I Got Married In Hawaii

Friends and family, we have come together to witness and celebrate the union of Cassandra Victoria Cruz and Justin Gregory Page. A marriage, by definition, is a sacred covenant between one male and one woman. This is same for our man Cruz, Cassandra, and others. His body to his wife, and the two are united as one. Who gives Cassandra the tools to be wedded today? Thank you. I want to pray with both of you about the words as you go before you exchange vows. I ask Justin to become your lawful wedded husband. A wife must commit to her husband as to the Lord, for the husband is the head of the wife, and Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of humanity, and the church commits to Christ, so you wed should submit to your husbands in everything. It also says in 1 Peter 3, in the same way you wives need to accept the authority of your husbands, then even if some refuse to obey you, they will be evangelized and be won over by the way you live in your lovely and reverent life. You must both understand that this does not make you less than him, nor does it make you not his equal partner in everything. But as spiritual decisions are made in your household, you too will be held accountable to God for everything that he guides and leads your household in. 1 Peter 3:7 says, in the same way, you husbands must give honor to your wives, treat your wives with understanding together. She may be weaker than you are, but she is equal with you in God's view. Treat her as a sister from your soul. Keep the other side out of your thoughts. By growing your commitment to Jehovah today, Ephesians 5:24. For husbands, this means love your wives just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her to be holy and clean. Why? By the humility of God in all. He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without spot, wrinkle, or blemish. In him she will be holy and without fault. In the same way, husbands are to love their wives as they love their own bodies. For a man who loves his wife actually cares not for himself. Just as Christ cares for the church and her members, the principle is that the man who leads his father and mother is his own prisoner, and the two are united as one. Now this is a great mystery and is an illustration of Christ and the church are one. So I say again, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and each wife must respect her husband. How does that mean to the woman? According to the Bible, says in 1 Corinthians 13, love is patient and kind. or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable. It keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice in injustice, but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up. Love never loses faith. It always has hope and endures through every circumstance. Absolutely speaking, love will last forever. Now my knowledge is personal and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy revealed only parts of the whole picture. I spoke and thought and knew everything, but when I became a man, I put away some of the things. Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know is partial and incomplete. The three things we have forever: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love. They're going to have a traditional Hawaiian luau, and I'm going to say a prayer over them and the covenant that they're entering into. Please bow your heads. First, we ask for forgiveness of our sins. As we strive to be like your son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we know that we will fall short with our choices, but we thank you for your strength and patience. Father God, we have gathered today as friends and family of this nation to lift them up to you, Father. Bless the men who accompany our troops in the coming days of peacekeeping. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] has made them become one in your sight and continue to shower them with the blessings you have always showered them with.

In the mighty name of Jesus, we pray. Aloha, my kahu.

Aloha. Aloha.

Welcome, welcome to this beautiful chapel and congratulations to the both of you. My task as the kahu is just to remind you of this love that the two of you share already in a whole Hawaiian way, perhaps. So there's two elements that we utilize, and one is the lei and one is the sand ceremony. Of course, before we give leis, we have to understand what is aloha really. And so I'm gonna dive into that a little bit first. For the most part, 99.9% of the time, aloha is hello and goodbye. That's all it is, right? As a greeting, a salutation. When we understand it to its depth, to its core, then we understand that we also take on a responsibility to care for others as well, to give of ourselves to others. So I'm going to break it down in two ways. The first is alo and ha, and then the second is within the acronym of aloha. So alo, alo is forward-facing, all of us facing one another, right? Whenever we face anyone or anything, I can face the land and the ocean, and it is also my commitment to whatever I alo that I am there to take care of it. Not just for the moment, but for the rest of my life. To make that promise. Alo also means within God's embrace. And then lastly, alo means within this presence. No matter where we are, from Florida to Hawaii, to wherever we are in the world, we are meant to always share our ha, aloha, our breath, our life. We give that without any measure, right? So we don't say, for the two of you, I told you I loved you twice yesterday, you only said one time. You know, not like that. It has to be a constant giving of self to each other. So we have a saying here, Aloha aku, aloha mai. I freely give of this love, and because I give it freely, I'll always receive of this love freely as well. So the two of you, you are just meant to give that love to each other. The second way of understanding Aloha is within Auntie Pilahi Paki's acronym, the breakdown of Aloha. And she gave this to us in 1970. Phenomenal philosopher, a culturalist. She provided the Hawaiian community with so much depth in our Hawaiian culture and knowledge. And this was one of the things that she left with us. The first A in aloha is akahai. Akahai is to be kind, to be gentle to each other as if carrying a newborn baby, to be that careful with this relationship. The L is lokahi, or unity, harmony, balance, always striving within this this relationship to come to that place of balance. This is also for you to be mindful of the structure of Lokahi, or the structure of balance, by knowing that God is at the top, people, and then land, or our care for the earth as well. That is the Hawaiian concept. And when we have everything in place, then we live a really good life, you know, in harmony, in balance. That is Lokahi. The always "oluolu," which is to be agreeable with one another. You two have been together for how long?

