Lifestyle
What it's like to travel to Maui right now — one year after the catastrophic wildfires
Five hundred feet outside the Lahaina burn zone, the tourists receive their leis.
As the torches of the Old Lahaina Luau flicker, bartenders mix mai tais and hula dancers get ready. After dinner, dancer and emcee Niki Rickard gathers the performers in a circle and asks the audience for “a moment of silence … to acknowledge all we have lost.”
A year after the deadliest U.S. wildfire in a century, which killed at least 102 people and leveled 2,200 structures, this is what passes for business as usual in West Maui. Though 98% of the island carries no visible signs of the fire, most of the city of Lahaina was leveled and remains behind roadblocks as crews begin the transition from cleanup to reconstruction.
Most of Lahaina burned and at least 102 people died in the wildfire that erupted on Maui last August. An image from the aftermath on Aug. 16, 2023.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
In the first two weeks after the fire, most of the city’s 12,700 residents moved into hotels, with FEMA footing many bills. Since then, amid ferocious debate about the island housing shortage and how to rebuild, most fire survivors have moved to longer-term housing or left the island. Many are back at work now, tending to tourists.
This tangle of mourning, recovery and tourism has many travelers wondering if it’s possible or respectful to spend a vacation on Maui now.
The answer is yes, according to every resident, worker and visitor I asked in three days on the island. But tourism lags about 25% behind pre-fire levels, and the situation can seem as layered as a Maui onion. While the average hotel room rents for more than $500 per night, residents scramble for housing and equilibrium.
It’s easy to spend a week on the island in full vacation mode without setting foot in Lahaina. Conversely, the island’s recovery campaign includes a variety of “voluntourism” options (detailed below) for those who want to dedicate half a day or more to pitching in.
But some curious visitors fall between those extremes. Tourism workers say this can lead to hard feelings, especially when visitors try to photograph damage or ask intrusively about lost homes and loved ones. That’s when many Mauians turn away, get angry or post signs at the end of their block reading, “Locals still grieving. Show Respect. No tourists.”
“Be sensitive,” said Siobhan Wilson, co-owner of the Maui Butterfly Farm in Olowalu. “Don’t go up and ask people, ‘What did you see and what happened?’ If people want to talk, they will.”
“Come with aloha. Leave with aloha,” said longtime resident George Pali, sitting at a Wahikuli Wayside Park picnic table near some long-term tents. “You guys [in California] have wildfires all the time, right? So you have some idea.”
Here’s an update for anyone considering travel to Maui, including reasons why you might or might not want to include a stop in Lahaina.
What’s open in Lahaina, and what’s gone
Most of Front Street, Lahaina’s commercial backbone, is no more. Little remains to remind a visitor that this was the capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom in the early 19th century under King Kamehameha II. But the flames didn’t claim everything.
At the north end of the street, a handful of restaurants and a dive shop were left largely intact, including the Old Lahaina Luau, despite its thatched roofs. It reopened in March and attracts up to 350 guests nightly, many of them happy to be adding dollars to the diminished local economy.
The Old Lahaina Luau reopened in March. The luau features dinner and an hourlong performance, including hula dancers, on the waterfront in West Maui.
(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
When Niki Rickard takes the microphone before those luau audiences, she doesn’t mention her own story. But it’s a potent one, and it hints at the experiences of many survivors.
Both of her parents are longtime employees of the luau, which started in 1986. Beginning about age 4, Rickard dreamed of dancing there, then landed a job doing just that. Now 30, she also handles sales and emcee duties, summarizing the island’s history of migration, colonization, whaling, plantations and resilience in diplomatically measured tones.
Last August, she had just returned from maternity leave when the fire broke out.
Neither Rickard, her husband or their daughter was injured, but their home burned.
“My daughter was 3 months old,” Rickard said in an interview.
Niki Rickard, a dancer, emcee and sales agent for the Old Lahaina Luau.
(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
Since the fire, Rickard has been among the thousands of residents dealing with temporary housing, an island-wide child-care shortage and plenty of government and insurance red tape.
“A lot of people in the community are not so happy with the government,” she said carefully.
The luau’s director of public and cultural relations, Kawika Freitas, also acknowledged “a lot of negative feelings” from those who believe the island reopened to tourism too soon. But people need work, Freitas said, and the luau employs about 160 people.
