Sneak Peak- Surprise Vow Renewal

I think I mentioned it already, but Scott had a request to do a surprise vow renewal. Never heard of a surprise vow renewal? Well, neither have we. Ross, married for 6 years with 2 kids and one on the way, was taking his wife on a long-anticipated vacation to Hawaii. He emailed me asking if we could help him organize a surprise vow renewal for his wife. He wanted to give her the beautiful wedding in paradise that she never had. It was completely sweet. Scott was in Japan most of the time we were corresponding and only came back the day before. Ross and his pregnant wife, Jeannine, were actually vacationing on the Big Island but were coming to Oahu for one day and one day only. So I forwarded my phone to Scott's phone the day of the event because I would be sleeping during the day. When I woke up, Scott told me that Ross had called. I had been wondering when he was going to tell his wife about the vow renewal. I figured he would when they arrived in Hawaii or even just that morning. You know, give her some time to process and prepare for it. Turns out his plan was to take her to the beach and propose to her all over again right before we arrived. Hmmm, I told Scott "She's either going to love it or she's not going to take the surprise very well."

It had been raining all morning so I prayed for the weather and it was perfect afternoon with a soft sunlight falling on Waimanalo beach. We saw Ross walking on the beach and we introduced himself. I told him I thought I saw a woman in a convertible that I suspected was his wife. His response "oh, the crying woman? yes, that's her." Oh.

She did not take the "hey, surprise, you may've been sightseeing all day, you're hungry, you have raging pregnancy hormones, you're tired, probably feeling like you need to take a shower...but we're going to have a surprise ceremony and take pictures that will last forever." So, initially, Ross told us that she really didn't want to do the ceremony or pictures and was having a tough time. Scott and I felt so bad. We told him it was totally okay to cancel but we would stick around in case they wanted to just take a few pictures to capture their trip to Oahu. We were more concerned that he cheer her up so we told him that we would just cruise on the beach and they should go for a walk along the shore together. This husband had such good intentions, I mean, his emails raved about his wife and how he wanted to pull out all the stops and give her the best day ever. We womenfolk can be complicated. Scott didn't quite get it but I understood and I hoped she would start to feel better. So, Scott and I sat in the sand and talked story and twenty minutes late they came over together. She was such a trooper. We offered to just shoot a few pictures but she actually wanted to have the ceremony after all. She was so sweet. And, he was obviously still head over heels for her after all these years. He was constantly gazing at her and kissing her forehead. I love kisses on the forehead... I wonder why. So, there was a happy ending. Thank goodness.