Hawaii Destination Wedding | Giorgia and Damon

September 30, 2015

Family and friends of Damon and Giorgia flew to Oahu from all over the world to witness their Hawaii wedding.  Our couple from Australia had planned to perform two ceremonies to accommodate both religions: Christian and Persian.

The first ceremony would be a Christian ceremony, performed by the Pastor John Fuchigami, at the Akala Chapel.  Shortly after the first ceremony, the second ceremony would be a short-version of a Persian ceremony.  The Persian ceremony was performed in the Rainbow Suite, which was transformed to accommodate this amazing ceremony.  With the help of family members and the staff from Savvy Weddings, a section of the Rainbow Suite was transformed into something I had not seen before.  I was truly amazed at the detail work that was done for this lavish event.  The details consisted of a variety of ornaments, fruits, cookies, a little bowl of honey, two cylinder blocks made of sugar, a white cloth to hold over the couple during the ceremony and a padded bench for the couple to sit on.  

During the ceremony the bride is presented with gifts from the grooms family.  At the same time, members from both families held the white cloth over the bride and groom.  One person was assigned to rub two cylinders of sugar over the cloth and another would be doing some sort of sewing on the white cloth.  Once the bride accepts the marriage, the couple would dip their pinky fingers into the bowl of honey and feed each other the honey to signify their marriage.  Then the guests would shower the newlywed with flower petals.  

The reception was nothing short of fun as well.  The laughs, smiles and love for each other really showed on each and every persons face in the room.  One thing that caught my attention was a knife dance performance prior to the cake cutting ceremony.  In a Persian wedding reception, one person from the groom’s family would perform a dance displaying the knife to be used to cut the cake.  Before the knife could be handed over to the couple, the groom would have to present the knife dancer with gifts or money.  Once accepted, the knife will then be handed over to the newlywed so that they can continue with the cake cutting ceremony.  The rest of the night ended with lots and lots of dancing!

Experiencing a Persian wedding was truly amazing.  I can only imagine what it would have been like had it been the full version.  Thank you Damon and Giorgia for sharing this experience with me!  Aussie-Aussie-Aussie!!! Oy-oy-oy!!!

Thanks to the following vendors who helped make their day possible!

Coordinator: Savvy Weddings

Entertainment: David Asing

Cake Design: Cake Works

Videographer: Digital Expressions

Hair/Makeup: Faith and Beauty

Venue: Hilton Hawaiian Village

Officiant: Pastor John Fuchigami

Ceremony Venue: Akala Chapel

Florist: Spinning WEB Florist

DJ: Status Entertainment

Linen/Décor: Wedding Linen Company