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Dream Weddings Hawaii

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COMPUTER CRASHED!
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COMPUTER CRASHED!
EVERYTHING IS OKAY

It really helps to be the son of a computer guru. My father runs a small computer company based out of his home and he has been incredibly successful at it. Ever since I was a little kid, I have always been privileged to be around the latest computers and technology. So when my computer crashed this weekend when it automatically loaded a \"fake virus-scan\" program, I was only out of touch with my clients for a day-and-a-half as my dad fixed everything in that time span. A day-and-a-half can seems like an eternity to me.

As of now, my computer is almost back up to running order. I have to install a few more programs on it and I\'m good to go. I had to upgrade my video editing software, so for the next week or so, my computer will be nothing more than an over-powered internet machine. Since I had to upgrade my editing software, I am also thinking about upgrading a handful of other things as well.

I\'m looking at purchasing a fish-eye lens for my camera to add a little more variety to my shots. And I\'m thinking about going HD for my video. See, the problem with HD is that with the DSLR\'s that are capable of shooting extraordinary quality can only shoot 12 to 15 minutes at a time. This means I would not be able to shoot your entire wedding if I got these cameras. You would compromise quality for memories forever lost. And to me, that\'s not an option. Also with the volume of weddings combined with the salt air of the ocean at the beach, these DSLR\'s will probably break in a matter of months. But, the technology is coming around soon.

Anyway, I\'m off to bed. It\'s 6:30am! I just got done replying to all my emails. I\'m hitting the hay.

Steve

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HOTEL REVIEW - AND SOME OTHER STUFF ON MY MIND
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AQUA ALOHA SURF AND SPA
If you\'re on a budget this is probably the best place to stay

This is my latest travel recommendation. It\'s not a luxury hotel, it\'s a budget hotel, and for the price, I have to say it\'s awesome. The reviews on the internet have been great, except for a few people who expect to get luxury for $89. A handful of my couples have stayed at this hotel and they truly recommend it. Their remarks? It\'s a clean place to stay for $89, and lots amenities for a budget hotel.

This is not a paid endorsement. This is just me, saying \"Hey, I think this place should be on your hot list if you\'re on a budget.\"

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On other news, I\'ve been rather busy, hence the lack of wedding blog updates. Don\'t worry, I\'ll start blogging about wedding soon. What I have been up too? I\'ve actually been playing tour guide to friends, and you know how that is. Tiring! I\'ve also been thinking that I should blog about what type of stuff there is to do in Oahu. Possibly restaurant reviews, as I know the majority of you will want some place nice to eat for your wedding. Plus, I\'ll get to eat out and write it off at the same time.

Anyway, I\'m outta here for the time being.

Take care,

Steve Young
The Hawaii Wedding Report
http://www.dreamweddingshawaii.com

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Doug and Gretchen\'s very early morning wedding!
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Oh what a feeling...

TALL AND CUTE
The Hawaii Wedding of Doug and Gretchen

I remember whispering into Gretchen\'s father\'s ear after her wedding, laughing to him, \"Why in the world did they ever want a sunrise wedding?\"

Her father shrugged at me and said, \"You know, I\'m not a morning person, my wife isn\'t, and I know these two are not.\"

So why did they get married in the morning? I\'m guessing, it\'s the pictures. They saw one of my other couples pictures, Ed and Allison\'s, saw how cool sunrise pictures could be at Lanikai, and well...had to so the same. And I know there are some of you brides out there that are not thinking about a sunrise wedding at Lanikai!

Now, I have to be honest with all you out there. I am not a morning person. I\'m a night owl. I stay up late, work late, and when that sun peaks it\'s head out over the mountain, that\'s usually my cue to hit the hay. This works out well for me as most of my couples call in the morning anyway since Hawaii is anywhere from two to six hours behind the rest of the United States. If they don\'t call in the morning, well, they usually call when I wake up, which is right about the time they get off work. Hey, so what can I say, being a night owl works well for planning weddings. I\'m in the nirvana of timezones right?

