Honeymoon - Barbados

We were in denial, being back in Barbados meant the beginning of the end of our honeymoon. The cruise had been absolutely incredible and we have so many fond memories of all the islands and shore excursions.

But, back on Barbados we still had a lot of adventures in front of us. Mahina had finally been convinced that renting a car and exploring the island on our own was the best way to spend our remaining time in Barbados. So, the day before our flight was supposed to leave, we spent in a rented car driving all over the island.

We had spent most the prior night talking to the hotel concierge about where to go on the island and how to get there. With a solid itinerary of destinations and plan for the day, we set off this fine morning in our rented Toyota Corolla. The kicker is that Barbados drives on the left side of the road, a by product of its British influence. This took some getting used to and with Mahina in charge of making sure Lucas didn't drive on the wrong side of the road we set off.

Honking, much like in Hawai`i, if a way of saying hello. Everyone honks their horn as they drive by and wave hello to the other locals. As we both got more and more comfortable driving on the other side of the road we had managed to arrive safely at Harrison's Cave. The views inside were just incredible and was a local favorite as the local school was on a field trip right in front of us.
Next up was St. Nicholas' Abbey, the farthest north we would be on the island. After touring the Abbey and exploring all the different historical artifacts they had, we found ourselves in the gift shop. The Abbey made its own Spiced Barbados Rum which they bottled right in front of you and even personally engraved each bottle with a message of your choice and the official bottle number. After picking up some gifts for our families, we set off on the next leg of our journey south down the east side of the island.

It was getting late in the afternoon and we hadn't had lunch yet, this was one thing we hadn't planned for the day before, a critical mistake that left Mahina in a hunger coma. We drove around for about an hour before we found a restaurant at the Sunbury Plantation House. Maybe we're a little biased and jaded by our pangs of hunger, but the beef stew lunch we had was absolutely incredible. There wasn't a speck of it left after we ate, it was by far the best food we'd had on our entire honeymoon. Call us jaded...but we're sticking by it.

Oh and the Sunbury Plantation House was really neat too, filled with original clothing, accessories, hair brushes, make up, bedding and every household item you could think of. The barn has been turned into a museum of sorts, displaying artifacts from the time period that had been donated by the citizens of Barbados. There were some really interesting artifacts so check out the pictures.

Our last day of the honeymoon was spent trying to jam everything back into our suitcases and desperately guessing if we had exceeded the bag weight limit. With one last meal on Barbados, we got our hopes up that maybe the Sunbury Plantation House could deliver us an order of their stew again. Sadly it didn't work out, there was only one waitress working that day and she couldn't leave the restaurant. Oh well, it gives us a reason to go back.

The flights home were uneventful as we reminisced about the past 10 days... can't we just be professional Honeymooners?

Honeymoon - Dominica

Dominica was the first time we got rained on. We had chosen to do the Dominica's Favorites tour which would take us to Trafalgar Falls, through Roseau, a Botanical gardens, Emerald Pools and the Springfield Plantation guest house.

Our tour took us through a rain forest so it was fitting that it would be raining while we were there. Luckily, our tour was one of the only ones that still ran despite the rain. Trafalgar falls was absolutely stunning. There are naturally two waterfalls that are always running, but when it rains, like it was, a third emerges from the left side. It was really incredible to see these waterfalls hammering down into the water below.

Dominica was our shortest stay on any island, but Mahina was quick to find a strong bond with Dominica when she found a stray dog. Instantly Mahina had concocted a plan to somehow sneak the dog onto the boat past the x-ray scanners and security and feed it with the free room service in our room. Clearly that wasn't going to work so we made do with feeding the little guy with the snack we had on hand.

Honeymoon - St. Thomas

The US Virgin Islands are absolutely majestic and the harbor was filled with more yachts than you could count. We started our morning by taking a tram ride to Paradise Point and soaked in the panoramic views of the island.

Afterwords we got the idea to rent a scooter and explore the island but most places only rented by the day and we were scheduled for our BOSS adventure later in the afternoon, so instead, we just walked around and enjoyed port town.

It was finally time for our BOSS adventure and we were both really excited. BOSS stands for Breathing Observation Submersible Scooter. It was one of the coolest experiences we have ever had and St. Thomas is only one of eight places in the world where you can do this. Ironically, one of the other eight is Hawai`i Kai...

While on the boat headed out, we met another couple on their honeymoon who were also married on June 13th! By the time we were finished trading stories from our adventures on the cruise and all about each other's wedding, we were at the bay where we would be riding the BOSS.

