It wasn’t without its challenges: Afualo changed wedding planners six weeks out from her wedding date. “I ended up hiring The Gay Agenda, which is the name of their company; they’re Oahu-based, and I love them to death,” she says. “We would’ve died without them. They took on our wedding six weeks out, and then I changed my venue a week after that. It was the most stressful six weeks ever, ever, ever, ever in my life, but it ended up working out beautifully.”
In lieu of gifts, Afualo and Tanuvasa asked guests to make donations instead. “I, quite frankly, don’t need anything,” she says. “Neither of us do. We’re very fortunate to have the jobs that we have. So instead, we asked everyone to donate to four different organizations, two of which trying to stop deep sea mining in the Pacific, especially around Samoa, and two that are local-based and focus a lot on cultural preservation, land preservation, land acknowledgement, and the preservation of Hawaiian culture in general.”
Afualo also split up the wedding events into multiple days: The rehearsal dinner was on Friday night, Saturday was a ceremony with only 22 of their closest family and friends present, and then a larger reception party was held on Sunday. “It made it way more fun for everyone,” she says. “I just kept telling everyone, ‘Come and have a good time.’ Maybe this is just me, but I get nothing but attention already, more attention than I’d like, even. So at my wedding, that’s the one place I didn’t need it. I just wanted everyone to have a good time.”
There was an open bar, naturally, with a buffet so people could eat whenever they wanted. The couple has had fun giveaways too, including hiring a caricature artist based in Oahu to draw their guests. “That was some of the best money we spent,” she says. “Everybody had a blast getting their caricature done. Everyone caught a roast. It’s the most me and my husband gift ever: open bar, really good food, and a free roast.”
On Monday morning, everybody left for home or opted to stay a little bit longer in Hawaii. “That’s the cool thing about a destination wedding,” she says. “You think no one’s going to come, but then everyone’s like, ‘Oh, no, I’ll just turn into on vacation. I would love to come.’ It worked out for a lot of people.”
