kaliko + willie // culture. tradition. chee-huus (SDE)
I’m sitting here thinking… there is NO WAY I can put into words how awesome Willie and Kaliko are or how grateful we are to have been a part of their big day.
We totally clicked the moment we met. We laughed, talked story… it felt like we were friends forever! It might have been because willie+kaliko are best friends with one of our other rockstar couples (Doris+Keao), or that Kaliko is from the Big Island too (chee!), or that they are attorney-friends with our brother (yes, kash and I have a big brother — who was actually way more into cameras and photography than either of us were). Whatever the case — we were soul mates from the start.
Their wedding day… wow! What a privilege it was to be around such warm and loving family and friends. the first thing that struck us about kaliko, was how much she cared about the people around her. she couldn’t wait to give out her bridesmaid gifts… and with each girl, she wrote a thoughtful and personalized message that filled every piece of available writing space on the card. kaliko’s mom and dad were in the room the entire time… and we caught them, a bunch of times, just looking at their daughter with so much love in their eyes. every person in that room ADORED kaliko!
The whole day.. we were loving the rich culture and tradition. the kawa ceremony, samoan dance, both moms saying the welcome prayer… and the little things: the liko that kaliko had in her hair, the way she walked down the aisle with her whole family, the way willie kept acknowledging his father who has passed on… and i couldn’t help but soak up the ‘olelo hawaii (hawaiian language). i just wanted to sit there, stop shooting, and just listen to them talk. i love it. so much respect, thoughtfulness and aloha.
aloha ia willie laua ‘o kaliko! e malama kekahi i kekahi. me ke aloha, ARIA Studios — KA