5 years.

5 years. Okay, so in 5 years you've never had an argument, right? Never. Okay, so that's why "oluolu" is important, because it is a working towards finding a place of agreement all the time, right? To work hard to make sure that you guys come back to the table, put it in. It's not just one idea, it's both of you coming to a consensus on on how to be in agreement with that idea. That's Olu Olu. The O can also stand for Oia I O, which is to be trustworthy and truthful with each other. The H is Ha'a Ha'a, which is to be humble, to live life in all humility and modesty. We cannot live with ego. If ego is present and the ego takes over our lives, then it separates us from love. And you cannot allow that to happen within this relationship. The last A is Ahunui, and Ahunui is to be patient, to persevere, to wait for the moment. And again, if the two of you work hard to make sure all of these things are in place, then you live in the beauty and the blissfulness of God's love. And that truly is what Aloha is all about. Once you know this, you become absolutely responsible for sharing this Aloha with each other, sharing this love with one another. So coming back to the ceremony Hawaiian is one of the reasons why we give leis here in the islands is to tell the person who we're celebrating, for whatever it is— wedding, graduation, birthdays, whatever it is— we bring a lei because we're in essence telling them that all of my breath, all of my life, I give to you. Whatever you would need along life's path, I'll be there to provide for you. And that is what the two of you share with each other as you give each other these leis. Okay, so Justin, I'll begin with you. However, I will need the girls' help because your veil is so long. So I will need you guys to roll it up, put it through the lei, and then put it on. Okay? So when we give a lei, it is always given with your breath, with your fullness. You give it and then you follow it with an embrace and a kiss to the cheek. A lot of people disregard that part. You can't disregard that part. Has to be to the cheek. All right, so you're going to put the lay through the veil first.

I have to go all the way. You got this. Beautiful.

And the bow will be behind her neck.

The ball's behind.

Okay, cool.

All right, I will wait for the bail to settle before you give the hug.

Hugs!

I know, that's why it's so hard to just do the cheat, but it's okay. Okay, your turn.

I'll keep it easy for you.

Big hug. So the next ceremony is a sand ceremony, and each of you are represented by your own pouch of sand. Now that pouch represents you in your entirety from the time of birth till now, everything necessary, everything complete with who you are as adults, right? The sand within the bag represents all of the decisions, every experience that you have had in life, everything good and bad, everything necessary again to becoming the recipe, the mixture of who you are and who fell in love with one another. If any of these grains of sand were missing from that, perhaps life would be very different for the two of you. But here we are. So in essence, with the Sand Ceremony, you're saying that everything that composes me, of who I am, I freely share with you. Everything that you are, I freely receive as my own. So go ahead and open up your your pouches there.

It's it. We're one.

Yeah, get everyone in. And Cassandra, your turn for yours back into his. Unite. And now, Justin, you're going to roll your bag up and put it back into Kasande's bag.

Every last bit.

Yeah, every last bit. So go ahead and roll your bag up and put it back into hers. So the symbolism of this ceremony is complete, right? Where the two of you started off as two completely separate individuals, You're promising to live life as one, as husband and wife, and that's what the single pouch of sand represents in that pool. So I congratulate the both of you. I am now going to turn it back over to your father. So thank you so much. I'll take the bag.

The handshake was good too.

