“you ready”? he said as he squeezed my hand. i had been ready for months, i was shaking with excitement and nerves of breaking the news to our friends and family that we had secretly gotten married 3 months prior in bali. i took a few clumsy steps on my taped ankle in the air cast and gripped peters hand to steady myself. this walk down the beach was going to be a bit harder with a severely sprained ankle but i was determined to do it without crutches. we got to the sand and doza snuck in a few photographs of us as everyone gathered around the alter.

i had been dreaming of a casual happy-hour greeting followed by a twilight ceremony, twinkle lights and flowers surrounded by our friends and family in the very spot peter first told he loved me and it all turned out more than i could have even imagined. after a few slow steps on the sand peter swooped me up in his arms and carried me so i didn’t have to walk down the beach on my sore ankle, and everyone cheered as we got close. he set me back down under the most incredible hand-made bamboo flower arch i could have ever dreamed of while everyone was still clapping and cheering and i just started to cry.

i didn’t know where to look, at the arch that i was just seeing for the first time, at the sunshine after what had been rainclouds for days, or our friends and family gathered around infront of us. there was so much energy in the air it felt electric. i looked back at our friends who had made the arch and we all had tears pouring down our cheeks. i was speechless.

we stood under the canopy of flowers foraged and placed by the hands of our closest friends and an alter built of drift bamboo by my dad. the sun slowly fell behind the mountains and the ocean was glowing blue just as i remembered it did in bali when we exchanged vows. “look petey, it’s the same blue” i told him as we stared out to the ocean.

Our officiant Kelvin spoke of blessings and the island and our love, he told us to take a moment to look into everyone’s eyes around us and tears fell down my cheek. I saw Micah and the boys all wiping their eyes not even half way around the circle and I couldn’t stop crying. There was Mandy and Jackie and Danica all wiping their eyes, I got to my sister and my mom who was wiping a tear as she laughed at me and my dad who had more tears than I even did. There was so much love surrounding us. So many of these people had been there for me when I had gone through so much, they held my hand when I didn’t believe I would ever find love or happiness like this in my lifetime. I looked back at Peter and even his eyes were welled with tears and we both laughed, there wasn’t a dry eye in the crowd and Kelvin continued…

…he asked our parents to come up to the alter one by one for a ring blessing and Peter’s parents came first. They told us they loved us and to remember to keep having fun and living to the fullest like we already do. My Mom told us to be nice to each other, even when it’s hard and my Dad somehow mustered out a “yeah” through the sobbing (haha), my grandparents who have been married 57 years came up and gave us both the biggest hug, blessed our rings and told us they were proud of us.

Kelvin then explained to everyone that as media artists, we had something we wanted to share with them before we continued the ceremony. Everyone turned around to see a TV set up in the trees and the music began to play. Peter hugged me tight and kissed me on the forehead as we watched the reactions of everyone watching our Bali film for the first time (made by the insanely talented Zephyr Productions). I’ve never seen so many people in tears with smiles on their faces. For 6 straight minutes our closest friends and family cried and laughed and never took their eyes off the screen as they watched the film of us secretly exchanging vows on September 8th in Bali, Indonesia. (If you haven’t seen it, click here)

After everyone had had a moment to soak in the surprise of our previous secret wedding, Kelvin continued the ceremony. The sun had set and the twinkle lights on the arch started to glow and I never in my life could have imagined being filled with more joy than I was in that moment. Our good friend David Parsons began to gently strum on his guitar and we closed our eyes and rested our heads together listening to Kelvin’s voice as he performed a Hawaiian blessing. He spoke words of love and respect and as the ceremony was coming to a close, I looked over peter’s shoulder to see the full moon rising directly behind us. There was so much magic in these moments, my eyes welled with tears for the 100th time and so did everyone elses when they realized what I was pointing at. It was absolutely magical and all of the emotion was so real it was if you could touch it. The ceremony ended with so many teared filled hugs and love and my heart was so full it could have just burst right then and there.

As everyone headed back to the house Peter stayed back at the alter to take in the moon and the beautiful twilight colors and to process the insane energy that charged the ceremony. I had never felt anything like that before or did I expect it. He held me close and we swayed to the music playing back at the party. “That was so much more than I could have ever anticipated” I told him and he agreed. I had thought that since we already had our secret wedding in Bali that it wouldn’t have been as charged the second time, but I was wrong. We couldn’t have had one without the other. Bali was an incredible, stress-free romantic experience where we could focus on each other and our vows without distraction, and when we got to share that commitment with our friends and family it was even more powerful and emotional.