On the same block, the Mala Ocean Tavern reopened in February. Aloha Mixed Plate and Star Noodle (siblings of the luau under the same owner) reopened in March and Aug. 1, respectively. Honu Oceanside is to follow in late summer or fall.
Many more reopenings are expected in the coming weeks and months, giving visitors more reasons to stop and perhaps spend. Meanwhile, because of Maui’s layout, many others will be driving through on their way north.
Parasailers soar off the Ka’anapali coast near Lahaina, the slopes of West Maui rising in the background.
(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
The drive along Lahaina Bypass highway
The August fire, which began near downed utility poles amid drought conditions and gusting winds, blackened 6,721 acres in Lahaina and the up-country area near Kula. It didn’t reach Maui’s east coast (which includes the famed road to Hana) or the southwest coast (which includes the city of Kihei and the Wailea resort area) or the northern coast (which includes Kahului airport).
Nor did flames get to the west coast hotels and condos that begin with Ka’anapali, just a mile north of Lahaina.
But to reach those resorts, visitors do drive the Lahaina Bypass highway. Just before the highway passes over Lahainaluna Road, those visitors see a sobering roadside shrine on their right — scores of crosses and photos, strewn with leis. (Having been warned that many residents see the memorial as a place for victims’ families and survivors only, I didn’t approach on foot.)
A cautionary sign hangs near a residential neighborhood in Lahaina, Maui, where cleanup and reconstruction continue.
(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
Roadside screens are decorated with artwork in Lahaina.
(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
In the next mile, as drivers transition from the highway to Keawe Street and Honapiilani Highway, several signs thank first responders, exhort the community to be strong and call for tourists to show respect. Only a few charred ruins are visible from the road. Six-foot-high roadside screens shield many properties from view.
Visitors won’t see Waiola Church, Lahaina Hongwanji Mission, the historic Baldwin Home or popular restaurants like Kimo’s, Fleetwood’s on Front Street or Cheeseburger in Paradise, all burned. The city’s iconic banyan tree, damaged but recuperating, remains off-limits.
FEMA reports that by July 31, cleanup crews had cleared 319,000 tons of fire debris, nearly 34 tons of asbestos and 3,000 fire-damaged cars, with 47 rebuilding permits issued by Maui County.
On Saturday, utility company Hawaiian Electric, the state of Hawaii and five other defendants announced a $4-billion settlement agreement with fire victims, pending court approval. Total damages have been estimated at $5.5 billion or more.
One Maui resident, asking to be unnamed, told me he’d just finished a six-month job in the burn zone, wearing a Tyvek suit and respirator, waiting for blessings before stepping onto home sites, scraping ash and asbestos, finding class rings, guns, jewels and puddles of melted aluminum.
Yet just north of Lahaina, a visitor reenters the Maui seen on postcards and screensavers.
What West Maui’s resorts look like and what they cost
In the morning, catamarans glide up to the beach, kids line up for surf lessons, and golfers head to the courses at Kapalua. At day’s end, legions gather to watch the sunset as daredevils leap from the Black Rock Beach boulders to the sea.
Though the Royal Lahaina and Outrigger resorts in Ka’anapali housed many fire survivors as recently as early July, state and federal officials say the vast majority have moved on to intermediate or permanent housing.
A custom paint job on an outrigger canoe on the Ka’anapali coast. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
A surfing class in Ka’anapali. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
A catamaran waits near Black Rock Beach, Ka’anapali, West Maui.
(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
In June, Hawaii’s state tourism statistics show, visitor arrivals to Maui were down 21.8% from the year before, with spending down 27.1%.
The average Maui County hotel rate that month: $554 per night, down 10.5% from the year before, with a third of rooms empty.
The average vacation rental cost less — $401 per night, with a 44% vacancy rate. But that may soon change. Maui Mayor Richard Bissen has proposed converting 7,000 condo units from short-term use to long-term within three years, creating more housing for residents.
“We’ve been coming here for years, and I have never seen the [Ka’anapali] walkway so clear,” said Russ Hill of Santa Clarita, who has a West Maui timeshare.
A moment later, he strapped into a parasailing rig, zoomed 500 feet above Ka’anapali Beach and saw exactly what he wanted to see: island slopes under clear blue skies, a line of hotels along the beach, a few leaping dolphins and no reminders of the fire except the boat captain’s “Maui Strong” T-shirt.
How visitors become volunteers
Napili Noho, an emergency service hub in Napili Park, stands about three miles north of Ka’anapali. It didn’t exist before the fire. Now it often gets 200 guests in a day.
