In August, podcaster, creator, and best-selling author Drew Afualo married her longtime partner Pili Tanuvasa in Hawaii. Just before she walked down the aisle, she took a video showing off her custom Cult Gaia wedding dress to her more than 7 million followers: “Hey y’all, I’m about to go get married,” she says in the clip. And I’ve cried about 70,000 times.
But I am about to go get married to the love of my life.” But as candid as Afualo is roasting misogynists on social media and in her podcasts, The Comment Section and Two Idiot Girls, the author of Loud: Accept Nothing Less Than the Life You Deserve made a conscious choice to keep details about the wedding planning process private leading up to the event. And we were very intentional about how and where we planned it.” That includes the destination, Hawaii, of course. And also, I wanted to be married on indigenous Pacifica people land.
It was beautiful.” It wasn't without its challenges: Afualo changed wedding planners six weeks out from her wedding date. They took on our wedding six weeks out, and then I changed my venue a week after that. It was the most stressful six weeks ever, ever, ever, ever in my life, but it ended up working out beautifully.” In lieu of gifts, Afualo and Tanuvasa asked guests to make donations instead.
We're very fortunate to have the jobs that we have. So instead, we asked everyone to donate to four different organizations, two of which trying to stop deep sea mining in the Pacific, especially around Samoa, and two that are local-based and focus a lot on cultural preservation, land preservation, land acknowledgement, and the preservation of Hawaiian culture in general.” Afualo also split up the wedding events into multiple days: The rehearsal dinner was on Friday night, Saturday was a ceremony with only 22 of their closest family and friends present, and then a larger reception party was held on Sunday. So at my wedding, that's the one place I didn't need it.
I just wanted everyone to have a good time." There was an open bar, naturally, with a buffet so people could eat whenever they wanted. The couple has had fun giveaways too, including hiring a caricature artist based in Oahu to draw their guests. It's the most me and my husband gift ever: open bar, really good food, and a free roast.” On Monday morning, everybody left for home or opted to stay a little bit longer in Hawaii.
I would love to come.' It worked out for a lot of people.” But for Drew Afualo and Pili Tanuvasa, it was time to leave for their honeymoon. Here, she shares everything about the trip: what the couple packed, what they did, and everything else about that first week as a newlywed. I feel wonderful and fantastic.
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