Morning people...haha... As you can see, the camera man is not jumping with them..haha

Anyway, enough of my ranting about myself, lets get onto the details of this wedding. Gretchen emailed me and literally begged me to do a wedding at Lanikai at sunrise. She was an avid follower of my blog, and knew that I hated sunrise weddings. Well, I of course agreed. I\'m not a big-headed wedding-photographer-guy-right? Well, technically I am because my head is big...but you know what I mean. I\'m not \"Hollywood-better-than-you\" big headed. I have no problem doing what it takes to make my brides happy. Hey as long a there is no human sacrifice request with your wedding, I\'m all game.

Long story short, I took the early morning gig. Not reluctantly, but happily. Waking up early in the morning wasn\'t that bad anyway...kinda refreshing.

I love this shot

I bet that water was cold!

Thumbs up! Okay this shot was their idea. It\'s their inside joke. I love this shot though.

The only monkey pose in wedding history.
Doug and Gretchen were complete fun.

The Baywatch pose....my idea.

What made Doug and Gretchen\'s wedding easy for me was that I only had to provide for photography and video services. They got their own leis, hakus, and even their own minister. I just had to wake up early, take a shower, grab my equipment and go. They also had the perfect fun laid back attitude made this morning wedding awesome.

A dramatic piggy back shot

Doug and Gretchan\'s wedding was cool. It was literally the shortest wedding ceremony I had ever seen. It was so short that I felt that giving them my usual video edit upgrade service to the video package would not be getting a value for their investment. So, I decided to extend their video slide show portion of their video from 15 to a good amount, and to add an interview portion to their video for free. It was a great call because everything turned out perfect. Just check out the video. As you can see it\'s much different than most of my others.

Doug and Getchen\'s Wedding from Steven Young on Vimeo.

\"I only handled photo and video for their wedding..made it much easier!\"

Just for your information, the last part of the video, the interview portion, was unedited. Gertchen\'s brother-in-law did a hell of a great job with that interview. I just gave him the camera and told him to run with it. In fact, that\'s what I do with all interviews. I give it to the guy who looks a \"film guy\" and just let them tear it up. They ALWAYS do the best job, better than any professional videographer (that includes me!) The reason is because they know the family and friends very well, and they can badger, harass the interviewee, which makes for great moments. This is something which I cannot do. So video tip for the day...have your fun film guy do the interviews.

Sweet
Lastly, I bet you\'re wondering how these two lovebirds met? Here\'s their love story in Gretchen\'s own words
\"We met my first semester at UHH in January, 2005 (he had been there since fall 2002). Our friend Tim lived in my dorm building, and since no one else was on campus (x-mas break), we hung out my first week in Hilo. He told me that he had a friend that i would really like- i think- because of my quirky personality.

I remember the night i met Doug, I thought \"he\'s pretty good looking, but he\'s so tall!!\" Doug couldn\'t remember my name for anything- so he called me \"the girl who\'s name starts with G\". He intrigued me with conversation, and i love to talk- but i was weary of a broken heart. I declared that i was definitely a commitment kind of girl and i certainly wanted to get married. I kept telling him all my idiosyncrasies, just see if he could really handle ME. I threw everything out there on the table and to my surprise, it did not scare him away- in fact i think it made him more interested. Although it took some convincing on his part, i did end up giving him a shot...

He knew he liked me, and he was always the \"guy friend\" to his girl-friends, so i was the one he was determined to not let be \"just friends\"

School started Monday, by Wednesday- he came knocking at my door, Bottle of Bacardi Coco in one hand and a shot glass in the other, \"Is the girl who\'s name starts with G- here??\" That day I switched into his Marine science class...

Then came Friday night (January 14) we ended up talking until 6 am. We proceeded to get back up at 9 am to go to Kona, to spend all Saturday at the beach. Doug tricked me into coming over to watch a movie that night- Tricked me i say because i thought his friends would be there- it was just me and him. We ended up hanging out the rest of the holiday weekend (except when i would go back to campus to change and shower).

We were pretty much inseparable from that point on... That was exactly 5 years ago... So it seemed to be fitting to get married on the day it all really started...\"

-Gretchen

Doug, that was a pretty smooth move you pulled on Gretchen there. Coming over for a movie date, then convincing her to stay. Sly...yet...very very good. You have to admit women, that it does take men some type of trickery, even convincing to get you to consider us men as \"potentials.\" If we don\'t, well, we can slip into that \"friend-zone\" pretty quick.

