“I picked Courtney and her friends up from the airport when they were visiting New York,” says Noel of his first time meeting his future bride, “but I had a crush on her before that when I saw her picture on Gmail. A few days into the trip, she held my hand in a bowling alley. I kept thinking about her after that trip and things went from there.” Throughout the next year, the pair exchanged hundreds of emails, texts and phone calls, as they tried to get to know each other from afar.

After a year of dating from a distance and traveling on long flights for short weekend visits, Noel finally made the move to the West Coast, and the couple started to discuss wedding plans more seriously. “Everything was sort of backwards,” the groom recalls. “We picked a date and venue first. A few months later, I asked her father for her hand in marriage. A few months after that, I proposed to her in our living room before going out for dinner. I chose a ring that she saw and liked at a nearby jewelry store a few months before the proposal.”

From the start, Courtney and Noel agreed it was most important that the wedding “feel” like them. “For me, that meant taking on a lot of DIY projects and including many of our talented family and friends,” says Courtney. She admits getting swept up in the moment and making an impulsive wedding dress purchase early on. “A few months later, I saw a dress online by Dreamers and Lovers that couldn’t be more different from the first and knew that it was the one. I loved the silhouette and the comfort, but most of all, I loved the idea of supporting an independent designer and woman of color.”

Despite a cold, wintry day, the couple honored Noel’s desire to exchange vows in the fresh outdoors. “Our family and friends braved the cold with us, and together with our siblings by our sides, we exchanged vows in between loving glances and lots of giggles,” says the bride.

Thankfully, the reception was only a few steps away—and indoors—a beautiful barn with a wall of French doors and a heated floor. “It was magical entering the space hand-in-hand with all of the candles, long rows of tables, and DIY floral arrangements,” she recalls.

Courtney is part Native Hawaiian, so the hula is a huge part of her life and identity as an indigenous person. “In our culture, it’s customary for a bride to offer the groom a hula as a gift,” she says. “I chose the song, ‘Ho’onanea,’ which was a favorite of my grandmother’s and tells of trembling with anticipation to get lost in the arms of your lover. It was so surreal to dance for my husband on our wedding day, and for that moment everyone and everything else seemed to melt away.”

—Darren Elms