Keyra's Wedding

If this were a normal year I would say that a safer date could not have been picked. Normally, Utah in June means the sun is blazing hot with endless heat and cloudless skies. But not this year. This year, June has been wet, wet, wet! And June 20, 2009 was no exception. As far as weather went, it was miserable...all....day...long.
Keyra's ceremony was scheduled to begin at 7pm. We arrived early to help out with last minute prep and food etc. It was so cold outside and even colder inside because, for some odd reason, the air conditioning was on full blast! All the people from Hawaii looked so miserable. The wedding coordinator was still about 15 minutes away so we all had to suffer while we waited for her. If it wasn't a torrential downpour outside of the tent we would have waited out there until she arrived....oh well. When she did arrive we had her put on the heat - ah...much better.
Because of the weather the bridal party was running late, but things got underway eventually and the ceremony was just beautiful. The rain stopped just in time for Jay to walk his sister inside the tent and down the aisle. They looked great. Jerry did a wonderful job marrying them. It felt special having it be a family affair. Jerry is very good friends with Wendall's uncle (James/Kina'u) and so he talked about how happy the union made him. Finally he could claim he was related to James - ha.
Something really amazing happened after the ceremony. The clouds lifted and the sun came out. The sun that we hadn't seen ALL DAY. And suddenly we could see why Keyra wanted to be married at that spot. We were perched on top of a hill that overlooked the whole valley of Utah County as well as Utah Lake and the Timpanogos Temple. As the clouds lifted I had the feeling of being at a grand theatre with the curtains slowly being raised to reveal the long awaited debut of something fabulous. The timing couldn't have been more perfect, and to be honest with you, I don't think we would have appreciated the view quite as much if it had just been there all the time. Having it reveal itself like that was breathtaking.
The rest of the evening was perfect. The food was great. The sun kept shining. It got lovely and warm. We ended up needing the air conditioning after all :) Kina'u was so funny as the MC. There were dance items and speeches. Wendall's brother Thomas was able to come over from Hawaii and gave a nice speech. Ruth did a great job on her speech also. Keyra and Wendall expressed over and over their gratitude for all the help getting the wedding and food together. It was just a lovely evening. Keyra and Wendall look so happy. They have both had such sad times in the past. They are due for some good times ahead. Congratulations you two!


The happy couple. See the lovely view in the background?


Brother and Sister


The cake was so beautiful with fresh flowers cascading down the side and all over the table. It was YUMMY!



Nate and Lauren enjoying their cousin's wedding.



Duke Mossman, Jerry, me, Wendy Su'aFilo



Jarom and Anna



In Wendall's defense, Keyra started it - ha!



Jay, Makell(Ron's daughter), Wendall, Keyra, Ruth, Ron(Ruth's husband).



Keyra's friends flew up from Hawaii to be in the line.



There's Lorraine's daughter, Azia, on the left.



Thomas, Wendall, Keyra, Kina'u, Simone, Kanamu

(For the benefit of my family who do not know who Keyra is, she is Ruth's daughter. Ruth is Jerry's sister, and she and her kids lived with us for 2 & 1/2 years when they first came up to Utah.)