We Eloped!

Hi, everyone!We are officially back from Hawaii and somewhat settled!  If you're not my facebook friend then you might not know that we secretly eloped while we were in Hawaii, just the two of us!  I say secretly because we only told our parents, siblings, and best friends before-hand so it would be complete surprise to all other family and friends.  Yesterday was our two week anniversary...crazy huh!?

A little info about our elopement.  We got hitched on the big island of Hawaii, overlooking the Waipio Valley.  I originally found it while we were planning, saw pictures of how beautiful it is, read a little about it (and found this tour), and knew we had to go there.  Then I found the Waipio Rim B&B and a light bulb went off in my head.  I asked Antoine, "what if we got married here, overlooking this amazing valley?"  His response was obviously, "yes!"  Now, a little about this incredible B&B (though I'll share more later).  It had/has the best reviews on Trip Advisor and the photos (like those of the valley itself) were unreal.  I contacted the proprietors, Steve and Nancy, via email to see what they thought of two people eloping in the their back/front yard.  They were so sweet and said yes!  Then we tracked down a photographer, Karen Loudon and an officiant, Cheryl...and we were pretty much done.  We wanted to keep things as simple as possible.  I got a dress from Modcloth, did my own hair (which decided not cooperate the day of, but oh well) and makeup, and went barefoot.  Antoine wore a simple button-up he got at Macy's on sale and some khakis.  Easy-peasy!

Here's some of the sneak peek photos we've received from Karen...

I was kind of terrified to get in the swing, but those photos ended up being my favorites.

There's our elopement in a nutshell.  So far, since we've been back, people have been so congratulatory and happy for us.  I've been blown away by everyone's generosity, just like they've been blown away by our ability to keep a secret.  I think eloping was the absolute best way to go for us.  Neither of us likes to be the center of attention and we don't like parties really, so the idea of a normal, traditional wedding kind of made both of us freak out.  Plus, what better way to celebrate your love and relationship than just the two of you, without all the stress and commotion?  I'll probably have another post about our wedding day later, maybe once we get more photos back.  Until then, happy Monday and stay tuned for a huge wave of Hawaii photos.  I took nearly 3,000 photos this time around and spent a good part of my weekend organizing and editing (and barely made a dent...so there's much to come.