On February 18th, 2012 24 year-old Elizabeth Ann Smart married 22 year-old Matthew Allan Gilmour on Oahu’s North Shore.
"The family was overjoyed and so grateful she was getting to have the wedding of her dreams," said Pura Stephen, Catering Sales Manager Turtle Bay Resort.
Turtle Bay Resort Weddings helped to pull off the wedding Smart told People magazine was "perfect" with mere weeks notice. An event kept TOP secret to escape from the media.
"Luckily all of our vendors came on board and produced a beautiful wedding for her, for such a deserving person," says Stephen.
The North Shore was chosen by the bride for sentimental reasons. It’s where she came to recover and re-unite with her family in 2003, after she was kidnapped, and held against her will for nine months at the age of 14.
The couple wed at the Laie Hawaii Temple. The bride’s bouquet, made up of 50 Hawaiian orchids, was created by the mother-daughter duo of Easley Designs.
"It was very exciting, and we were not able to tell anyone, so that was the hardest part of it all," says Jill Easley.
The newlyweds reception luncheon at the Turtle Bay Resort Oceanside Pavilion was decked out floor to ceiling with flowers Jill flew in from the neighbor islands.
"I think that was the biggest part of it all, a lot of times when these weddings come into Honolulu they bring their vendors in with them, so to be a big part of something that’s national is very exciting for us," she says.
Local acoustic guitarist David Asing, of Akahi Productions , serenaded the wedding party. He performed Keith Urban’s "Making Memories of Us" as the couple cut their cake.
"They were really nice, very appreciative and everything was very intimate, intimate wedding reception," says David.
The wedding party dined on local ingredients like Waialua tomatoes, Huli-Huli chicken and Molokai sweet potatoes.
"It was a traditional Hawaiian fare, Hawaiian luau but a little bit more fancy than your plate-lunch type of thing. They loved it," says Stephen.
The party continued at the Polynesian Cultural Center with an evening luau, complete with a hula show and romantic boat tour.
A perfect end to a fairy-tale day, and a happily ever after.
"It was a huge honor to be able to do this for her," says Stephen. "Just knowing we pulled out our best."
See the original article at: KHON2 Local News