The BOSS experience was incredible, we can't rave enough about it. It was made even more special because Mahina's BOSS was #007 and Lucas' was #777, all leading back to Seventh Heaven. Being underwater in the BOSS gave us an incredible up close view at the life under the water.

When we weren't underwater in the BOSS we were swimming around Turtle Island's bay and watching in awe at all the turtles feeding on the grass and trying to get as close as possible when they would come up for air. Everywhere we looked there was a turtle either coming up for air or feeding on the grass. The beach that our tour guide had taken us to is actually where all of these turtles come to mate once a year and is a very protected area and the turtles had actually laid their eggs about a month before so the beach was littered with eggs. Our captain sternly warned us that the only way we would ever end up on the beach is if we were dying and we better be dying! He was funny and really passionate about protecting the turtles so we all took him very seriously. Our excursion barely made it back in time to the boat and as soon as we were back on board the ship we set sail for Dominica.

Honeymoon - Puerto Rico

Our stop in Puerto Rico brought us back into the US and left us with an entire day to ourselves on the island. Puerto Rico is the main stop on our cruise where about 98% of the passengers embarking/disembarking each week (the rest, like us, join the cruise from Barbados). The downside to this meant that as far as shore excursions went there were none. But, six days into our honeymoon we were exhausted and used the day to catch up on our sleep and just relax.

By lunch time we decided to head into Puerto Rico and explore. Mahina ran into an old friend, Senor Frogs, where we stopped for lunch. I think it's safe to say that the only place that does Tequila pulls at lunch is the Senor Frogs in Puerto Rico. Those guys know how to party and where slinging Tequila like it was going out of style.

With the afternoon ahead of us, we set out to walk around the port town. But with so much history to Puerto Rico, we wanted to do more and made our way to the Tourism office. By the time we got there though, and with it being the off season, there weren't any tours left and many places closed especially early on Sunday. So we made the most of our time around the port and waited until the last minute possible to get back on the boat.

Honeymoon - St. Kitts

Free WiFi! St. Kitts was the first chance Mahina and I had to get on the internet and see what was going on in the world around us. Not that we were unhappy being disconnected from the world and on our honeymoon, but it was just nice to go online and check our email, facebook, etc. Mahina had an especially fun time with the WiFi as she was trying to email back and forth with our family as our ship was pulling out of port and our connection was fading fast. Alas, we were on our honeymoon...emails could wait.

We had spent the day in St. Kitts kayaking and snorkeling. The kayaking had turned into quite the strenuous adventure. After a little bit of snorkeling in this beautiful bay where we even saw a manta ray, our tour guides introduced us to the kayaking segment of our excursion by pointing to a far off beach and sending us on our way. All of a sudden, our kayaking adventure had turned into a serious arm workout as we slowly but surely made our way to that far off land our guide had pointed to. We are proud to say though that at least we didn't have to get towed by the support boat and made it across the bay on our own power.

When we got back to the ship, there was a little surprise awaiting Mahina. The gift shop had a couple of packages for honeymooners to choose from and we had a small chocolate cake and some champagne delivered to our cabin while we were away, it was a great finishing touch after a long day of activities.

Honeymoon - Antigua

Antigua was a blast. The shore excursion we chose was called "Mini Boats and Hidden Beaches." Basically, each couple, and there were only five, were given a motorized 10 foot dingy. We spent the morning blasting around the bay following our guide as he showed us the different outlying land mases of Antigua.

We made our way to a secluded part of the island that was only accessible by water and found a nice cove to stop and swim. The water in Antigua was as blue as we've ever seen before - the visibility was amazing and the water was perfect. After that it was back on the dingy's racing around. The best part though, besides of course having our own boat to play around with, was seeing a dolphin swimming in the bay. Our group spent a few minutes circling the area watching the pod of dolphins surface for air which was really cool.

By the time the excursion was over, we still had an entire afternoon left on Antigua so we set out to explore the island. Our goal on this trip had been to find some artwork to take home with us that really captured the essence of the Caribbean, as luck would have it we found this little store with a lot of great original art pieces. After looking around for a little while, we decided on two pieces and happily took them back to the boat with us. Antigua had been a great stop on the cruise!

