How to Have a Hawaiian Wedding

If you wish to have a Hawaiian themed Wedding you will be able to by following some of these Wedding Traditions of the Hawaiian people.

Weddings in Hawaii are typically an outdoor beach wedding, a tropical garden or perhaps on a boat sailing around the majestic Isles. It is customary for a Japanese-American bride to fold 1,001 paper cranes prior to her wedding to create good luck and a long happy life. This is a departure from standard Japanese Tradition where the brides make 1,000, the Hawaiian population has added one for "good luck."

It is the customary practice of the Hawaiian Weddings, especially at Filipino Weddings, for the bride and groom to have a "money dance" called the pandango. During the dance, the guests show their good wishes for the newlyweds with money gifts.

The Charles E. King tune "Hawaiian Wedding Song," made famous by Elvis Presley is usually sung during a Hawaiian Wedding Ceremony. Elvis actually sand this song to his own bride, during their Wedding Ceremony.

Your Wedding feast could include some of the regional favorites: sweet and sour pineapple county ribs, creamy portuguese grits with sauted shrimp, hirame sashimi with ponzu sauce, crabmeat stuffed hirame, moi pokem poached or fried moi with shoyu sauce, vegetable tofu, chicken salad, shrimp, crab cakes, lobster and salmon. Fresh fruits might include pineapple, mangos, coconuts, kiwi, oranges and star anise. Most Hawaiian beaches do not allow alcoholic beverages so usually that will wait to the Honeymoon.

The bride wears a "holoku"- a white formal version of the muumuu. Instead of a veil, a woven garland of island flowers or "haku lei" is worn around her head. White orchis sprays are typical in the bride's bouquet. The groom will wear a long sleeve white shirt and white pants. A long rend, or colored sash, is worn wrapped around the his waist. A lei of maile and ilima flowers adorns his neck.

Hawaiian Wedding bands bearing the couple's name in Hawaiian are often exchanged during the ceremony. A favorite choice for the bride is "kuuipo" or sweetheart.

So now with these customs in place it would be easy to have a Hawaiian themed Wedding at your local Beach. Or you could do what thousands of americans a year do and have a Destination Wedding: Hawaii.

--Mickey

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