This weekend, I enjoyed spending time at the Central Oregon Wedding Showcase at the Expo Center, where I helped man the KOHD booth, got on the microphone, and had the pleasure of announcing the lucky winner of the Dream Wedding giveaway.

It was a beautiful event, complete with fashion shows and entertainment. Anyway, it got me thinking back to my "dream wedding" a few years ago, which I planned myself...from flowers (leis for everyone) to food to guest arrangements to entertainment...quite a lot of work, but fun and totally worth my time.

As a young girl, I didn't really dream about a specifically perfect wedding day, but once we got engaged, I did have a few things I knew I wanted -- my toes in the sand, the sound of the ocean, the sunset, and my loved ones around me. It was all there, on the beach in Wailea on Maui, the island where both my husband Matt and I grew up.

I guess some people get nervous or stressed on their wedding days...for the most part, I was very mellow...in fact, my friends called me "anti-Bridezilla." The weather was amazing, and the sunset was even better -- during our ceremony, many guests even witnessed the rare green flash that's sometimes seen when the sun goes down. We had a short but meaningful ceremony, led by a very special Hawaiian minister who shared Hawaiian chants, and played 'ukulele while singing beautiful songs.

Then came the local reception, at an awesome poolside pavillion in the condo complex, right off our wedding beach. We had all our favorite local foods, great music, lots of laughter.During the four months prior to our wedding, I had been consumed with creating our wedding video, which I edited together with music, narration, video, and photos from childhood and beyond. Since my husband and I have known each other since grade school, then lost touch and got re-acquainted on the mainland eight years ago, there was quite a story to tell. I put my heart into that project, and was proud of share it with our wedding guests.

We had a fairly small group, about 30 people, many from Hawaii, and others from all over the mainland. My Grandma, 91 at the time, flew all the way from her home in Arlington, Virginia -- I was so honored! Many of our friends had never been to Maui before, so we rented two big vans, and we took some time to "play tourist," taking them to all different parts of the island...from cabins in the rainforest in Hana to the slopes of dormant volcano Haleakala to a mansion-like vacation home in Kihei to dancing in the streets of Lahaina on Halloween. So much fun!

And by the way, that wasn't even the honeymoon...six months later, we came back to Maui to begin that month-long adventure, heading to three islands in Fiji, then the North Island of New Zealand -- but that's a story for another day. Thanks for reading!