Our wedding photographer was amazing. Kelly Manno. If your guy puts a ring on it, look her up stat. We love her spunky, easy going, and inspirational personality just as much as we love our wedding photos! [CLICK HERE to see our sneak peek on her blog!] On the wedding day, she stood behind the camera lens and snapped away at our every move. She has an amazing gift of capturing life and love and everything else in between. We are so grateful for her.
Unfortunately, we didn't hire a photographer to trail behind us in Hawaii and preserve the beautiful landscapes we saw and capture the memories we made. Here, it was up to Brian and me to stand behind the lens and snap away. As we started to review some of our pictures, we couldn't help but notice an interesting thing: our camera never quite captured the richness and beauty and depth and perspective that our eyes did. The only way to keep this unique and beautiful world was to blink our eyes and preserve the memories forever.
These moments below [among millions of others] are photographs engraved in our minds forever. In a meager effort to share our photobook with you, here are a few "blinks" from our honeymoon... ;) Enjoy!
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Monday morning came bright and early; our flight was at 7:00am. It was 30 degrees when we left St. Louis and 85 when we arrived in Maui! For the entire week, we were immersed in sunshine and rainbows. Thank you, Lord, for this awesome awesome weather!
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Five suitcase-pecking chickens met us at the rental car desk. Interesting, to say the least. Get away.
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A bouquet of red roses awaited our arrival in the hotel room. "Who put these in here?!" "I did, babe!" My husband is so thoughtful and romantic. I think I'll keep him around for a while! ;)
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"Lei'd." Oh yeah, pun intended... ;)
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We are fond visitors of God's country!
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Penguins in Hawaii? Ok, we'll take it.
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Halfway through the week, I found my pot of gold at the end of the rainbow! A lifelong good-luck charm...sweet!
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Breath-of-life wind, gusting so gracefully across the water...
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Every day, we walked along the beach hand in hand. I've been dreaming this moment with my soulmate since 5th grade.
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Apparently Hawaii names their roads and beaches after us? Coo.
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We marveled at allllll the spectacular flowers. I seriously couldn't stop marveling.
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Are these even flowers?
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Five claps for romantic oceanside, candlelit dinners!
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One of my favorite things was staring out over the ocean as it glowed in the soft night light. So peaceful and pacifying and wonderful.
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Our vacation package included breakfast in this restaurant called Swan Court. How awesome and relaxing and gorgeous to sit there every morning and watch the waterfalls flowing and swans swimming!
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We are in paradise. Just the two of us.
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We drove the 6-hour long Road to Hana. To get to the city at the end of the road, we had to twist through verdant rainforests and swerve along the winding shoreline roads.
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Spotted: waterfalls around every corner!
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Convertible top down, music playing, and frequent stopping to observe luscious rainforest plant life like we had never seen before. It was beautiful.
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Trees actually grow this way?!
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Fr. Meconi: here in spirit. ;)
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It was just the two of us most of the time, but every now and then we made a new friend!
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Brian's siblings scheduled a helicopter ride as our wedding gift. Craziest ride of my life! #love
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Future pilots?
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1700-foot waterfalls. Wowza!
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Rainbows popped up every direction we turned. Holy moly.
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Hey, baby! Yeah, that's my smokin' hot husband.
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Booty shakin', fire twirlin', luau lovin'.
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I was the passenger of this FORD Mustang for the week. Inside joke for a select few, don't even ask.
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Hawaii has a Starbucks on every corner. Hell yes!
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Sipping Blondies, laughing together on the deck of a sailboat, and watching the sun disappear into the sea. This is the life.
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True story, babe.
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Aloha, Hawaii... We will never forget you!!!
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Cheers to the best week of our lives; double cheers to knowing that this is only the beginning of our always exciting and ever changing lives together!
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