On July 8, 2000, figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi married professional hockey player Bret Hedican. The couple met at the opening ceremony of the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France. Neither was looking for a serious relationship at the time, as both were heavily involved in their careers as world-class professional athletes. At the time they met, Bret was a rookie player on the USA ice hockey team, and Kristi was just days away from skating to a gold medal.
Eight years later, on her wedding day, Kristi was heralded when she arrived on the grounds of Hawaii’s Mauna Lani hotel by the long, resounding sound of a conch shell. Bret and Kristi celebrated their nuptials in the resort hotel’s chapel with 300 friends and family watching. Mrs. Yamaguchi’s wedding was scheduled for Hawaiian night, just as the sun was setting and a cool ocean breeze was blowing onto the small island.
Kristi wore a beautiful traditional-style wedding dress by Vera Wang. She chose to walk down the aisle to her waiting groom to the tune of “Hawaiian Love Song,” a very appropriate choice considering both the location and the occasion. The groom, Bret Hedican, awaited his bride under a gazebo covered with beautiful large, fragrant flowers native to Hawaii and other exotic parts of the world. Bret watched her love float down the aisle as the diamonds on his Fred Leighton tiara sparkled. Like the wispy clouds floating in the evening sky, Kristi’s floor-length veil was light and sheer, and she danced whimsically as she took her final steps down the aisle.
Happy guests and six bridesmaids decked out in periwinkle blue gowns from the Laundromat Collection by Shelli Segal showered the newlyweds with handfuls of fragrant orchids and rose petals as they took their first steps together as husband and wife. The couple made their way to the resort’s ballroom followed by their many friends and family, including Olympians Scott Hamilton, Brian Boitano and Peggy Fleming.
The ecstatic couple and their darling guests kicked off the post-wedding festivities by dining on seared tuna and shrimp, followed by filet mignon and fresh local Hawaiian snapper. All the food was fresh and artfully cooked by professional chefs at the island resort. As the newlyweds hit the dance floor, the contemporary classic “I Could Not Ask For More” played. After the first dance, family and friends joined the couple on the large open dance floor to laugh and dance the night away to great food, great music and great company as the night wore on and the stars twinkled on a small island floating peacefully in the middle of the ocean.