Tori Beyer and Paul Nagai
Hallowedding Home


Introduction -- Stories -- Photos

Introduction

Tori Beyer and Paul Nagai got married Halloween, 1996. It was Berkeley. It was the Claremont Hotel. It was a costume party. It was a surprise wedding.

The wedding was a surprise to all but a few friends who conspired with Paul and Tori.

Yes, even their parents were surprised.

Especially their parents were surprised.

When people first find out that Tori and I, after many, many years of living together and professing to ourselves, to our friends, to our families that we would likely never get married (and if we did it would probably be for tax purposes or some other such unlikely reason), they always ask:

Why did you get married?

Why now?

How did you decide to make that step?

Honestly, the first reaction both Tori and I have to these questions is:

"Uh. I dunno."

And, truthfully, I think this is the most honest answer. However, this rarely satisfies whoever is asking the question.

So these web pages are an attempt to provide truthful statements that seem to satisfy those seeking concrete answers even though these statements, again, while truthful, are artful dodges of the real answer, "Uh. I dunno."

They also seek to tell the story of how this event came to be. So many people who are usually involved in planning and executing a wedding were left out of this process because of the surprise factor. We hope these pages help include them in these plans, if retroactively.

Oh yeah, we wanted everyone to be able to see all the cool photos of family, friends, and costumes.

Unfortunately, these photos are not yet available. At the moment, we are scanning the photos, drawings, and items that support the story elements. Once we have completed that aspect of this site, we will begin scanning the photos in bulk; cataloging them using ImageAXS Pro, software developed by Tori's company, Digital Arts and Sciences; and creating web browseable collections of these photos.

By the way, Gordon Nagai, father of the groom coined the wonderful word, "HalloWedding."