Designed For The Altar Ego
Sun Herald
Sunday July 24, 2005
Saying I do, a bucket of money and Vera Wang make for a serious Hawaiian honeymoon, Amy Cooper writes.
EVEN the view from the new Vera Wang Suite at Waikiki's Halekulani Hotel is an aphrodisiac endless, delirious blue and the peak of Diamond Head, one of Hawaii's most famous landmarks. The recently opened suite, a one-off created by the US weddings guru and celebrity bridal gown designer, is the latest grand gesture from a love-obsessed island and its first collaboration between a fashion designer and hotel.St Valentine's Day is always huge on the island of Oahu, but when Wang was planning her suite, she recognised what local couples have always known: this is a seriously loved-up location all year round. Flowers waft seductive perfumes, sunsets blush ruby-red, people have endearments for names and trade winds caress your skin. The designer of wedding gowns for stars such as Jennifer Lopez, Jessica Simpson and Sharon Stone, Wang had been practising interior design on her friends' and family's houses and last year decided to turn her hand to a hotel suite.After pondering her favourite resorts around the world, she chose an upper floor of the five-star Halekulani which is right on Waikiki Beach to create a five-room pleasure palace.The suite is 197 square metres of decadence. As you enter, the ocean beckons through huge windows opening onto a 60-square-metre lanai (balcony). There's a dining room, TV lounge with giant plasma screen, bedroom, bathroom and living room, all designed by Wang and dripping with fabrics from her ready-to-wear collections.The dining room has a banquet-sized Wenge wooden table with chairs covered in persimmon raw silk and in the bedroom an antique Asian moon screen slides back so you can contemplate the horizon from your king-sized bed.The bedroom is in Wang's signature soft lavender and the suite has Wang china and crystal homewares and even her favourite flowers. There's also a private pool cabana, serviced by your own butler. And if you do have a lovers' tiff, the suite is so damned large you can avoid each other until you've calmed down.A treat like this doesn't come cheap you're looking at $US4000 ($5200) a night. But for lovers who don't have a budget as big as their hearts, there are other options. There's a Vera Wang lifestyle boutique at the Halekulani, where you can buy into the ambience: it stocks Wang's home accessories, furnishings, jewellery and the pieces used in the suite. Elsewhere in Waikiki, the Sheraton Moana Surfrider, just 10 minutes' walk from the Halekulani, holds a free Promise Me Again ceremony every Saturday evening. Couples can renew their wedding vows under the stars in the beachside gardens of Waikiki's oldest hotel. On a busy night it's quite a sight, with 100 or more people there; a reverend officiates, everyone receives fresh flower leis and then they all dance to the Hawaiian Wedding Song.
© 2005 Sun Herald