Newlyweds describe ‘huge wall’ of wave that hit Hawaii wedding: ‘The cake luckily made it’

‘Maybe even more memorable than if it hadn’t happened’

A pair of newlyweds have shared their gratitude after a large wave that threatened to ruin their Hawaii wedding only managed to destroy the dance floor -- and ended up making their night even more memorable!

Dillon and Riley Murphy, who live on Hawaii’s Big Island, planned to get married at Hulihe’e Palace in Kailua-Kona on Saturday 17 July. However, the couple told KHON2 that they were concerned Tropical Storm Darby would lead to rain on their wedding day, especially when the storm turned into a category 3 hurricane.

According to the couple, what they actually got was a gigantic wave, which they described as a “big wall”.

“We were so worried about the remnants of Darby and like: ‘Are we going to get rainfall?’ But never really took into account that the high surf might impact our wedding as well,” Riley said, as Dillon added: “And we were kind of right at the moment where we were going to start moving a couple things and, yeah, this big wall basically just showed up.”

In a video of the moment shared on social media, guests could be seen standing and watching the waves as they threatened to topple over into the reception. One wave then did just that, with guests quickly moving out of the way as the water rushed onto the lawn.

Fortunately, the couple and their guests were protected from the wave, as was the food and the wedding cake.

“And luckily there was no food in any of the containers, the cake luckily made it,” Dillon continued.

While the dance floor was left covered in mud, the newlyweds told the outlet that, if anything, the wave made their wedding night even more memorable and it was an important reminder that “storms hit”.

“And just the analogy of, you know, life and storms hit. And it’s just, it’s so important to come together and to have all of our family and our loved ones there and it just made it very special,” Riley said, adding: “We didn’t have our dance floor, but nobody seemed to mind, at the end of the night we were all like dancing in the mud and it was amazing.”

The couple said the wave from the storm also led to some incredible pictures, with Dillon telling the outlet that, ultimately, they were “very fortunate”.

“The show still went on and it was a really, really fun night,” Riley said.

On Saturday, forecasters at the National Weather Service in Honolulu said former Tropical Storm Darby, which had once reached Category 3 hurricane, had dissipated and moved away from the Big Island.