Wedding Leis

Weddings are one of the best-known times when leis are given as gifts. In Hawaii, no wedding is complete without a lei. A wedding lei symbolizes the love between the couple getting married. They also symbolize the love that the guests of the wedding have for the couple as well as the spirit of aloha.

For the groom, the wedding lei is generally made from maile leaves. However, there are also groom’s leis made from ti leaves and created in the maile lei style. These lei can be simply leaves and vines, or they may have flowers such as the small white pikake flower interwoven among them.

For the bride, a lei of wedding flowers is often made from flowers like rosebuds, pink and white pikake, orchids or white ginger flowers. The bridal lei may be made from a single type of flower or two or three types that use several woven strands to create a full, lush look for the lei. The bride often wears a floral headpiece as well. The headpiece may be crafted from local foliage and haku flowers for a lei that is both beautiful and fragrant. Another custom is for the couple to present their mothers with special leis to demonstrate their love and respect. If the wedding is a small one, the couple may give everyone in attendance their own lei as a symbol of each guest’s love and support for the wedding couple.

A common occurrence at Hawaiian weddings is for special wedding leis to be made for certain members of the families of the bride and groom. When the family exchanges leis with each other, they are welcoming each other and making everyone feel like an important part of the ceremony. A exquisite orchid lei is often given to the mothers and grandmothers of the couple.

The Wedding Ceremony

The leis that are used in weddings are used in the ceremony because they are so full of meaning. In Hawaiian weddings, the bride and groom exchange wedding leis. The wedding may begin with the bride and groom each wearing each other’s lei. Then, early in the ceremony, the bride and groom may switch with each other as a symbol of their union. In some Hawaiian weddings, the leis are presented to the bride and groom by the flower girl.

In many traditional Hawaiian wedding ceremonies, the ceremony begins with the parents of the bride and groom giving the couple their wedding leis. In some weddings, the bride’s parents give a lei to the groom and the groom’s parents give a lei to the bride to welcome that person in their their family. In other weddings, the parents of the bride and groom give a special lei to their own child before the wedding begins.

Each bride and groom and their families may choose the way the lei is given to the couple and who will bestow the type of leis chosen before the ceremony. After the couple has been given their wedding leis, many Hawaiian couples give their parents leis of their own to symbolize their respect and to include them in the spirit of the ceremony.

A kahuna pule, a Hawaiian holy man, used a maile lei during the ceremony to tie together the couple’s hands to symbolize their lives being bound together. This part of the wedding ceremony brings together the tradition of leis made from local greenery with the intimate portion of the ceremony itself. With this tradition, the couple coming together like the maile leaves being woven together to make a lei is demonstrated. In some modern Hawaiian weddings, a new tradition of using a long lei made from flowers to wrap around the couple symbolizes them being bound together in beauty and love.