Sunrises at Lanikai make it too easy to get great shots

My last thoughts on this couple. Fun, good looking, perfect for each other. I swear, Doug and Gretchen look like they belong on TV. I could see Doug in a head and shoulders commercial. Gretchen, I can see leading an all girl punk band.... But lets be blunt here, these two are way too much fun to be hanging around Hollywood people (those guys fake being cool)

Good luck to you both, and I wish you my extreme very best. And Gretchen, as soon as I hear from our coffee farm\'s future endeavors, I will definitely call you. I will not forget about what I mentioned to you.

Steve Young
The Hawaii Wedding Report
http://www.dreamweddingshawaii.com

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The Marriage Ref - hmmm my opinion
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THE MARRIAGE REF, FUNNY YET BAD IDEA

I watched a little of the marriage ref last night after the Olympics. It was funny, somewhat entertaining, but altogether a bad idea. Let me first start off by saying that I like Jerry Seinfeld. He\'s a clean comic, doesn\'t swear in his bits, and he always keeps his jokes family clean so anyone can enjoy it. I know what he was thinking when he created \"The Marriage Ref.\" He probably thought that any marriage needs to have a good laugh in there once in awhile. And while this is true, here is the reason why his show fails.

It simply does more damage to a happily married couple, than good.

Lets start with the obvious. What sane couple would want to air their problems on national television? And what sane couple would want to get marriage advice from celebrities? Isn\'t Alec Baldwin having some major family issues with his ex-wife and daughter? Didn\'t Alec Baldwin threaten to kill himself while his daughter was on the phone? Didn\'t Jerry Seinfeld date a 17 year-old while she was in high school, and he was 30 plus? His current wife...he met her when she just got back from her honeymoon and flirted with her. She divorced her husband shortly after and married Jerry...morals there huh. Kelly Ripa is the only judge with a stable family life, but tell me...how exactly can a woman be a mother when she works and tours the globe without her kids in tow?

Whose next to guest judge on the show? Tiger Woods? How about Mel Gibson? What celebrity would you trust giving you marriage advice? The entire premise is a joke. I honestly think that this show will accelerate marital problems than solve it.

If Seinfeld actually wanted to help these couples, rather than getting the nation to laugh at them, he would enlist relationship gurus such as Dr. Laura and Dr. John Gray as judges. These couples have serious problems, no matter how outrages their circumstances may be. Marriage, unfortunately, will be on the toughest things to do in ones life. Arguments, debates, will arise, and what is not needed, is a marriage ref who moonlights as a comedian. In fact, a marriage ref is not needed at all! That\'s Hollywood talk! Only you know what is needed to solve that disagreement.

My advice, pass on this show. It needs to be off the air.

What show should you watch on NBC? Chuck.. It is an awesome and fun show....NBC\'s only good show. Here\'s a clip.

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TSUNAMI AVERTED, BUT WHAT\'S THAT IDIOT IN THE WATER?
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Idiot in Hawaii\'s Tsunami from Steven Young on Vimeo.
THE IDIOT IN THE TSUNAMI

After getting supplies in preparation for the worse at 3am on Saturday morning, I went to bed and woke up 10am to watch the latest news on the tsunami. The minutes leading up to the Tsunami were....BORING. I\'m not sure if you\'ve ever watched the news during a state of emergency, but they just repeat the same thing over and over.

And then...\"the idiot\" marched out in the ocean, and suddenly, the entire island of Oahu had a reason to cheer for a tsunami. Well, at least just one that would be big enough to rid us of one extra idiot in the world. Of course, God did not grant us the wish of evolution when we truly wanted it. Where\'s \"survival of the fittest\" when you need it, right? Just check out the video, you\'ll know what I\'m talking about. Also in the video, you\'ll see some shots of Waikiki like a ghost town as well.

So I bet you heard by now, nothing happened. There was a little flooding on Maui, but no damage was reported throughout the states, and the idiot lived to see another day.

With that said, I\'m back in business, back in wedding mode, and back to serve you... I\'ll be answering all your emails right now as I don\'t to have to worry about a wave washing away my computer...hahaha

Steve Young

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TSUNAMI ON ITS WAY!!!
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TSUNAMI WARNING IN EFFECT FOR HAWAII!!