Honeymoon - St. Lucia

The cruise's first stop was St. Lucia. The day before we had decided that the "Land & Sea Combo" was going to be our first excursion of our honeymoon. On it, we got a great tour of the island and spent most of the morning driving all around St. Lucia seeing the different sights. As lunch approached we made our way back to the water and boarded a Catamaran for an afternoon on the water. While on our tour of the island, we got to go into the "Drive-Thru Volcano," St. Lucia's very own Caldera. The tour guides took us into the volcano where we got to see the hot steam and water still bubbling up from beneath the surface. The highlight of the Catamaran ride was getting an up close view of the Pitons and getting a chance to swim in the water after a long day. The first thing you notice about the Caribbean Sea is how salty the water is - makes floating really easy. After that we made our way back to the ship for dinner and more exploring of the ship.

Honeymoon - Barbados

After a nice breakfast, we jumped in a taxi and made our way over to the cruise terminal. The terminal was about 30mins away which gave us a great chance to see the island we had landed on last night. The first thing we noticed when we got to the cruise terminal: the ship is huge.

After dropping off our bags with Carnival we headed over to go through security and check-in on the boat. Unfortunately, the check-in at the terminal was having computer issue so we all had to check-in on the boat itself which turned into a bit of a headache, but we're on our honeymoon what do we care!

We got to explore the ship while our room was being prepared. The ship is great and when our room was ready we were really surprised at how nice it was. We had a great view from our balcony and plenty of room to relax when we weren't out on shore excursions.

Honeymoon - Getting to Barbados

The day started at 7:00am. We left the Ayres Hotel and headed over to LAX to start our much needed honeymoon. We flew to Barbados through Miami and landed safely in Bridgetown, Barbados around 11:30pm. The hotel had sent a driver to pick us up so that made it a lot more convenient than trying to get a taxi to take us to our hotel. The hotel was perfect for what we needed, a nice big bed to pass out on after a long day of flying. We will admit, it was also nice to have a room right on the beach and to fall asleep to the sounds of the ocean and waves crashing ashore.

The Wedding As Told By The Groom

My Groomsman and I began the day with SportsCenter and the usual banter that comes when 10 guys share a room. It had been a tight fit, but everyone managed to get some sleep the night before. After breakfast, the Groomsman and I returned to our room and began to get ready. We had been instructed by the bride and wedding planner to be ready by 1:30pm so that pictures could begin.

Between breakfast and that time Elijah, Nema and Jerad accompanied me to go pick up the SUVs from Enterprise. When we got to Enterprise, we were happy to find that there were 3 Chevy SUVs available, 2 Suburbans and 1 Tahoe. We all quickly jumped into the cars and sped back to the hotel, testing the capabilities of these massive trucks.

It was here that Nema gets all the credit for a great decision. With all the commotion of last minute details, our bride was nervous and what do nervous brides love best? Their cuddly, needy, lick-you-to-death dog...Duke. After a quick trip to Doggie Central, Nema and I returned with Duke in hand and hurried him up to the bridal suite. Well played Nema.

As crunch time approached, the Groomsman and I began putting the final touches on their tuxes and celebrated the long honored tradition of toasting the day together with a stiff drink. Despite not having enough cups to go around, Lucas and the groomsman improvised for the sake of alcohol and made do.

With the day properly toasted, the wedding could go on. All that remained before it was time to begin taking pictures was for me to open Mahina's gift. I had been thinking long and hard trying to figure out what it was since the gifts were exchanged through Elijah and Alex. To my surprise I found inside a gorgeous watch that Mahina had picked out for me, the perfect final touch to my tux.

Finally, picture time. I must say the next couple of hours are a blur as Mahina and I took more photos than you could ever imagine. My jaw hurt from smiling so much.

The ceremony was even better than I could have imagined; Fr. Scholla had surprised us at the rehearsal and told us that Fr. Fulco would be joining him in the ceremony. Fr. Fulco is the faculty advisor of SigEp and has become a very close friend and confidant.

I remember standing in the back room waiting for the ceremony to begin listening to Fr. Scholla and Fr. Fulco trade stories of the different weddings they had presided over. I couldn't help but laugh when Fr. Scholla told of a wedding in which one of the Groomsman passed out from the heat, landing right on the Bride. I counted my blessings that our wedding was inside.

A second later I looked up and Fr. Scholla and Fr. Fulco were walking to the altar, it was time to begin. The last wave of nerves hit as I walked out to the altar, but once those doors opened it was all smiles.

The ceremony went by quickly, with Elise, Kasey, Elijah, Alex and Kainoa all doing their readings flawlessly. We can't forget about Jill's amazing performance of "How Beautiful" during Communion or Jomar and Ellen. I am truly grateful to everyone for making our wedding ceremony so special. The nuptial blessing was another special moment within the ceremony that I won't soon forget. Fr. Fulco led us through the blessing and it was a special moment to share with Mahina.