And you guys should get closer together.

I guess I don't have to say that. I'm gonna ask the two of you to hold hands as I ask this question of both of you. Cassandra Victoria Cruz, do you take Justin Gregory Page to be your lawfully wedded husband?

I do.

I do.

Justin Gregory Page, do you take Cassandra Victoria Cruz to be your lawfully wedded wife?

I'd be crazy to not. I do.

May we have the rings, please?

Justin, over 5 years ago, after traveling across the world, the single greatest thing happened to me— meeting you, the love of my life.

Take your time.

Despite having conflicting shifts and busy schedules, we made it work because we knew it was worth it. I remember rushing to the gym after work just to get that small moment of goodbye, to see you tomorrow, and a quick kiss before you had to start your shift. It's the checking calls like clockwork that I get from you daily to just talk about everything and nothing at the same time, just to feel that much closer to each other. And never ever without fault, when one of us come home or leave to work, we kiss each other's foreheads while the other is asleep. We do this because we grab any moment, any moment we can get, and in this life we don't get many. It's this foundation of constant effort which has made our relationship resilient today and makes big moments feel even more special. 5 years ago, that small twist of fate, who I call my best friend, bringing us together is how I know God exists. You are everything and more that I hope to have as my life partner. Work hard, you love harder, and you naturally make everyone around you have a better day without even trying. Today, as I vow to be your wife, I promise to go against the grain with you because I know you like to be different. I promise to be my weird and quirky self who you love to keep life interesting. I promise to never ever falter and will be your rock when you need stability in storms that come your way. I promise to always grow together and never apart. I promise to be a God-fearing woman and to always keep the Lord at the center of our relationship. And I promise to always work on being the best version of myself in all aspects because you deserve nothing less. Justin, my heart, I am incredibly honored and blessed that I get to grow old with you by my side. I get the honor to be Cassandra Paige. I cannot wait for all the chapters to come our way. This is only the beginning. I love you.

My dear Cassandra, from the moment we met, you've given my life happiness. Beyond your perfect face, it was your selfless actions that caught my heart. A genuine woman who gave me hope that I may one day find my queen within you. Fast forward exactly 1,900 days from the day that we first met today, in our exchange of greetings, I stand here before you to vow my unwavering loyalty, to honor you as my queen. This looked easier. Cassandra, you are my candle in a dark room. A woman who has shown her dedication to protect my heart. And on top of that, you're my best friend. Your kindness, your unfaltering support have shown me that true love still exists in today's world. I promise to stand here by your side, hand in hand, through both joyous and challenging times, to celebrate with you in times of achievement and to hold you in moments of sorrow. Together we will live a life filled with honesty, adventure, and timeless moments of laughter. I will respect and listen to you with open heart, setting aside my pride to uplift your spirit and wipe away your tears. I think I need to wipe mine.

Oh, jeez.

I will always strive to be be the lifelong partner you deserve. Cassandra, you're my everything, and I am beyond blessed to merge our hearts into one like we talked of, to travel life with you for as long as God wants us on this earth. I vow to love you more and more each day, to grow with you, not against you, you, and to create a future as beautiful and breathtaking as you are who stands before me today. A life is beans. Yesterday, today, always. I'm yours, my queen. Oh, let's do those rings.

That's all I ask you. Cassandra Victoria Kruse, you take Justin Gregory Page. As your lawful wedded husband in accordance to the vows you have exchanged with him?

I do.

Justin Gregory Page, do you take Sandra Victoria Cruz to be your lawfully wedded wife in accordance to the vows you have exchanged with her?

I'm stubborn. I do.

May we have the rings at this time, please?

They were crying. The rings are crying.

The rings are okay.

The rings that are being exchanged will symbolize the promise that you have made to each other. The circular shape invokes the unending commitment to one another, and you will constantly be a reminder to each other in this world. Justin, will you place her ring on her finger?

It's gorgeous.

Cassandra, will you place his ring on his finger?

Oh boy, too much Dole Whip.

By the power vested in me and by the state of Hawaii, I now pronounce you husband and wife.

You may kiss your bride.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is my honor to present the newly married couple, Mr. and Mrs. Justin and Cassandra Page.