They browse a free store stocked with food, shoes and hygiene items, sit for meals (prepared with help from other charities) or step into the lomi lomi tent, where masseurs and chiropractors give free treatments.
The Napili Noho emergency resource hub, created after last year’s fire, offers food and household items for those in need. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
Volunteer Tom Fox, visiting from California, works at Napili Noho. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
Most days, at least one short-term volunteer visitor shows up, having signed up online. On the Tuesday I arrived it was Tom Fox, 81, a semiretired real estate agent from Pleasanton.
For years, Fox and his wife have been visiting West Maui to play golf and lie low. They were at their Napili condo when the fire struck and wound up inviting their housekeepers to stay in the condo for several weeks.
Now the housekeepers have moved on, Fox said, and he’s found that he’s not as good as his wife is at keeping busy.
“So I found out about this place and came on down,” Fox said. The day before, he’d bought Mason jars for storing cooking oil. Now he was labeling them for community members who might speak English, Hawaiian, Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Tongan or Samoan.
Around him, other workers were breaking down bulk packages of salt, soap and other goods, including another volunteer from off-island, a 38-year-old man who goes by the name Savage.
“I was supposed to be here five days,” he told me.
Until last August, Savage said, he was working as a health-focused life coach in Las Vegas. After the Maui disaster, he joined an island-bound group of volunteers from his church.
A volunteer who goes by the name Savage tends to supplies at the Napili Noho hub.
(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
Once he arrived, Savage, who said he has Dakota Sioux heritage and is an Air Force combat veteran, found that “this was very familiar to me.”
Eleven months after arriving, Savage moves from task to task in his flip-flops, walkie-talkie in hand, four days a week, helping displaced residents feed families and cope with makeshift living situations. He’ll be here “until I’m at peace that it’s time to move on.”
The key, Savage said, is offering comfort without giving advice or trying to counsel anyone. That might mean “asking aunties for cooking recipes,” he said. “Just talking story. Our community may not need to shop as much as they need distractions from life. They might not know where they’re going to be next week.”
Black Rock Beach, Ka’anapali, West Maui.
(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
If you go
What to eat
Old Lahaina Luau, 1251 Front St., Lahaina; (808) 667-1998. Lavish dinner al fresco with open bar, followed by an hourlong show with hula, drumming and chanting. Adult admission: $230.37, including gratuity.
Aloha Mixed Plate, 1251 Front St., Lahaina; (808) 661-3322. Patio restaurant (moved down the street since the fire) offering breakfast, lunch and dinner. The Chow Funn noodle bowl (ground pork, bean sprouts, green onions; $15) makes a tasty lunch.
Mala Ocean Tavern,1307 Front St., Lahaina; (808) 667-9394. Brunch and dinner. Perhaps the most elegant restaurant you’ll find with a tin roof and walls. Website includes a link for donations to staff. The signature cocktail is a Makai Tai ($18). Dinner main dishes $28-$61.
Ulu Kitchen, Westin Ka’anapali, 2365 Ka’anapali Pkwy., Lahaina; (808) 868-0081. Breakfast, lunch and dinner on the beach in Ka’anapali. Main dishes $28-$69.
Where to stay
Outrigger Kaanapali Beach Resort, 2525 Ka’anapali Pkwy., Lahaina; (808) 661-0111. A three-star hotel on a coastline of mostly four-star resorts, its location impeccable, with a whale-shaped pool. Rates start at about $370, plus a $35 daily resort fee.
The Outrigger Ka’anapali Beach Resort, in West Maui, is one of many hotels that housed displaced residents after the Lahaina wildfire.
(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
Things to note
In the high country at the south end of Maui, Haleakala National Park’s popular Crater Road and summit area have been closed periodically because of nearby brushfires. Check the park website before planning a visit.
To volunteer on Maui, don’t rely on last-minute suggestions from your hotel’s concierge or activities desk. Make a plan in advance. Mauinuistrong.info includes many volunteering options, as does the website of the Hawaiian Tourism Authority. Malama Kula operates in the up-country area. Napili Noho runs the emergency services hub in Napili Park. Maui Cultural Lands runs programs to protect cultural resources, plant native vegetation and battle invasive species, with volunteer workdays every Saturday in the Honokowai Valley above Ka’anapali. Similar work happens Wednesdays and Thursdays at Kipuka Olowalu, south of Lahaina.