I was also really excited to pin Mahina and welcome her into the Sigma Phi Epsilon family during the reception. With the help of all the Brothers at the wedding, we were able to properly pin Mahina and present her with her own set of SigEp letters, follow with the SigEp toast. Each of the guys that were there got a chance to give Mahina a rose and before she knew it she was surrounded by red roses.

The traditional garter toss was next and after a quick trip "down under" to retrieve the garter I was back up and ready to toss it. As the guys crowded around I lined up the shot and launched the garter as far as it would fly. Mike Ross was the lucky man who caught the garter... I'll be expecting an announcement anytime Mike.

The reception was a riot. There isn't anything better than celebrating with family and friends. DJ Tee kept the party going the whole night and left people partying long after he had left. And with a special performance by a local hula halau and some oh so tasty cake, the night went off without a hitch.

There are too many other great stories of that night to tell in one sitting. But, I will let you ponder the hilarity of Carlos' cab ride to the McDonald's across the street from the hotel...

The Wedding As Told By The Bride

The day started at 6:45 for us girls. Normally that wouldn't be too bad since that's when I usually get up to get ready for work, but we hadn't gone to bed until past midnight due to Jill's hair needing to be dyed and Lexy putting curlers in both her and Caley's hair. Lexy, the Organizer and Maid of Honor, made sure that we were all up and ready for when breakfast started at 7:00 downstairs. Needless to say, that day I wished I was the Groom who could sleep in, lounge around and get ready in approximately 15 minutes. We girls did not have that luxury.

Erica and Kristin, our amazing hair gals, came at 8:30 and started the beautifying process. Erica and Kristin spent the next four and a half hours doing all of our hair. What they did to us was short of pure magic. Lexy was busy doing everyone's makeup, including mine, which was absolutely flawless. The morning went by so quick with lovely gifts: my grandma's wedding rings from my mom, a bag full of goodies from Lexy and our loving (Lucas would say "Needy") dog, Duke, from Lucas and Nema.

When Janel, our photographer, came at about 1:00, I was ready to get in my dress. I could not believe this was happening so fast. Before I knew it, Lexy was zipping me in my dress, my mom was putting on my earrings and then the final touches were done. I was ready to get married.

Janel had me waiting at the bottom of the stairs for Lucas to see me for the first time. I had butterflies in my stomach that were literally doing somersaults. I was so excited to see him all dashing in his tuxedo, so excited that I realized in all the craziness I had forgotten Lucas' wedding gift upstairs in the Bridal Suite. The time came and the "Big Reveal" was about to happen; I was about to see the man I was going to marry. It was a mixture of so many emotions the moment I laid eyes on him coming down the stairs.

After that brief instant, we were thrown into a whirlwind of photos being taken and moments captured. I was trying to slow the day down just to take it all in. This was our day, the day that we had spent 11 months planning, the day I was going to become a wife. In a matter of what seemed like minutes, we were on our way to the Chapel with Lexy, Elijah, Lowell, Lucas and I all singing "Going to the Chapel and We're Gonna Get Married..."

Now it was 3:45, the guests were in their seats, the pictures had been takes and the Mass was about to start. All the girls were in the Brides Room primping their hair and putting the last of their lip gloss on. We could hear the music starting from Jomar and Ellen. Lucas and I were so lucky to have such talented musicians play at our ceremony. They even composed the song that the wedding party walked down the aisle to and the song that my dad I walked down to. We all took our places in the front of the Chapel and started the processional. As they closed the doors for my dad and I, it felt as though time stood still. Here I was about to be given away by my dad, to be married to the man I love; every memory as a child until now flashed before my eyes, this was it.

Perfect is about the only way you can describe the next hour. The readings by Elise, Kasey and Kainoa, the song "How Beautiful" by Jill, our vows with Fr. Scholla and Fr. Fulco, the rings we gave each other and our first kiss as husband and wife were all just perfect. After the ceremony, more pictures were taken, hugs and kisses were exchanged and a "new family" was made between the Cumpstons' and the Sayins'.

When we got back to the Ayres Hotel for the Reception, the girls were more than happy to change from our heels into matching Haviana slippers that Lexy had coordinated for us. While we were up in the Bridal Suite changing, our guests were in the courtyard sipping on drinks, eating appetizers, signing the guestbook, adding notes to our wishing tree and putting flowers in their ear. The night was a culmination of unforgettable memories. The speeches by Lexy, Elijah and my dad brought laughter and tears; the Doxology sung by Kainoa and Elijah was wonderful and surprisingly in pitch. The Pinning Ceremony by Lucas and Benet and the rest of SigEp truly touched my heart; wearing the pin, receiving my letters and getting dozens of roses from Lucas' Brothers was something that my family and our guests still talk about today.