We danced the night away under the stars and the twinkle lights my dad had strung from all the trees. I managed to stay off of my crutches until about 1am, we ate Mexican food and drank margaritas and my little sister and johnny made a toast that had everyone in hysterics. There was a caesar bar to honor Canadian tradition (fully sourced by our amazing friends Sean and Jacqueline who brought a 50lb suitcase of Canadian clamato juice all the way from Alberta) and my bestie Danica and I even rapped a Kendrick Lemur song on the microphone. It was casual and perfect, and even had my Grandpa never wanting to leave the dance party ;). We ended the night (or the early morning) as 2 of my best friends layed in the grass looking up at the stars, Peter fast asleep on a beach chair and me sitting on a step, grinning from ear to ear trying to absorb as much as I could before the day was officially over.

FINALLY, enjoy the rest of the photographs! all taken by David Mendoza iii and Jaclyn M (when she wasn’t busy being the planner, bridesmaid, decorator and errand runner) 😉

xox, with love
meg + pete bradyhouse!

 

a little tribute to our good friend david who was in a very bad motorcycle accident a few days before the wedding so he was recovering over at queens medical centre with mindy by his side. his recovery has been such a miracle and we were all missing them both this day!

//
…and since we didn’t really do a thank you speech at the wedding, I wanted to just take the last few moments (if anyone is still reading this novel haha) and just say this day could have never happened without the incredible and endless help of our amazing friends and family.

Our biggest heartfelt thank you to…

My dad and sean who built the alter out of drift bamboo they found on the beach, hung lights, set up the TV in the trees and my dad who calmed my nerves everytime I looked at the forcast and ensured me that he could build a home-made tent in the case that it rains. The thought that went into the making of this arch and the lights went on for weeks before our wedding and I just can’t thank my dad enough for always figuring out how to bring all of my crazy ideas to life, he’s the best dad on the planet I’m so lucky.

Micah and Kama who spent the entire day before the weddings up in the mountains finding and gathering maile for my haku and hand-making peters lei, and foraging for the rest of the flowers for the arch. How cool is that, right!? So grateful for these boys and for making these little details so meaningful.

  Jackie who basically got to Kauai and took over and planned everything making sure it all looked beautiful and her and Danica making sure I was always good (drink this, eat this, ice your foot, here are your crutches, sit here, etc) haha I’m so lucky to have these two.

Danica who played nurse all week after I badly sprained my ankle a few days before, and did every other task from dishes to set up and piggy-backing me places and everything in between, all while making sure I had a fresh ice-bath coming right up 😉

Andi and Jose who flew all the way from Austria and selflessly spent their own honeymoon week helping us get everything set up, cleaning the beach, hanging lights, helping with the arch, basically doing everything and anything we needed them to do. We are so blessed by these friends.

to Micah, Kama, Kaioli and all of our other sweet friends who spent endless hours putting the insane amount of flowers that they foraged and the plumeria strings and lights all up on the arch.

To my sweet sister Steph for having one of the most important jobs during this whole process and working with Peter and I for hours to perfect and practice our vows. I can’t thank her enough for keeping our secret and for being a part of this with us. If anyone needs help with writing their vows, CALL HER!

My Mom and Steph for stringing plumeria strings and reminding me to do pretty much everything that needed to be done before hand as well as my mom hosting multiple dinners and always feeding us (and all our friends haha)

Peter’s family especially his sweet mom Judy for putting on the rehearsal dinner for all of us cooking up the most delish North Carolina BBQ feast ever, and of course for stocking the bar and picking up the kegs for the party from Kauai Island Brewery!

David Mendoza III (Aka “Doza”) for coming all the way from California and taking PHENOMENAL photographs even though he already did that in Bali – so grateful for this guys friendship! (www.davidmendozaiii.com)
David Parsons of Call it Joy for playing and singing during the ceremony and cocktail hour. These guys are amazing.

My girl Mandy for running all kinds of crazy errands (hence why i don’t have a photograph of her ‘in action’ because she was too busy doing everything like bringing us food whenever we needed it, helping with the puppy and making costco runs) Love this girl so much!

Our good friends Mike and Tammy for bringing the stereo system all the way from CANADA so we could have an epic dance party all week long… so awesome!!

Sean and Jacqueline for bringing the caesar stuff from Canada so we could have the best drinks ever and for teaching our amazing bartenders Sam and Meg how to make them. Grateful for all of you!!

Ha!! Man, the list is endless and everyone who attended the wedding played a huge part in making it so special, we just couldn’t be more grateful and we really found that when the details of the day are derived from love and meaning, it is so powerful. WE ARE SO LUCKY!! Love you all! Okay I’m done!! (if you read all of that, high five to you haha!! Thanks for being here!)

Catering: Mariachi’s Mexican Resturaunt, Lihue Kauai
Officiant (who is amazing) Kelvin Ho
Dress: Chantel Lauren
Rings + jewelry: Jillian from Marrow Fine Jewelry (girls, look her up she’s the best)
Hair and MUA: Lulu Lush
Photographers: david mendoza iii (and Jaclyn M occasionally when she had time!)

 

Thank you SO much for all the love and for being here friends! If you enjoyed this post, click like below and tell me your favorite part below in the comments! To read about our secret bali wedding ceremony you can click here! Have a beautiful day!! xox