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The life-giving power of love and the healing power of water flow together in a new Waikiki wedding chapel, one where Hawaiian culture has inspired both its design and the ceremonies taking place inside it.
Named for the Hawaiian word for “stream,” Kahawai Chapel overlooks the ocean from the westernmost point of the OUTRIGGER Reef Waikiki Beach Resort, where the mountain spring-fed Kawehewehe Stream enters the sea. Generations of traditional healers recommended that the ill and injured — including the Hawaiian royalty for whom Waikiki was their exclusive playground — bathe in the stream’s waters, in the hopes of removal (kawehewehe) of their ailments. Since the fresh water prevents coral from growing, the stream creates a light blue channel over the sand, leading to the indigo waters of the horizon.
The new chapel sits next to OUTRIGGER Reef’s A‘o Cultural Center, where guests learn how to string flower leis, make kukui nut and ti leaf kupe‘e (bracelets), dance hula and play the ukulele while also learning about the history of Hawaii and Waikiki. Passing by the cultural center every time they visited while it was still under development, the owners of OUTRIGGER’s partners in the chapel, Tsukaki Lognote Hawaii Ltd., realized they wanted their primarily Japan-based wedding clients to experience a similar sense of cultural connection, according to Luana Maitland, director of cultural experiences for both OUTRIGGER Reef Waikiki Beach and OUTRIGGER Waikiki Beach resorts.
“I gave them a folio of story points that we share in our classes and one of them that I share that they took to their heart was the healing stream of Kawehewehe that flows through the mountains, right through our property out to the ocean,” Maitland recalls. “They wanted to incorporate that in their storyline, to honor the place where the chapel was to be, and the water that streamed through it. They wanted the theme to be Hawaiian.”
The name Kahawai “evokes the life-giving flow of water and spirit that weaves through every ceremony here,” says Maitland, who also helped shape the Hawaiian-style ceremony that couples may choose for their nuptials. Led by a kahu (Hawaiian priest), the ceremony is “about our love for one another” and mele (song) and hula, “an important part of our culture, which just blends with what we do here,” she notes.
If the ceremony includes guests, it begins once they are seated in the light-filled chapel, facing the ocean visible through a wall of glass. The kahu will offer a chant in Hawaiian and explain the purpose of the gathering, sharing that “when the couple comes up the aisle to the kahu, they’re coming to be bound together as one,” Maitland says.
The kahu then wraps ti leaves around the couple’s hands and then sprinkles their bound hands with pikai, a traditional purifying mixture of salt and water, “symbolizing water from heaven,” according to Maitland. “The words can be scripted based on what the kahu knows about the couple, in some cases in Hawaiian and then translated into English as the kahu goes through it.”
Couples may choose from a range of heartfelt mele with hula — beyond the classic ‘Hawaiian Wedding Song’ — for a personal performance by guitarist and dancer, Maitland notes. She recommends “Ke Aloha,” a 1941 mele with lyrics by Lei Collins, adding, “There so many different songs that talk about a couple being bound together.”
The interior design of the more than 4,000-square-foot chapel also reflects Hawaiian culture and the history of area. The white wooden ceiling and walls draw focus on the brilliant blue ocean, which couples see as they walk down the nearly 26-foot-long wedding aisle, its inset rippling lines and changing hues representing the passage of the stream to the sea and their beginning of a new voyage. Above them is a chandelier in a stylized shape of an outrigger canoe, whose hull and outrigger create balance on the water and symbolize partnership.
Kahawai Chapel also includes a guest lounge with shoreline views and tranquil modern design, where couples can relax and celebrate with their guests afterward. Along with vintage images of Waikiki, the lounges includes two signs in the lounge feature Hawaiian proverbs generally translated as “The stars shine on everyone” and “A stranger only for one day,” reflecting cultural values of hospitality and shared responsibilities.
“Our vision was to create a space that not only celebrates love, but also honors Hawaiian heritage,” says Saito Kazuhiro, president of Tsukaki Lognote Hawaii Ltd. “Kahawai Chapel is a gift of culture, ceremony and place to those who seek something beyond a destination wedding — it is a destination of meaning.”
And for those who were married elsewhere as well as at Kahawai Chapel, OUTRIGGER also offers the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of some 20,000 couples who have recommitted to their relationships at its Waikiki resorts’ free vow renewal ceremonies. Maitland created the similarly Hawaiian-inspired program for guests 20 years ago, with some deciding to participate more than once.
“We recently had a guest that had done their vow renewals 10 years ago and they recently came back with children who are 8 and 10 years old to do it again,” Maitland says. “They needed to do this program because there’s still no other place that does it like we do and is complimentary. They decided to bring their children along to the ceremony and it was so lovely. It’s something that is so meaningful.”