honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Sunday, April 3, 2005

Psychic's prediction leads to 'match made in heaven'

By Paula Rath
Advertiser Staff Writer

Iwalani Isbell and Gordon Noice were not looking for love, but it found them anyway.

On Oct. 11, 2004, Iwalani Isbell and Gordon Noice tied the knot before 300 family members and friends on Kaimana Beach.

Brian Maingot photo

The two self-described free spirits were living happily on opposite sides of the country, she in Honolulu and he in Miami. Neither had been married, although he is 43 and she is 40. "It never occurred to me to get married before," each said simultaneously.

"We were not looking outside ourselves to find a relationship that would identify us, that would make our lives complete," Noice added.

Noice was enjoying an early retirement from acting and directing films and television ("Virtuosity" with Denzel Washington, "NYPD Blue" and "Growing Pains," to name a few). Isbell was in the throes of expanding her beachwear business, Pualani.

Actually, their love story sort of started two years before they met, in 2000, when Isbell's boating buddy, psychic Dale Schear, told her, "You're gonna meet this guy named Gordon." Isbell thought this was odd because she had never known anyone named Gordon, so she ignored it and went on building her company.

Two years later she was on a business trip to Miami when a friend said she wanted her to meet someone. An hour later, in walked Noice.

"My eyes went straight to Iwalani; she just filled up the room. I took one look at her and hung up my spurs," Noice beamed.

"It was love at first sight," Isbell added.

They began a whirlwind 48-hour romance, as Isbell had to get back to designing and manufacturing swimwear. This was followed by a "one-year long-distance odyssey that was so much fun," Noice said. They talked on the phone several times a day and e-mailed constantly. He sent her so many floral bouquets that he became phone friends with the florist.

On Oct. 11, 2003, Noice joined Isbell in Kailua, Kona (where she was raised) for her parents' 50th wedding anniversary. After dinner, with the excuse of going out for ice cream, Noice asked Isbell's father for her hand in marriage. The reply? "I wouldn't worry about me. You gotta ask her."

So he did. Under a full moon on the beach at Keauhou Bay, he slipped his mother's engagement ring on her finger and she responded with an enthusiastic "Yes!"

In an unconventional move, Noice wore an engagement ring as well. "Hey, what's good for the goose is good for the gander," he grinned.

They traveled back and forth across the country until a decision had to be made. "Moving my business away from Hawai'i was not an option," Isbell said, so Noice packed up his life and moved to Honolulu in February 2004.

While Isbell kept working on her business, Noice went into wedding planning mode. "We tried to incorporate all sorts of ideas, both traditional and non-traditional, but in the end we threw out all the traditional stuff because it didn't symbolize what we wanted our wedding to symbolize," he said.

They were married Oct. 11, 2004, on Kaimana Beach. Isbell went surfing the morning of the wedding while Noice worked on wedding preparations all day.

The couple stood in a heart of rose petals sprinkled in the sand, with their family and friends, 300 strong, encircling them.

After their vows, Noice surprised Isbell by releasing a basket of monarch butterflies, one of which perched on her nose, then climbed up into her lei po'o, where it stayed until the reception, a full-on lu'au at the Waikiki Aquarium.

As the sun set on a perfect evening, Noice sang a song that he had written for his bride, accompanied by guitarist/friend David Backstrom of Maui.

The bride wore a white on white Pualani bikini with a custom designed sarong, and her eight bridesmaids wore Pualani halter dresses.

Noice's attendants wore Tahitian sarongs with aloha shirts, while he wore a sarong and went shirtless.

A couple of months into their marriage the couple is still as romantic as ever. "He makes me a bubble bath every night when I come home from work. He sends me flowers every week," Isbell said, gesturing to a vase with a dozen pink tulips.

"I think that love is in the details," Noice said. "It's in every little thing that you do."

"We are truly a match made in heaven. This is meant to be. Our marriage is effortless," Isbell said.

Noice pulled her to him and said, "I can worship the ground that she walks on and I can walk side by side with my best friend — all in one package. To me, that's a real blessing."