Tikis in Paradise: Settling into Paradise

Once we got our luggage and rental car we headed to the Inn at Mama's Fish House for the first 10 days of our trip. We thought it'd be easiest to stay at the same place we were getting married at and the grounds are absolutely gorgeous. Not to mention that the food is perfect.

We checked into the garden studio which is a quaint little cottage with a lanai and a hop, skip and a jump to the beach. The cottage is so sweet with all of it's old Hawaii  touches. I knew instantly I was going to enjoy our time here. Let me take you for a little tour:

Beautiful fresh tropical flowers in our cottage. 

For the Love of Vintage Hawaiiana and Tiki Culture

I've been asked many times where my love of vintage Hawaiiana and tiki culture comes from. My love for both goes back as far as I can remember. Before I go into where this love came from I want to first clear up what tiki culture means to me. When I talk about tiki culture, I am talking about a celebration of the Polynesian islands. Showcasing the best of what these cultures have to offer, learning about these cultures and embracing the beauty of each. It is when Polynesian influence peaked during the movement of mid-century modern in art, culinary offerings and architecture. 


It is not simply anything with a tiki on it. Especially not brightly colored plastic you find at the Dollar Store. There is nothing tacky about it. And it has nothing to do with Jimmy Buffet, African tribal masks or the Caribbean. I know that there is for sure a bastardization of tiki that is a huge area of debate. I get that. I also get not wanting to see something you love, honor and support being made into something cheap and nontraditional. I support keeping tiki true to its roots and history. Now that we have that all cleared up, back to good stuff. 

Reveal: Ev'rybody Loves a Hukilau

We interrupt our previously scheduled Wedding Planning Trip blog programming to bring you this post: 


Oh, we're going to a hukilau
A huki, huki, huki, huki, hukilau
Ev'rybody loves a hukilau
Where the laulau is the kau kau at the big luau

1948 Jack Owens

 
Having a destination wedding that can be more costly for guests to attend we wanted to make sure to do as much as we could for our guests. You might remember from before when I talked about our wedding week activities. The first wedding activity we have planned is our Welcome Hukilau on the 4th of July!

While on Maui, we mailed out the invitations to our Welcome Hukilau. We loved the addded touch of the Hawaii postmark. Our guests already got their invitations so we can now share them with all of you! Feast your eye on these fabulous works of art and notice how the large graphic in the top right hand corner matches up with the graphic on the wedding week activities. Yeah, it's another one of those little details that we planned.

Join Us at the Old Lahaina Luau

Even though we are having a morning wedding ceremony and afternoon reception, we had a feeling that we’d want to keep the party going into the night. As a result, we decide to attend the Old Lahaina Luau after we have a little rest and freshen up a bit. We also gave our guests the option to join us.


Luaus in Hawaii go back to the old times. They have always been lavish food extravaganzas that were held for royalty, foreign dignitaries and 100s of guests at wedding, birthdays and christenings. Luaus often lasted for days, kind of like our wedding. They required an incredible amount of preparation, also like our wedding. Guests sat on mats on the ground at low to the ground tables piled high with food such as roast pig and poi. Everyone ate, danced, drank and sang. Again, very much like a wedding. We hope like ours! It was a true feat of aloha!

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Because of the history and culture of the luau, attending an authentic and traditional luau was very important to us. We wanted to have a true cultural experience that would reflect old Hawaii. The Old Lahaina Luau is just that. They take great pride in presenting an authentic Hawaiian Luau and providing an evening of award winning traditional Hawaiian music, hula and demonstrations. Guests are treated to a genuine reflection of Hawaii’s rich history while enjoying the sunset over the ocean. Not to mention a bountiful buffet of regional cuisine with enough variety to satisfy everyone’s palates.