My Mai Kai and tiki wedding week

For anyone who might care, here’s a recap of our fabulous Florida wedding week, as best I can recall...

WARNING: This post is picture heavy.

Tuesday, April 14:
Flew in to Lauderdale. After renting a car and eating a tasty seafood dinner with my mother we capped the night off with drinks at Kreepy Tiki. Was very impressed with the décor of this place. Tikis aligned the walls, there were a few big statues, nice lighting, really cool bamboo bar, good atmosphere. It was kind of early so we were the only ones there. The cocktail menu was pretty limited and rum selection pretty sparse. Chelsea had a Missionary’s Downfall. The bartender started working on the drink, and kept adding more and more ingredients til the blender was entirely full. Poured some into a glass and as Chelsea drank some, she kept topping off her glass. I went with the Mai Tai. Watching her mix the drink was somewhat painful. She poured the ingredients into a shaker, stirred, took a sip with the bar spoon, wasn’t happy, added more juice, stirred again with the same spoon, tasted again, was satisfied and poured the drink. I’m going to assume the alcohol killed any traces of herpatitis she may have had. The drink wasn’t half bad and got topped off just like Chelsea’s as I made my way through it. Mine was served in a cool custom mug. I asked if they were for sale and she said not any more since they were down to their last dozen. When we checked out, she gave us a random tiki shot glass though.

Wednesday, April 15:
Got our marriage license in the morning.

Then spent some time on the beach. Later met some friends and the wedding photographers for happy hour at the Mai Kai. It was free buffet night in the Molokai so we helped ourselves to some of that plus ordered a pupu platter. I had a few drinks (S.O.S., 151 Swizzle, Cobra’s Fang) and soon-to-be-wifey had a Special Reserve Daiquiri and Mutiny. We checked out the gardens and scoped out the most opportune areas for photos on Saturday.

Thursday, April 16:
Family day

Friday, April 17:
We and all the traveling guests stayed at the old Yankee Clipper. We congregated in the Wreck Bar around 5:30 in anticipation of the mermaid show which was great as ever. Marina even brought down a laminate sheet congratulating us on our wedding that she pinned to the porthole which was super awesome.

We followed that up with a rehearsal dinner in the Poop Deck of the Molokai bar. We had selected ten items for our buffet spread including shanghai chicken, skrimps, cheese tangs, fruits, veggies, and of course the pork tenderloin which was just incredible. They kept loading it up and we did our darndest to eat it all. They were supposed to have two dedicated Maidens working our party, but apparently they called in sick so one of the girls from the dining room did her best to take care of our party of 30 or so, which she was ill prepared for. It took 45 min to an hour for some people to even order a drink which was disappointing, especially since part of our deal was that they extended happy hour pricing to us for that first hour and most people were only able to order one drink. I can’t recall all I had that night but I’m certain some Jet Pilots and 151 Swizzles went into my belly.

Saturday, April 18 (Wedding day!):
Got to the Mai Kai around 3, about an hour before the ceremony started, to make sure everything was in order.

They had already set up the cake which our friend Tiffany made...

So I put out the gift bags with everyone’s custom made Tiki Diablo mugs...

And plugged my ipod into the their system with my own playlist of Hawaiian and Exotica music that ran through the Tahiti Room where we would be having our reception. Then took some GQ worthy shots in the gardens with the photographer before the bride and guests arrived.

Once people showed up we gathered under the watchful gaze of a giant tiki god and waited for the bride, who was late... very late. I stood by nervously wondering if she got cold feet and hopped a plane back to Austin, all the while looking dapper as can be.

But then she appeared... And looked beautiful!

Turns out she was just getting ready in that world famous bathroom of theirs.

It was a short and heartfelt ceremony. I heard later that everyone cried when we read our vows but I was too busy gazing into my beloved's eyes to notice.

We kissed and sealed the deal.

Wudda ya know, we're married!

Everyone was brought to the Tahiti room where they received pupu platters and started on drinks while we took a crap ton of photos before joining the party.

We joined the party in the Tahiti room and the consumption began!

