It's been a long time since we had a wedding

Over the weekend, my cousin Eddie married the beautiful Nina.  Eddie, is about as white as you can get, but he served his LDS mission in Samoa, and pretty much thinks he is a Samoan.  Nina, well, she is Samoan, but has lived in Utah since she was a little girl.

They were sealed on Saturday morning in the Oquirrh Mountain Temple.  The ceremony was nice, and I was happy to be in the temple.  The temple is such a peaceful, beautiful and calm place.  It was so nice to be there with other family members, on my side of the family in support of Eddie and Nina's family who were there to support her.  There was a such a calm and sweet spirit there.  My grandpa was very emotional, I'd like to think that it was because my grandma was close by, watching the proceedings, sharing her love and her spirit with us.

The rest of the wedding was done with traditional Samoan flare.  I'd never been to a Polynesian wedding, though I knew a lot about how they worked and the wedding didn't disappoint.  It was a big party!  The food was interesting - I didn't actually eat anything but grapes and a few hours de vours - sorry and no offense - but my stomach these days doesn't do well with fried or greasy and there was a little too much of that on the buffet line.  Then, there was a great program with singing and dancing and a wedding haka.  Oh, I love a good haka!

The reception started at 3:00 in the afternoon and the sit down dinner and program were over by 6:00, giving us our entire evening to do whatever we wanted to do, which was pretty nice.  It was a very fun evening and a new cultural experience. 

At the temple, after the sealing, my grandpa gave Nina a hug and said, "Welcome to the family."  He then turned to Eddie and said, something like, "Well, I guess you are welcome to stay."  It was pretty funny.  It's great to welcome a little bit of diversity to the family.