All we had to do our first day in Honolulu was rest – and finalize arrangements for renewing our wedding vows.
The idea developed shortly before we left on our once-in-a-life-time vacation. I talked it over with the Patti, our daughter-in-love. She and Randy would be celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary in Hawaii. Thinking mathematically, I called it the Square Renewal of Vows because this is our 36th year of marriage.
I discussed my preferences with my husband and, because he is retired, I let him take care of the details.
A couple of phone calls to churches in Hawaii and he found Alex McAngus, pastor with the Waikiki Beach Chaplaincy which holds Sunday services on the sands of Hilton Hawaiian Village beach. Hubby arranged the time, wrote out a program for the service and took my wedding rings to the jeweler. He brought them back with a larger diamond and two rubies reflecting our January birthdays and wedding. We bought clothes for that day and packed them in our carry-on bags.
We were ready to go.
Our first day in Honolulu, I went shopping with Patti for a small, decorated cake and wedding leis. We knew exactly what we wanted, but the woman at the bakery counter in the grocery store insisted that no one made any smaller cakes. We noted the shop and kept looking. The silk leis we found did not quite capture our imaginations. I wanted a real one and knew that men usually wore garlands of leaves. The other Hershbergers wanted silk leis to take them home to remember the day. Nothing suited.
But we did find a great selection of souvenir T-shirts for the family back home and food for light breakfasts and lunches.
When the men came back from their errands, we split into couples and explored the International Market Place. I found a Polynesian woman stitching together flowers and leaves into leis. They found a shop with the silk leis they liked.
Around the corner we ran into each other in front of a bakery where we found small cakes in a variety of flavors and designs. The men voiced their preferences and we ordered a cake for Monday. Preparations completed for our sunset ceremony, we plunged back into being tourists – including snorkeling with the fish on the coral reef at Hanauma Bay on Monday morning.
I loved snapping underwater shots of yellow striped fish. I just wish our underwater camera had not developed a leak. We left early to pick-up our fresh leis and the cake while Randy and Patti continued snorkeling. They loved chasing the fish. They did not love their sun-burns.
Dressed for the ceremony, we attended the resort’s welcoming luau and received fresh floral leis – exactly like the one I had just purchased. I wore both and we began walking to the beach.
We did not make it all the way to the beach, we took pictures in the botanical garden bordering the beach. McAngus – who brought a volunteer to take pictures – performed the ceremony under the cool of the trees surrounded by ottoman sized rocks. Singing in Hawaiian McAngus sang the Hawaiian Wedding Song, the Doxology and the Lord’s Prayer.
Those rocks came in handy when the early morning snorkeling expedition and too little food and water hit Patti. Rather than faint she sat down on a rock, while the volunteer fetched water then returned to taking pictures.
Randy interrupted the vows to tell Patti, on their 25th wedding anniversary, just how blessed he was to have her as his wife.
McAngus offered to save her (and us) the walk back and drove us to a restaurant a block from our resort. After a wedding supper worthy of a Square Renewal of Vows, they checked out the moonlight on the beach and we watched the street musicians and performers – a great ending for a splendid day.