Our first dance was amazing and gave us a chance to take everything in; the local hula halau was a special way to show our guests my Hawaiian culture which means so much to me. Once the music started with DJ Tee, there was no stopping the partying and dancing, that is until we had the superb cake. Once the cake was eaten, the bouquet was tossed and caught by Jenn, the garter was flung and snatched by Mike and the pictures were taken by Janel, we danced the night away.

There is nothing that could have made our day any more special. Having the 170 family and friends there on our wedding day was the perfect way to start our marriage.

Wedding Rehearsal and Rehearsal Dinner

Only adding to the anticipation of our Wedding was the Rehearsal and Dinner two days before the big day.

We all met up at the Chapel at 4:30pm ready to run through the ceremony; Fr. Scholla arrived soon after and introduced a guest. Fr. Fulco would also be presiding over the ceremony alongside Fr. Scholla, it was a wonderful surprise to have Fr. Fulco joining Fr. Scholla as a presider of our wedding.

The rehearsal began and everyone took their places and followed the directions of JoAnne and Brian Custer, LMU's wedding coordinators, as they guided us through our ceremony. Brian and JoAnne were really patient with all of us and made sure we all knew where we were supposed to be. Before we knew it, Fr. Scholla was having us practice saying our vows and pointing out the moment in the ceremony when we would officially become husband and wife. Mahina stopped Fr. Scholla before he could practice pronouncing us husband and wife as it would be bad luck to be declared a married couple before our wedding day.

Now that the rehearsal was over, we all headed to downtown LA for our rehearsal dinner at Roy's Hawaiian Fusion Restaurant. Roy's was a really amazing place to have our dinner and we really enjoyed having everyone with us to celebrate. The food was nothing short of amazing and we really enjoyed eating everything. After all the wonderful toasts from everyone we all enjoyed the rest of the night eating, talking and making some wonderful memories together. As the night wound down, we were relieved that the wedding wasn't the next day, but also anxious and excited for the big day to come.

Duke and Harley

Duke Ikaika

Birthday: April 7, 2007
Breed: Chihuahua Beagle Mix
Favorite Toy: Green Turtle Squeeze
Favorite Thing To Do: Lay on a Pillow or Warm Clothes to Lay On and Lick Someone
Favorite Food: Peanut Butter and Rice
Guilty Pleasure/Bad Habit: Chewing Through Laundry, Both Clean and Dirty

Duke was not planned, like most "children" he was a happy surprise. It all happened on June 3, 2007... My roommate at the time, Ke`ala, and I went for a jog and ended up at Westchester Park; it just so happened to also be Los Angele's Annual Dog Adoption Fair. We decided to walk around the park and look at the different animal shelter stands.

That's when it happened, love at first sight. While we were looking at the Chihuahua Haven Rescue stand, the owner brought out two Chihuahua Beagle puppies. They were both boys from a litter that was found on the side of the road near their shelter. They were both 6 weeks old and only a pound and a half each. After looking at them, I knew I had to adopt one; I just didn't know which one I wanted. Ke`ala and I came up with this "genius" plan where Ke`ala would hold both puppies and I would stand 5 feet away. Whichever dog ran to me first was going to be mine. Needless to say we got the hyper one that b-lined it to me, I never realized that this little ball of energy would cause trouble.

You have no idea how much laundry has been destroyed by this little man. You think he is just innocently sitting and laying down on the laundry when you're folding, but he is actually stalking his next victim and is about to bite holes and chew through clothes, nothing is safe.

Now, Duke's claim to fame is that he is the man of the house since he was with me for 10 days before Lucas. He truly believes those ten days should be calculated in dog years, therefore he was with me for seventy two days before I met Lucas, over 2 months. These days, Duke and I bond while laying in front of the fire place or cuddling on the couch.

Harley Makana

Birthday: February 7, 2008

Breed: Border Terrier Mix
Favorite Toy: Duke or a Tennis Ball
Favorite Thing To Do: Go for a Bike Ride
Favorite Food: Hamburger or Chicken
Guilty Pleasure/Bad Habit: Chewing on Shoes (Including Mahina's Wedding Heels)

Harley was a surprise gift for Mahina. She had been combing through Pet Finder ads for a while and had come across Harley, then Lois, on page 12 of the listings...which I think were sorted by distance from us.

