Treehouse honeymoon and beachfront wedding

We are lucky enough at the moment to have access to a home with a lanai directly across from this beautiful spot.  We love our pavilion in the rainforest, and those who have chosen vow renewals and weddings there have been delighted with every detail.  We are aware that there are those who think Hawaii -> wedding -> beach.  There are those who specialize in beach weddings.  And there is our lanai.  It overlooks a pond with koi and local fishes.  Today I floated orchids in it. It is a dreamy, special place.

The photo below shows one of the ponds, and a small table set up on the lawn.  The lanai is to the right, over the pond.  We have set aside a single weekend in September for a wedding on the lanai.  The package will include two nights in the treehouse and photography at Leleiwi, the beaches and ponds in the area.

The two days are September 23 and 24 2011.  The wedding date would be September 23.  We may be reached through the blog information or our website, www.mahinui.com.  Cost will be $1500 inclusive.

Tropical Mahinui Treehouse on MTV Extreme Cribs

And here we are.  Hoping the MTV website will eventually post the episode online.  It might be repeated Sunday August 28.

The show, MTV Extreme Cribs,  featured our daughter Stephanie touring the treehouse, with some commentary from us, and a quick view of the pavilion.  If you saw the show, you got a look at everything about the place.  I think they showed the bed, and maybe not the upper lanai.  You didn't get the view from the upper lanai into the canopy either, but you can see and hear the amazing forest.

What wasn't mentioned is that you can honeymoon at the treehouse, and have a marriage ceremony or other celebration in the pavilion.  The way to do that is to contact us through our website, www.mahinui.com

Meantime, it was fun to do the show, especially so for daughter Steph.  We all love seeing ourselves on TV especially when it's all good.

Aloha from Mahinui Na Lani!  A hui hou!

Aloha from the Volcano.

Madam Pele has been dancing up a show these last several days.  There was a perched lake at Pu'u O'o that collapsed, sending lava streaming down the mountain in multiple flows.

The perched lake was very much like a above ground swimming pool.  Hardened lava sides built up and the interior drained, then began filling.  When the volume had sufficiently increased,  it blew out a hole in the side or opened a crack and the wall came down, releasing the flow. 

Views from helicopters have been amazing.  Here is a link to movie clip on the usgs site.  http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/kilauea/update/archive/2011/Mar/Overflight_20110808b.mov

Slowly we are being discovered, mainly via the treehouse.  The Today show had a clip featuring the treehouse, but didn't say where it was beyond "Hawaii".  Some people did find us.  MTV Cribs has filmed the treehouse and the wedding pavilion for an upcoming episode of Extreme Cribs, their new show that premiered August 1.  Keola Magazine featured the treehouse in an article, and it may be seen online:  http://keolamagazine.com/the-life-at-home/volcano-tree-house/  

The house at Volcano where the pavilion rests has now been converted to use for the wedding parties as well as for other guests when no weddings are scheduled.  This makes it convenient and easy to stage catering, and offer a place for guests to stay after the party is over and the bride and groom have gone over to the treehouse.

Our wedding packages now can include both treehouse and conventional house stays along with the weddings at the pavilion. 

The orchids and anthuriums at the pavilion are looking particularly lovely this summer.  The ginger came into bloom early, perfuming the forest by day.  The datura adds its rich notes at dusk.  Summer evenings are cool without being chilly.  The firebowls add light, warmth, and the element of fire that matches the spirit of the volcano. 

There is still availability for summer weddings, as well as deep fall and winter. 

Treehouse Weddings

The treehouse and grounds are a potential wedding location in addition to the rainforest pavilion.  While the pavilion is a setting protected from the rain, the grotto at the treehouse is open and bathed in dappled light.  The hammock comes down and the bride and groom stand amidst fragrant orchids and gardenias, ginger if in season.

The treehouse lanai is another spot where a ceremony can take place.

Standing in the grotto, you are below the treehouse, and across from the lava tube.  The tree ferns or hapu'u that form the mid canopy of the rainforest wave gently ovehead.  Above them, the red flowered ohia trees reach into the sky.

The orchids are epiphytes, and like the nepenthes pitcher plants, grow directly in the tree ferns and on the trees.  Exotic island mosses drape the tree branches and grow along the paths.

From the moment you arrive until you depart, you can choose to stay in the magical forest, never setting foot back in a car.  Personal catering is available, and your wedding photography can all be done in the treehouse and around the grounds.

To see more photos, look through the blog.  You may reach us through www.mahinui.com.  aloha!

Weddings at the Volcano

Here is the pavilion at dusk ready for the bride and groom to arrive.  

Their ceremony began with the blowing of the pu, a giant triton shell.  They wanted rain, and there was rain.  They wanted thunder and lightning, and they were blessed with a clap of thunder during their nuptial kiss.  

The sacred heiau at the secluded beach had intrigued them, so near sunset the next day we had a photo shoot there.  There was a rainbow and glorious sunset.