The Lahaina Cannery and Lahaina Gateway malls are open, and more Lahaina businesses are reopening every month. This website tracks reopenings.
You want to see some real fashion ingenuity? Watch the N.F.L. draft.
I’m not saying it’s all good, but where else are you going to see someone in a double-breasted suit made by a company better known for making yoga pants? Or an Abercrombie & Fitch suit jacket so short that it exposes the belt loops on the pants beneath?
On the whole, the style on display at the N.F.L. draft last night was very overeager senior formal: a lot of suits in colors beyond basic blue. The quarterback Ty Simpson wore a custom suit by the athleisure label Alo, which, I have to say, looked better than I would have envisioned had you said the words “Alo Yoga suit” to me.
I thought it might have been from Suitsupply, but the conspicuous “Alo” pin on his right lapel put that idea to rest. Simpson, smartly, unfastened that beacon before appearing onstage as the 13th pick to the Los Angeles Rams. He had, perhaps, satisfied his contractual obligations by that point.
Earlier in the evening, as the wide receiver Carnell Tate threw up his arms in exaltation after being picked fourth by the Tennessee Titans, his cropped Abercrombie & Fitch jacket revealed a swatch of rib cage. He looked like a mâitre d’ who had just hit the Mega Millions.
During the N.B.A.’s extended fashion awakening, its draft has become a sandbox for luxury brands to cozy up to would-be endorsers. The Frenchman Victor Wembanyama broke a kind of cashmere ceiling when he wore Louis Vuitton to go first overall in the 2023 N.B.A. draft.
The N.F.L. draft has none of that. The brands you see are often not brands at all, but custom tailors that reach the league’s neophytes through a whisper network among players. The draft is also a platform to raise the curtain on longer-term brand deals that better suit these rookies. We may, for instance, never see Simpson in a suit again. Nearly every photo from his time at Alabama shows him in a T-shirt or hoodie. It makes sense for him to sign with Alo.
Football is the most mainstream of American cultural entities. And it’s one that still hasn’t, in spite of the league’s best efforts, taken off overseas. Few players, save some quarterbacks and a tight end who happens to be engaged to a pop star, feel bigger than the game itself. If you’re a new-to-the-league linebacker, you’ll most likely never harness the star power to grab the attention of Armani, but you might have just the right pull for Abercrombie.
The N.F.L. draft is therefore one of the few red carpets where the brands worn by the athletes may also be worn by those watching at home. How many people watching the Oscars will ever own clothes from Louis Vuitton or Chanel? People may comment online about Lady Gaga wearing Matières Fécales to the Grammys, but how many of those fans and viewers could afford to buy clothes from it?
The Japanese designers changing fashion
Yesterday, I published a deep dive into how a newish crop of Japanese designers are soaking up all the attention in men’s fashion right now. This was a piece I was writing in my head long before I sat down and finally started typing. I remember sitting at a fashion show in Paris over a year ago — I believe it was Dior — and being asked by my seatmate if I’d made it over to a showroom in the Marais to check out A.Presse. That Tokyo-based brand is now part of a vanguard of Japanese labels that, on many days, seems to be all anyone in fashion wants to talk about. I spent months talking with designers, store owners and big-time shoppers to make sense of why these brands have kicked up so much buzz and, more than that, what makes their clothes so great. You can read the story here.
Other things worth knowing about:
Thirty years ago, comedian and actor Tig Notaro didn’t have a clear direction in life, so she followed some childhood friends who wanted to get into entertainment to Los Angeles. Secretly wanting to do stand-up, Notaro decided to try her luck at various outlets in town, which became the start of her successful career.
“I stayed on my friends’ couch near the Hollywood Improv on Melrose, and a couple months later, got my own studio apartment in the Miracle Mile area,” Notaro says. “I love all the options for everything in L.A. — the entertainment, the restaurants. I like to stay active. So many people love the hiking options in Los Angeles, and I’m one of them.”
In Sunday Funday, L.A. people give us a play-by-play of their ideal Sunday around town. Find ideas and inspiration on where to go, what to eat and how to enjoy life on the weekends.