Again, I can’t say exactly what I drank, but I do recall an SOS, a multitude of 151 Swizzles, some Zula’s, a Bora Bora, a Zombie, and certainly many others throughout the course of the night. I went with the pork tenderloin for my entrée since it was so delicious the night before and I swear on this night it was one of the best meals I’ve ever had the pleasure of eating. Seriously, it was incredible.

Instead of us all going to the main dining room with everyone else in the restaurant to watch the fire show, we got a private 15 minute mini show with three of the Islander Revue performers.

Of course they got us up off our peacock chairs to participate in a hula

Then it was cake time.

Holy crap the cake was delicious! Have you ever seen anyone so happy to be eating cake?!

It was around 8 o’clock when we had our desserts, which was all the time we had reserved the room for, but as the family members started dispersing the friends agreed we should stay longer. Much longer. The staff didn’t mind us being in there so long as we kept drinking. So we obliged. In fact, we felt it was high time for a mystery drink! I’d never had one and what better circumstance would there ever be? The gong struck and the bowl was delivered by the exotic mystery girl. I was entranced. I was in love. She lei’d me and left me. It was amazing and the drink wasn’t half bad either.

We decided to go outside and have a group picture taken with some friends holding their custom-made gift mugs in front of the 23’ Barney West moai that inspired the mugs.

Then we made our way to the Molokai Bar where we spent the next several hours kickin' it up a notch with the cocktails. This is where things got a bit hazy for me. Kern treated us to a round of flaming Russian Roulette shots. From what I’m told we left around 2am, about 11 hours after I arrived there.

Every aspect of the day was perfect. Could not have hoped for anything better.

Sunday, April 19:
Last day in Lauderdale so of course we hit the Molokai for happy hour again. Just one final drink before our friends from Austin treated us to a Brazilian Steakhouse dinner. Food coma ensued.

Monday, April 20:
Drove to Orlando. We stayed at the mid-century inspired Cabana Bay resort at Universal which was about a fifth of the price of the Polynesian. As owners of a vintage shop we really loved the attention to detail in the construction and design of this place. The staff were awful though. I can go on and on about that but won’t bother.

After checking out the grounds of the resort, we went for dinner at Emeril’s restaurant at City Walk where I had an OK mai tai, then we headed out to the Polynesian. The resort was awesome. Sadly, the Boutiki was out of the Trader Sam’s shirt I was hoping to get but we found some other cool things including Tiki Room prints by Shag.

When we put our name on the list at the Grog Grotto we were told it was an hour and a half wait. We got our pager and went to the Pineapple Lanai to get some Dole Whip. Yum.

We saw the boat parade was starting so watched that and checked out where the new villas were. Then we went back inside to check on how much longer the wait was. He said only three in front of us so we were going to go to the Tiki Terrace for a drink when suddenly our buzzer went off. A party of ten just left opening up room for us. The total wait was maybe 30 minutes and we got two seats at the bar.

The place was really cool. A lot to absorb. I’m not a Disney or 20,000 Leagues fanatic or anything so there’s tons of things decoration-wise I’m sure went over my head but the overall vibe of the bar was somewhat tiki, and the animatronics and special effects were pretty neat. The “skippers” were kind of obnoxious, constantly in character with their zany antics and one liners, which I suppose is their purpose, but it got old pretty quick. I ordered the Hippopoto-Mai Tai and got the souvenir mug. Chelsea had the Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Rum. We both enjoyed the drinks but I didn’t care for the fact they laid the bill out as they served them up. We planned to have atleast one more, which for me was a zombie. Tasted fine. Not the greatest in the world but nothing wrong with it. By the time that was finished I had seen all the animated effects atleast two to three times and had had enough. I went in with low expectations based on all the negative reports I’d read and was pleasantly surprised. I even got to be the victim of a sinking stool.

Tuesday, April 21:
Hit the theme parks in the morning. Had fun in Harry Potter World and Springfield Springfield.

