Yes, it snows in Hawaii! But, don’t worry, it only snows on the high mountains of the Big Island, Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa. The rest of Hawaii is snow free!
2015 started off very cold. Well, cold for locals like myself, normal for the rest of the world. Last night when it dipped down to 59°F I was covered up from head-to-toe in winter clothing. For the rest of the world, that’s T-Shirt and shorts weather. I know what you’re thinking…I’m a wimp. But hey! I live in Hawaii.
On January 2nd a cold front smashed into our State from the north, bringing pretty bad rain. I did have two jobs on the day of the storm. Postponing the jobs were not an option. Both couples were leaving the next day and the show had to go on.
10am Surprise Vow Renewal at Kualoa Ranch
Kualoa Ranch is located on the east side of Oahu, and it was directly in the path of the storm. I had warned the husband the day before that we may need to change the time, possibly the location, and he completely understood the situation. On the day the of vow renewal, we ended up changing the time from 1pm to 10am to avoid the storm, but kept the location. There was rain, there were times where I had my couple run for cover during the shoot. But every rainstorm that hit us passed very quickly. More importantly, the surprise went off without a hitch. And, for a small portion of the shoot, we actually got small patches of blue sky that I was able to utilize.
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4pm Baby Baptism at Makaha
I’ve been in the Hawaii wedding industry for close to two decades and I never performed a wedding at this cove in Makaha. On January 2nd, we planned a Baby Baptism for one of my former brides. Earlier that week, we married a couple there. All I can say is that this location is pretty awesome and I may consider it as a prime location to do sunset weddings in the future.
On January 2nd, the weather at Makaha deteriorated very quickly. It rained cats, dogs, and boulders, right after the baptism, and we ran for cover. I recommended that we continue the photoshoot in their condo. We took a few photos there, but I just couldn’t get the right angle to create anything special. Luckily the weather cleared up just a bit so we were able to head back down to the beach to get great family shots.
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This is winter in Hawaii. We don’t get snow, we get rain. We don’t get blizzard, we get rainstorms. When a bad rainstorm hits hits, were talking, a rainstorm that envelopes the entire island, changing the dates, moving a wedding or baptism or photoshoot, to another day is possibly the best option. When it can’t be done, the other option is to move locations. When that can’t be done, it comes down to just making peace with the rain and having fun with it.
Don’t worry about the photos. I can get great photos in the rain. I know how to work with bad weather.
MORE ON THE STORM
The storm that hit out islands that day ended up being a pretty strong one. It knocked out the power to my house and blew down my banana trees. The rain was pretty bad as well. I really had not seen rain that bad for awhile. Luckily, the storm only lasted one day. So far, no storm of that size is on the horizon.
Steve Young
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