HAWAIIAN PIX PHOTO Tracy Hara, second from left, is flanked by his best woman Marcy Siu and his parents Horace and Gail Hara, while his bride Renee Leong has her man of honor, Dennis Guillermo, by her side. Hara and Leong married last July.

Equal opportunity for best woman

Tracy Hara didn't miss a beat when his bride-to-be, Renee Leong, told him she wanted her good friend Dennis Guillermo to be her man of honor.

It turned out that one of his best friends since their days at Kaiser High School was a woman, Marcy Siu, and she had always joked about being best man at his wedding, so Hara simply informed Leong, "Since you asked for it, now you got it," he said.

"She was kinda shocked, but she was willing to do it."

And, it turned out that having a woman as her groom's best man was the best gift Leong could have received. "It was quite nice because she was good at doing all the things she knew I would like."

Out went the bachelor party bar-hopping and all that might entail. Any raunchiness was substituted with trips to salons and manicurists.

"He's a construction worker, so Marcy really got him cleaned up, getting him groomed, getting his nails done," Leong said. "As a woman, she knew exactly what I would want and kept him up to speed.

"I didn't have to be the nag. She was there to take care of all the things that needed to get done. I'm sure there were things he didn't want to do, but because she's his friend, she could tell him," Leong said. "I don't know if he would have done the same for me."

Sitting in the salons, Hara said, "I got all that manicure stuff that girls normally do. I felt kind of ashamed, but the people who worked there said men do come in to get their nails done."

He took some teasing from his male friends, who are not likely to follow suit in their own wedding plans, he said. "That's all right. I didn't really care about what anybody thought."

For her part, Leong said having a man of honor offered some relief from picking one person from among all her girlfriends. Plus, she said women have a tendency to want to avoid hurting others' feelings, and aren't always open with their opinions.

"I wanted that male perspective and Dennis is always honest. He helped me pick my dress, select favors and a color scheme. If he doesn't like something, like if a gown is ugly, he would just say it. Women are much kinder to you."