veil. Instead, she can wear a wreath of fragrant flowers like a crown around her head. Leis can be given instead of boutonnières to the parents and grandparents of the bride and groom. The nice thing is these flowers actually dry pretty well (if done right), and can remain beautiful and fragrant.

on 11/22/2005 The only place to have a Hawaiian wedding is in the Fern Grotto on the isle of Kauai. Check it out. There's probably a long waiting list, but it'll be worth the wait.