We realized that the Emeril restaurant we had heard about and wanted to try was the Tcoup Chop at the Royal Pacific, right across from our hotel, not the one we went to the night before. So we strolled over there and had a delicious dinner. They had several tiki drinks on the menu. Chelsea had a delicious Painkiller. I had a nice Fogcutter and their Moai Punch which was served in a custom mug which we purchased. The waiter called it a Maui Punch which I thought was kinda silly. And I guess even sillier than that is that their mug isn't even a moai.

We had intended to hit the Aku Aku that night but felt pretty tiki’d out by then so instead went back to the Cabana Bay and drank some champagne by the pool in front of a fire pit.

Thanks for reading!

Congrats to you again,

Absolutely fantastic! What a great way to get married. Congrats! And thanks for sharing the great photos and details.

Good job guys.
I carved that big Tiki you got hooked up in front of.
I carved extra magic into him so
you should have a great life together.
And a good time was had by all.

Will

Thanks for sharing the wonderful photos of your wild wedding weekend! Looks like everybody had the time of their lives. Congratulations!

Amazing, congrats! Way to do it up. Love the Tiki Diablo mugs,great touch. Beautiful place to get married.

Talk about a MEGA CLASSY Tiki Wedding photo spread. WOW!!!

Congratulations! Looks like a fantastic wedding and a great trip. Wishing you guys the very best....

Thanks everyone for the positive comments! It really was a magical and super fun day for us both. And I might not have expressed it fully above but I'd like to express my sincere gratitude to the Mai Kai and their staff for being so gracious and accommodating and seeing to it that our every wish came true on our special day.

Here's a better look at the custom Tiki Diablo mugs. 30 were made. They are 10.5" tall and hold about 14 oz of liquid! A certain master mixologist from down south is working up a special concoction called the Mai Kai Moai specifically designed for this vessel. Can not wait to try it!

Presenting The Mai-Kai Moai, dedicated to Mike and Chelsea ...

Recipe forwarded to Mr. Hooker for his perusal and approval. We'll be sharing it soon.

UPDATE: Here's the recipe ...
http://www.slammie.com/atomicgrog/blog/2016/04/16/miami-rum-festival-boldly-explores-the-next-frontier-of-cane-spirits/#Mai-Kai-Moai

The Week in Tiki * Mai-Kai Cocktail Guide

The official blog of The Hukilau

[ Edited by: Hurricane Hayward 2016-05-18 19:19 ]

What a sweet wedding. Best of luck to the two of you. Looked like a great trip!

Great stuff...congratulations!

Kevin

Thank you for sharing, looks like you had a wonderful time. We wish you many years of happiness and love.
teresa & tim

WOW...now THAT is a wedding. Wishing you both love and happiness for the rest of your lives. CONGRATULTIONS

The wedding and the photos look amazing!

Thanks everyone for the well wishes. Retro Renovation did a little piece about our wedding...

http://retrorenovation.com/2015/05/12/tiki-wedding/

Congratulations, what a fantastic a wedding!! Thanks for posting, I really enjoyed all the pics! Sharon Jewel

You TOtally pulled it off!
Everything came out as perfect as anyone could hope.
May the wonderfulness of your wedding continue all throughout your married lives :)
F

Well we survived our first year of marriage!

Here are some more photos from that magical day that we received after my initial post.

Cheers!

[ Edited by: mikehooker 2016-04-18 07:27 ]

Happy Anniversary guys!

Very nice photos! Happy Anniversary!

As someone here used to say often....HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY (ANNIVERSARY) that is!

Happy Anniversary :drink: :drink: :drink:

Happy Anniversary!

May your honeymoon last a lifetime.

Happy anniversary! Great photos!

Thanks everyone.

Mike and Chelsea return to the scene of the crime in April 2017 ...

Some fun photos from the vault to commemorate the anniversary of our Mai Kai wedding...

Note: I do not condone knife wielding and 151 Swizzle drinking (Side note: I drank a LOT of 151 Swizzles that night and they ran out of metal cups so they ended up serving them in SOS glasses.)

Rest In Pieces Barney

[ Edited by: mikehooker 2018-04-20 07:59 ]

Very nice pics, Mike. Truly a memorable wedding. Congrats on the anniversary!