So to surprise Mahina I took off one weekday morning while she was at work and drove to Palm Springs...told you it was far...and found Harley at a great little shelter. She was a little wiry mutt running around full of energy. By the time I got there, it was too late, she was coming back with me. As Harley and I finished the paper work and jumped back in the car the first thing I noticed is that our new little puppy wasn't a fan of the sun.

Now I understand that my '96 Civic with no air conditioning while we're in Palm Springs can get warm, but this dog was running for cover and burrowing herself anywhere she could get to in the car.

I made it over to Santa Monica to meet up with Mahina for lunch and came with new puppy in tow. Mahina was so excited and wanted to leave work, but she couldn't.

For the next couple of weeks, until she could stay home all day without having accidents everywhere, Harley came to work with me at LMU and hung out in the office, mostly sleeping.

Now, she's nearly 30 lbs and incredibly fast so we try to burn off some of that energy by taking her on bike rides with me. So far I've pushed her up to 17mph, but now we're going to try and work on her endurance so she doesn't wear out after 3 miles.

About Us

Mahina was born and raised in Hawaii Kai, on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. Born in March of 1985 to Alan and Pulani Cumpston, Mahina spent all of her youth juggling the various activities she was involved in; from a young age, Mahina had a knack for time management and a desire to participate in as many activities as possible. A Girl Scout for most of her childhood, Mahina earned her Silver Award in 6th grade and by her junior year at Kamehameha had earned her Gold Award, the highest award in the Girl Scouts of America.

As an undergrad at Loyola Marymount University, Mahina found herself once again involved in multiple activities and organizations. Joining Na Kolea as a freshman was just the beginning, by graduation Mahina had been involved in the Accounting Society, Under Wings (an inner-city educational outreach program), Women's Club Soccer, the University's Learning Resource Center as a tutor, as well as joining Kappa Alpha Theta where she coordinated their annual philanthropy KATWalk her senior year. Mahina also found time to work at the Jamba Juice on campus for three years.

Graduating with dual degrees - a Bachelors of Science in Accounting and a Bachelors of Business Administration in Marketing - Mahina entered the corporate world as a public accountant, emphasizing in audit. The future remains open to Mahina, however ultimately her goal is to watch her children follow in her footsteps and attend Kamehameha Schools, just like Mahina did.

Lucas was born in Germany on September 18th, 1985 to Errol and Paloma Sayin. After two years in Germany, Lucas' parents returned to Okinawa where his father would work closely with the military personnel stationed in Okinawa over the next eight years. During his time in Okinawa, Lucas would become fluent - for a child his age - in Japanese and Okinawan, the local dialect. On many occasions Lucas would serve as the family translator, which frequently resulted in expressions of shock and disbelief as a young American boy would be fluently interacting with the local Okinawans.

At Loyola Marymount University, Lucas graduated with a Bachelors of Science in Accounting and Bachelors of Business Administration in International Business. After graduation, Lucas chose to become an auditor at an accounting firm. The future remains a big unknown to Lucas, but Mahina was always the planner.

We both went to the same undergraduate school, Loyola Marymount University, and had mutual friends. We had met a few times before as members in the Greek community before we started dating. Mahina had even taken Lucas' roommate Taylor to a couple of her sorority events and had been in his apartment. But it wasn't until an accounting firm's Dodger Game event, an event that both of us almost didn't attend, that our paths finally crashed into each other.

Both of us almost missed the game entirely, Lucas was stuck at work and Mahina lost her Grandmother the day before to cancer. Despite her reluctance, Mahina's Mom insisted that she go to the game so that she could meet her new co-workers. To this day, Mahina's family insists that our meeting was arranged by Mahina's Grandmother. Needless to say, by the end of the baseball game we were fast friends.

Once the shock and excitement of our engagement had settled down it was time to start wedding planning. Mahina knew that she wanted to get married in June, but didn't have a particular date in mind. After talking to our parents and starting to look around at venues and wedding planners we managed to land on June 13, 2009, two years from when we met. This gave us about 11 months to plan our wedding with the help of our friend and amazing wedding planner Holly Schoenke, of Simply Sweet Weddings by Holly. Let me tell you, the lists for wedding planning are endless. And so are the meetings. From colors to florals, food to room decor, card stock to font type, it just never stopped.

There are only 3 days left and the anticipation of 11 months of planning is at an all time high; we can't wait for Saturday and look forward to seeing everyone at the wedding!