Big Island Adventure: Fiona and Peter’s Beach Elopement

Fiona and Peter’s love story begins in college. They were both studying Engineering at the University of Michigan. Fiona says they were in the library A LOT studying for long hours & late nights. After noticing one another on several different occasions Peter finally asked her to dinner.

It was Fiona’s ability to speak her mind and be able to hang out with a group of guys unintimidated that caught his eye. The fact that she owned her nerdiness was a plus as well. Something they both admire in each other and have in common. Speaking with Peter about Fiona, it’s pretty obvious how crazy he is about her. When asked what his favorite thing about her is, his response was honest and incredibly endearing, “her smile, her laugh, her ability to become a little kid again and eat ice cream with fresh baked cookies on the couch when watching a movie. Her intelligence, her ability to argue any topic, her love of coffee shops and crosswords. Fiona is my favorite thing, so that all counts as one.”

About three years after that fateful night in the University of Michigan library, Peter and Fiona got engaged! They knew from the beginning that a huge, traditional wedding was not going to be their thing. Fiona was stressed out by the thought of coordinating flowers, tablecloths, and seating charts. They both wanted their day to be private and really focused on the heart of marriage: commitment. So, they got to Googling and quickly found us, Simply Eloped. It was fate again!

The two decided to hop on over to the Big Island for their ceremony. They both had never been but the found sandy beaches, hiking and scuba diving very appealing. Before their big day they had the chance to go soak up a lot of magic that Hawaii has to offer. They went scuba diving with manta rays, hiked around Mauna Kea (the highest point in Hawaii), and drove a camper van on the Road to Hana. Fiona said the 600 hairpin turns and 40 one way bridges in the giant vehicle was definitely an adventure! Talk about an amazing experience!

The day of the ceremony Peter says he felt nervous but excited. “It was a big first step into the life that we’re still planning and building together. Marrying Fiona was the first time I felt like I really stepped out to live a life that I want to live. I don’t think I’ve ever had such a concrete feeling that we were doing the right thing.”

The day of the ceremony Fiona recalls just being really happy! She said, “We didn’t do a lot of “traditional” things like the first look, or making sure to keep the dress hidden beforehand, so a lot of the stress & nervousness didn’t happen for me. We were just hanging out all day before the ceremony and talking about how excited we were. It was really fun.”

The couple met with their Simply Eloped team at Pine Trees Beach near Kona in the late afternoon. A location with a very misleading name as there are no Pine Trees – only Palms! Needless to say Fiona was surprised but not disappointed. “It was beautiful and turned out perfect.”

Fiona wore a lovely long sleeved white dress with a gorgeous belt of greenery and flowers in her hair. Peter wore a nice white collared shirt and dress pants. They both had purple orchid leis dangling from their necks. The two were stunningly casual in true Hawaiian fashion. They were able to exchange vows in private with no onlookers or gawkers. Fiona tried to hold back tears between giggles and an enormous smile on her face while Peter said his vows. Fiona says she remembers feeling very free and that she had no obligations but to just enjoy it all.

The two of them finished up their Hawaiian elopement eating lots of fresh fish and ice cream. They relaxed to the sound of rain on their hotel roof and dreamt up the future.

Fiona said, “One of my favorite things about Peter is his “l’ll try anything once” type of attitude. He’s always down for whatever weird/dangerous/irresponsible adventure that I plan and he always keeps an open mind.”

We sure are glad that Peter was open minded about your biggest and boldest idea yet. We hope the rest of your lives are filled with the same lust for adventure and love for each other. Congratulations to them both!

All photos by Alex Klarc for Simply Eloped.