It\'s 2am in the morning at Saturday and according to the news a Tsunami wave will arrive today at 11:19am. Yes, this is not a drill, a Tsunami is on its way. Everyone is sleeping now, so the civil defense is deciding to wake everyone up at 6am to tell them to get to higher ground. I ask, why not tell everyone to evacuate asap.

A wave hit is definite. They don\'t know how large it is, or how much damage it will cause. It may be 6 inches or 20 to 30 feet high. But it is coming.

My big question is whether or not our power plants can handle the flooding. I have a sick feeling that the island will be out of power so I am running to the gas station to fill up my generator just in case.

Don\'t worry about me. I am really far inland, so I\'m a.o.k. Because of the Tsunami Warning, I will most likely not get back to any of my email inquiries that I receive today. I\'ll updated you as soon as I hear more news.

Steve Young

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The quest for the Black Pearl...in Hawaii
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My friend Joey navigating his way though a narrow metal bridge.
I\'m right behind on bike, taking a photo and trying not to crash!

THE QUEST FOR THE BLACK PEARL
Burning some time

So here\'s what I like to do when I don\'t have a wedding. I bike...more so, adventure bike. What the hell is adventure biking? I really don\'t know, I just made up the term. But it usually consist of myself and a friend, riding mischievously around in an attempt to recreate the movie \"Stand By Me.\"

I really enjoyed my adventure this past Tuesday. We started in town and hit a lot back roads and paths that took us to parts of Oahu that I had never seen before. If you think Hawaii is all palm trees and sand, I can tell you that you\'re dead wrong. There are parts of Oahu that look like a 3rd world country.

Our goal for this trip? To make it Campbell Industrial Park, to see the Black Pearl. The Black Pearl is the ghostly pirate ship in the movie Pirates of the Caribbean. It arrived in Hawaii early this week to being preparations for filming of the 4th installment of the movie.

The route. 27 miles is not that bad if you\'re road biking,
but half of this trail was on a mountain bike trail. So it was tough.

It started at Kakaka\'o. My blue truck in the midst of tons of limos and tour buses.
That my bike on the lamp post with Joey on his bike on the right.

Still at Kaka\'ako. Everyone in the limos were dressed to impress. At first I thought they were there for a wedding, but the party was too big.
There were over 300 people here. They were all part of a Japanese corporation that was on vacation with their boss.

At the halfway mark.

The trail...it was awesome to say the least

Riding through an area of Oahu that is poverty stricken.

Sun drying clothes

If there\'s one thing I don\'t understand about some poor people is how dirty they are. On certain parts of the trail, the smell was so bad we couldn\'t take a breath. The poor had made it a habit to throw their trash in the rarely used back roads of their houses, instead of the trash. Everything from old clothes, used diapers, to rotten food littered the trail. Now I can understand that they may not have great paying jobs. But there is no reason for them to litter like this....

Paved roads were a welcomed treat

Riding next to the train tracks

Okay, so here\'s me crossing a damaged bridge...the hard way. Not using my brain.

And here is Joey using his brain. His bike is in front of him on the back tire.
What a difference college makes!
Joey went to a few years of college, I went to 1/2 a semester

Abandoned train near the trail

This doesn\'t look like Hawaii does it?

Finally we made it! Here is the Black Pearl in all of it\'s construction glory!

And that\'s me in front of the Black Pearl...and a sign that says \"Wash Down 15 minutes\"
Apparently you can only wash your pirate ship for 15 minutes here....

I have to say, this entire bike adventure was a lot of fun. Once we got to the Black Pearl, I beeped my father to pick us up. We could have rode back but our legs were gone. Like I said, it was only 27 miles, but that dirt road kills your legs.

As you can see, Oahu has a lot of looks. If you ever watched the television show, Lost, you could probably tell how many looks it has. Most scenes in Lost are shot in Hawaii. Including the shots that look as though they were filmed in Africa. Just as a note, Oahu is not poverty stricken. In fact, most of Oahu is clean, very modern, and safe. The areas you saw here are areas that most locals don\'t even know exists.

Alright then, I\'m outta here. Time for me to get back to work...which means sleep. Hope you enjoyed the adventure blog.

Steven Young

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