Notaro appears in Season 3 of Apple TV’s “The Morning Show” and is a series regular on Paramount+’s “Star Trek: Starfleet Academy,” as she was on “Star Trek: Discovery.” She’s also a touring stand-up comic and hosts “Handsome,” a comedy podcast, with Fortune Feimster and Mae Martin. The trio will be taping a live show May 4 at the Wiltern with the cast of Netflix’s “The Hunting Wives.” The live shows include interviews, but also “incorporate some ridiculous things,” she says. For example, upon hearing that some of the hosts always wanted to learn to tap dance, Notaro “hired a tap instructor to come to our live show in Austin and teach us how to tap dance in front of the audience.”
Notaro lives near Hollywood with her wife, actor Stephanie Allynne, their 9-year-old fraternal twin boys, Max and Finn, and three cats, Fluff, Linus and Skip. When she’s not touring, her ideal Sundays include sampling vegan restaurants, wandering through bookstores or museums, and doing something physically active with the family.
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for length and clarity.
6 a.m.: Up with the kids
Because we have active children, we still wake up at 6 a.m. or 6:30 a.m. on Sunday, but there’s not as much of a rush to get going. Stephanie and I will often have coffee and chat in the living room together. I love that part of the day. Stephanie may cook breakfast, but Max and Finn are pretty self-sufficient and can make certain little meals for themselves. Max is really starting to take an interest in cooking, so he’d make breakfast for himself. Our family is vegan, but he eats eggs, so he makes himself an egg sandwich with avocado a lot of times.
9 a.m.: Daily morning walk
After breakfast, we usually have a morning walk around our neighborhood. That’s a daily thing I like to do, regardless of what’s going on. Now that I’m not touring as much, tennis is back on the schedule. So I’d go to Plummer Park in West Hollywood and play for a while, then join the family for lunch.
11:30 a.m.: Hike with a side of chickpea sandwich
I love Trails, a cafe in Griffith Park, where you can eat outdoors. It serves simple food, and has good vegan options. I usually get their chickpea salad sandwich. The food there is great. Afterward, we’d visit Griffith Observatory, where there’s lots to see. There are lots of great trails in the park, so we’d go for an hour hike before leaving.
3 p.m.: Browse the shelves for rock biographies
Bookstores are fun, so we’d head downtown for the Last Bookstore, which is in a historic building with lots of vintage books. I really love all things plant-based, and I’m a very big music fanatic. So I love to look for vegan books, nutrition books, rock biographies and autobiographies. It’s just fun to browse around the stacks.
If we didn’t go to the bookstore, we’d probably go to LACMA. Our sons are huge fans of art and want to go for each new exhibit. They love Hockney, Basquiat and Picasso, to name a few.
4 p.m.: Cuddle with cuties at a cat cafe
We’d then make a quick stop at [Crumbs & Whiskers], a kitten and cat cafe on Melrose for coffee, snacks and to pet the cats. It’s best to make reservations in advance. There’s cats all around the place that need to be adopted. You can visit and pet them, or find a new roommate. I’d love to take some home, but we already have three.
5:30 p.m. Italian or sushi, but make it vegan
We’re an early dinner family. One restaurant we like is Pura Vita in West Hollywood. It’s the greatest vegan Italian food, and for non-vegans, nobody ever knows the difference. It’s the first 100% plant-based Italian restaurant in the United States. They make an incredible kale salad and I love the San Gennaro pizza. It’s got cashew mozzarella, tomato sauce, Italian sausage crumble and more.
Then there’s Planta in Marina del Rey. It’s right on the harbor and you can sit outside and look at the boats coming in and out. They have sushi, salads and other plant-based entrees. They’ve got a really great spicy tuna roll that’s made out of watermelon. They are magicians.
Or there’s Crossroads Kitchen in West Hollywood. They play the best classic rock, and the atmosphere is upscale, fine dining. The appetizers that we always get are called Moroccan Cigars, which are vegan meat substitutes fried in a rolled batter. I really like the grilled lion’s mane steak, their mushroom steak with truffle potatoes, or the scallopini Milanese, that has a chicken or tofu option. I get the chicken with arugula on top. I always love to have a decaf espresso with dessert, which is either a brownie sundae or banana pudding.
7:30 p.m.: Comfort watch or word games
After dinner, the kids often like to watch an episode of “Friends,” a show that all ages enjoy, sports or “The Simpsons.” Or we’d play a game where each of us will add a word to a sentence and create a weird or funny long sentence until one of our sons says period. Then they’ll try and remember the whole sentence and repeat it back.
9:30 p.m.: Bubble bath then bed
The boys usually go to bed at 8:30 p.m. and bedtime for us is 9:30 p.m. Stephanie and I would read or chat. I like to take a bubble bath, if people must know. The best Sundays for me mean finding a good balance of relaxing and being active. I feel very lucky that my family and I can do those things together.