Magic is something that is difficult to convey.  The magic of the island, of the setting, waits to be discovered.  During the day of the photo shoot, the couple talked about how much more exotic, romantic, and amazing the pavilion had been than they had expected.  They were so very happy, and ready for the magic to happen.  

In this emerald forest, on top of the volcano, the sense of the sacred is as present as the mist.  You feel kissed by the air, and blessed by an intangible presence.   

When we set up the blessing circle, it turned out to be an invitation to Lono to offer blessings.  He presented the drama desired.  The prayer is in the wish, readily granted where the gods have always walked amongst the people of Hawaii.  

We consider this place to be sacred, and to belong to no one.  Hawaii, the Big Island, has bridges in time and space that allow for the most scientific of minds to wander into dreamscapes.  It can be like crossing into your personal fairy tale.  I think that is what this couple discovered here in the emerald forest.  

Rainforest at the Volcano - How is the air?

Here we are, on top of the volcano.  You get in your car and drive for a few minutes, and there is its gaping maw, a great plume of sulfur dioxide rising into the sky and floating off towards Kona or perhaps out to sea.  You might expect the air to be heavily laden with fumes, breathing to be difficult, and your stay at this amazing place to be short.

The reality we have experienced, having lived here now for about a year and a half of this eruption, is that on the vast majority of days, there is no odor from the volcano once you are as far away as the visitor's center in the park.  Our gate, as you see it on the left, is about three or four times farther from the eruption than the visitor center.  The park measures air quality, and it is measured all around the volcano continuously.  Here is a link to see those measurements: http://www.nature.nps.gov/air/webcams/parks/havoso2alert/havoalert.cfm

Today as I write this, there are 0 emissions of sulfur dioxide evident here.  That is the way it is most days, and in fact the way it has been all year, in my memory.  The trade winds blow the fumes and plume away from here.  The air has the fragrance of whatever is in bloom.  Ginger in summer and early fall, orchids year round.  Datura as dusk arrives.  Certain orchids have such powerful perfumes that you can smell them from yards away.  Indoors, they perfume the house with their (usually) subtle tropical ambience.  It is not like designer scents that hover like a formidable cloud around a person, but scents like a smile that beckon you to come and begin a conversation.

One of the most delightful parts of living in these islands is the fragrance of the air.  Even here at the volcano, in our forest.

What is it about a rainforest wedding?

Yesterday we had a one night stay at the treehouse ~ newlyweds passing through volcano.  When the bride asked how we had happened to build the treehouse, I told her it was the companion to the wedding business.  She then told me how difficult their wedding planning had been, for their Kauai ceremony.

There is no reason a wedding in Hawaii should be difficult, or the process annoying.  The reason it becomes difficult is sometimes because of the island ways of doing things - slow.  Unresponsive.  And of course there are the details.  You can spend hours searching for something on the internet that someone on the island knows about already, but perhaps you don't have a contact on the island.  At Mahinui Na Lani, your experience will likely be smooth as a pina colada and pleasant as an afternoon on a beach hammock stretched between two palms.  In other words, we want your wedding to be a good time for you (and for us) from the moment you contact us until you drive away into the rest of your life.

Here's how we do that.  First, once you contact us, you will hear back from us right away.  Best ways to reach us are through our website, www.mahinui.com or by phone  510-965-7367.  We like email, and we text.  We try to keep communications as easy as possible.

We offer a simple wedding plan.  Call it our off the rack party.  It comes with the full service Hawaiian style ceremony in our private pavilion, set among the tree ferns and ohias on top of Kilauea Volcano.  The setting is serene and spiritual, a rainforest jungle with bird song and exotic flowers.  The wedding includes the ceremony, photographs, music, cake, leis, and a wedding toast.  If you would prefer a beach ceremony, we can arrange that as well.

Our treehouse was built as a honeymoon cottage, and our second tier pricing includes two nights there.  If you would like a small party with a few friends and family, we arrange catering at the pavilion.  For a sit down supper, we will help you arrange that at a local restaurant.  Special leis, custom flowers, live music, a custom cake can all be taken care of as a part of our wedding service.

We are conscientious about pricing.  If you give us a wish list and a budget, we will let you know right away if you are dreaming or if it can be done.  Chances are very good we will be able to get you what you are looking for within your budget.  If you would rather plan as you go, and add to the basic charges as need be, we can do that.

When you make your plans for a Big Island wedding, it helps to remember a few basic things.  You will be stopping in Hilo to get your marriage license.  If your flight gets in too late to do that, you may drive back down the mountain the next day, about 40 minutes, or choose to spend your first night on the island in Hilo.  If you are arriving in Kona, the drive to Hilo is two to two and a half hours.

Hawaiian prices can be higher than you may be used to because so much is shipped to this island from thousands of miles away.  When you are here, you will have the opportunity to experience local flavor in every sense of the word.  We are careful to use locally grown and produced products as much as possible.  You will experience this in any catering you order through us, and in all that we provide for you.

We'd love comments on the blog, and welcome questions.  We'd love to make your wedding day as special, as magical,  as you imagine it can be.