Jeff and Lisa's Hawaii Wedding

The new family, united.

THE BROKEN DISHWASHER
How a broken dishwasher led to a perfect match

Okay, time for me to fess up. I'm a sucker for love stories. Yes, I'm a guy, I'm straight, I have testosterone flowing out of my ears, but I'm a sucker for love stories. I love watching movies with happy endings where the guy gets the girl, listening to love songs, hey, every once in awhile I get rather emotional during some of my weddings.

So here's a great love story. It includes a man, Jeff, who had never been married before, a woman, Lisa, who was in the perfect place at the perfect time, and a broken dishwasher. Interested yet? I bet you are. I'll let Lisa take the floor from here.

"Hey Steve, it's great to hear from you!Life is great, married life is awesome, and everything is going super!!! How's that for "the good life". We've having fun!!!

How'd we meet? A lot of people laugh about this. Jeff came to my house to repair my dishwasher (a friend of a friend) and that's all that it took. He came over, the repair took about 5-minutes but after two hours we couldn't stop talking about our mothers (whom we both lost a few years earlier) and our daughters, whom we loved very much. It was so refreshing to talk to someone with the same priorities as I had. After he left, my oldest Jenna asked how long I'd known him and was shocked when I told her it was the first time we had talked. Her comment, "there's something there..." and boy was she right...."

Jeff's parents couldn't make it to their wedding, but they were there in spirit. These photos he brought represented them. I thought that was pretty cool.

You can really feel the warmth in this picture

"....Jeff was 40-years old, never been married, had seen a lot of friends lose everything in a divorce, had parents that were divorced and swore he'd never get married - girls were evil. I, on the other hand, was convinced that marriage was good if both people loved each other and therefore never gave up hope to find the love of my life. Jeff cautioned me that he was not a good boyfriend because he worked all the time so we went into the relationship slow...."

And to think, it all started with a broken dishwasher

The new family.

"....The best part was that we had so much fun together - Jeff makes me laugh and we love to be silly...the bonus was that our kids got along great and we always had fun together, After a solid year Jeff finally admitted to being in a relationship - I was more than a friend - and from there things continued to grow. It wasn't until we had been together for 4-years that he asked my dad for permission to marry me, got down on one knee, and proposed at sunset on a pier in Clearwater, Florida with our children standing around. It was amazing!! Our broken pieces fit together!!!......"

I like this shot. Taken on my snapshot camera G10.

I had to shoot this picture on film given the contrast.

"......Jeff's only request was that we get married bare feet, at sunset on a beautiful beach...and what could be better than Hawaii. You and Reverend Elias were two of the most wonderful people to help us start this married life...we joke that our wedding was the best $400 we've ever spent...it was everything we dreamed it would be...thank YOU!!! Jeff's friends are still amazed that he's a married man...and we've beat all the odds...still living like newlyweds and having a blast!!! Life is good!!!"

-Lisa

All shot at Magic Island

I added a little purplish tinge to this shot.

So wasn't that a great love story? God works in mysterious ways sometimes. It just so happened that this time, he worked through a broken dishwasher. Jeff and Lisa are the second couple of mine to meet through a broken appliance.

Jeff, Lisa, I wish you my very best. And if you ever find yourself back in Oahu one day, be sure to look me up!


Steve Young
The Hawaii Wedding Report
http://www.dreamweddingshawaii.com