When Marian Sherry Lurio and Jonathan Buffington Nguyen met at a mutual friend’s wedding at Higgins Lake, Mich., in July 2022, both felt an immediate chemistry. As the evening progressed, they sat on the shore of the lake in Adirondack chairs under the stars, where they had their first kiss before joining others for a midnight plunge.
The two learned that the following weekend Ms. Lurio planned to attend a wedding in Philadelphia, where Mr. Nguyen lives, and before they had even exchanged numbers, they already had a first date on the books.
“I have a vivid memory of after we first met,” Mr. Nguyen said, “just feeling like I really better not screw this up.”
Before long, they were commuting between Philadelphia and New York City, where Ms. Lurio lives, spending weekends and the odd remote work days in one another’s apartments in Philadelphia and Manhattan. Within the first six months of dating, Mr. Nguyen joined Ms. Lurio’s family for Thanksgiving in Villanova, Pa., and, the following month, she met his family in Beavercreek, Ohio, at a surprise birthday party for Mr. Nguyen’s mother.
Ms. Lurio, 32, who grew up in Merion Station outside Philadelphia, works in investor relations administration at Flexpoint Ford, a private equity firm. She graduated from Dartmouth College with a bachelor’s degree in history and psychology.
Mr. Nguyen, also 32, was born in Knoxville, Tenn., and raised in Beavercreek, Ohio, from the age of 7. He graduated from Haverford College with a bachelor’s degree in political science and is now a director at Doyle Real Estate Advisors in Philadelphia.
Their long-distance relationship continued for the next few years. There were dates in Manhattan, vacations and beach trips to the Jersey Shore. They attended sporting events and discovered their shared appreciation of the 2003 film, “Love Actually.”
One evening, Mr. Nguyen recalled looking around Ms. Lurio’s small New York studio — strewed with clothes and the takeout meal they had ordered — and feeling “so comfortable and safe.” “I knew that this was something different than just sort of a fling,” he said.
It was an open question when they would move in together. In 2024, Ms. Lurio began the process of moving into Mr. Nguyen’s home in Philadelphia — even bringing her cat, Scott — but her plans changed midway when an opportunity arose to expand her role with her current employer.
Mr. Nguyen was on board with her decision. “It almost feels like stolen valor to call it ‘long distance,’ because it’s so easy from Philadelphia to New York,” Mr. Nguyen said. “The joke is, it’s easier to get to Philly from New York than to get to some parts of Brooklyn from Manhattan, right?”
In January 2025, Mr. Nguyen visited Ms. Lurio in New York with more up his sleeve than spending the weekend. Together they had discussed marriage and bespoke rings, but when Mr. Nguyen left Ms. Lurio and an unfinished cheese plate at the bar of the Chelsea Hotel that Friday evening, she had no idea what was coming next.
“I remember texting Jonathan,” Ms. Lurio said, bewildered: “‘You didn’t go toward the bathroom!’” When a Lobby Bar server came and asked her to come outside, Ms. Lurio still didn’t realize what was happening until she was standing in the hallway, where Mr. Nguyen stood recreating a key moment from the film “Love Actually,” in which one character silently professes his love for another in writing by flashing a series of cue cards. There, in the storied Chelsea Hotel hallway still festooned with Christmas decorations, Mr. Nguyen shared his last card that said, “Will you marry me?”
They wed on April 11 in front of 200 guests at the Pump House, a covered space on the banks of Philadelphia’s Schuylkill River. Mr. Nguyen’s sister, the Rev. Elizabeth Nguyen, who is ordained through the Unitarian Universalist Association, officiated.
Although formal attire was suggested, Ms. Lurio said that the ceremony was “pretty casual.” She and Jonathan got ready together, and their families served as their wedding parties.
“I said I wanted a five-minute wedding,” Ms. Lurio recalled, though the ceremony ended up lasting a little longer than that. During the ceremony, Ms. Nguyen read a homily and jokingly added that guests should not ask the bride and groom about their living arrangements, which will remain separate for the foreseeable future.
While watching Ms. Lurio walk down the aisle, flanked by her parents, Mr. Nguyen said he remembered feeling at once grounded in the moment and also a sense of dazed joy: “Like, is this real? I felt very lucky in that moment — and also just excited for the party to start!”
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