Dear Loves Ones, Family and Friends It is with heavy hearts that we write to inform you that we have made the incredibly difficult decision to indefinitely postpone our dream Hawaii wedding at Waimea Valley Botanical Garden scheduled for May 23rd. After 18 months spent creating a beautiful vision to share with you all and sacrificing much time and money, it is the last thing we wanted to do. However, given the rapidly escalating COVID-19 pandemic, we feel that at this point we need to prioritize the health and wellbeing of our guests first. We have spent so much time looking forward to or wedding day and sharing one of our favorite places with all of you. We were especially excited to meet new babies and see friends and family who live far away. We are so saddened for all of the experiences that will now be missed, such as gathering on the beach for sunset every night. We plan to leave our registry up for those who would still like to contribute to our garden, which we hope to resume working on as soon as possible. For all that have already contributed, we thank you for your generosity. We appreciate and thank all of you for being in our lives. We pray for better times ahead, and hope all of you stay healthy and safe. Aloha, Emily + Eric “Aloha” - A word expressing different feelings; love, affection, gratitude, kindness, pity, compassion, grief, salutation at meeting; parting. The word has no equivalent in English.

Using the sun, moon, stars, ocean currents and birds as guides, Polynesian voyagers ventured the Pacific Ocean and arrived in Hawai‘i as early as 400 AD. As early as 1092 AD, Waimea was chosen on the island of O‘ahu to be awarded to the Kahuna Nui (High Priests) in perpetuity due to its lush valleys, abundant resources, free-flowing streams and geographic location. Throughout history Waimea Valley has been home to many people of the Kahuna class, thus being recognized as, “The Valley of the Priests.” Waimea Valley has gone through many changes throughout history. After Kamehameha the Great conquered O‘ahu in 1795, he recognized the importance and value of Waimea Valley and awarded it to his most trusted spiritual advisor, Hewahewa Nui. Today, Waimea Valley is back in the hands of a Hawaiian governing entity, and is owned and managed by a non-profit, limited liability company created to nurture and care for this treasure. The mission of the Valley is to “Preserve and perpetuate the human, cultural and natural resources of Waimea for generations through education and stewardship”. We can't wait to show you this truly special place.

As a young child Eric and his family would go to Trinity Alps for summer vacations. In July 2017 Eric took Emily for the seven-hour drive (last hour on dirt) to get to the 9mi long, 3k elevation gain hike to Caribou Lakes. He wanted to share with her the majestic granite peaks accompanied by the clear pools that form directly under them. Emily quickly fell for Trinity and the next year Emily + Eric decided to share this place with their close friends (Martin, Arnica, Peter & Kelly) in July 2018. After the hike in, the obligatory jump in the snowmelt pool, and camp set up, the friends were relaxing on the granite “terrace” overlooking Lower Caribou Lake. Eric was waiting for the right moment when the sun got a bit lower in the sky to make his move unbeknownst to everyone else. Then smoke was spotted as a 215-acre fire nearby ignited providing some unexpected excitement with fixed wing planes and helicopters mounting air attacks. One particular helicopter returned multiple times to Lower Caribou to fill up and the friends chanted “95B” (the ID) in support. Once the smoke subsided Eric decided to seize the moment before another external factor came into play, and being sufficiently brave with the aid of a trail cocktail. Eric grabbed Emily and asked Martin to take a photo. Eric turned Emily to him and began to tell Emily how much she meant to him at which point Arnica, the romantic she is, said “wouldn’t it be great if Eric proposed” to which Peter, shouted “drop a knee” (thanks Pete). Eric responded “I’m working on it!”. Once Emily said yes everyone broke into cheer and began chanting “95B”. The friends spent the rest of the night watching the sunset over Lower Caribou Lake, cooking food over open flame and consuming a few too many trail cocktails.