AFTER DEADLINE
Some happy endings are the start of the story
The day before Edel Nakagawa and Marc Yamane were to tie the knot, their photographer tried to reach me on a Friday night after I had left the office.
One of my colleagues called my cell phone to let me know.
"This guy really wants to talk to you," she said. It had something to do with a wedding I was writing about.
Oh, no, I thought, I wonder if they called it off?
As the relationships writer, I am assigned to write (among other things) a feature called "Love Stories" that runs each Sunday in the Island Life section. It usually tells the tale of how a couple met and fell in love.
That week, I had written about Edel and Marc Yamane.
The bride had worked it out with me that the story would be a surprise to the groom, a testament of their love their first day as a married couple. He was the kind of guy who had always surprised her, and she wanted to turn the tables.
So I had interviewed the bride and family members on both sides of the wedding party and sent the story to press before the wedding.
When this phone call came, after deadline, I was worried something had gone wrong.
It hadn't. Turns out their photographer, Allen Martin, just wanted me to know about a touching poem the groom had written as a surprise to his bride.
The wedding was still on. The story went to press, and the couple became husband and wife.
The other part that didn't make it into the story that day was what happened the morning it was published.
Edel and Marc Yamane had just sat down to breakfast under an umbrella at the Halekulani's House Without a Key restaurant when the hotel's concierge and assistant manager walked up and said, "Good morning, Mr. Yamane, here is your Sunday morning paper."
Yamane said later he was blown away, thinking what wonderful service he was getting. Then someone said, "Open the paper," and the hotel staff had folded the 'Ohana page to make it look as if the newlyweds were on the front page of the Hawai'i section.
Family members were waiting in the wings with cameras to capture his shocked expression. The bride pulled off her surprise, and everybody cheered.
Marc Yamane e-mailed me the "after" story, saying, "What a way to start a marriage."
That's a little of what it's like to be the relationships writer.
You'd think people would be hesitant to share their personal lives with a reporter, but "Love Stories" is one of those features that people like to be in.
The Advertiser launched "Love Stories" eight months ago in the style of The New York Times' Sunday "Vows" feature, a guilty pleasure for many of our staffers who like to read about the romances of strangers even before reading through the "important" news of the day. The readership of "Love Stories" is evidence that love is important news for the people involved and those who like to listen in.
I'm a sucker for a good love story.
If I'm lucky enough, I get to hear all about them — and find out what happens in their lives after I meet deadline.
Tanya Bricking Leach writes about relationships. If you'd like her to tell your love story, write to tleach@honoluluadvertiser.com, call 525-8026 or mail your photo and details to Love Stories, Tanya Bricking Leach, The Honolulu Advertiser, P.O. Box 3110, Honolulu, HI 96802.
