Wedding theme-Hawaii??

Vraechel · October 2010

So my fiance and I met in hawaii. I've lived here for 7 years and he's been stationed out here with the Navy for about 2 years. We live here together and it's kind of been a neat part of us falling in love. We have decided for logistical reasons to get married in his home town...Cottage Grove, MN. I'm sure I'm not the only bride to plan a wedding from Hawaii to MN but I feel like it. I thought it would be neat to have tropical touches in my wedding. Like doing mai tais as our signature drink, orchids for behind ladies ears etc.

I'm not sure how this is going to look...for an added degree of difficulty he has his heart set on getting married on a river boat...He apparently LOVES water. So... Is this going to just look horrible? One of my friends said that I should go more classic so later I can look back and think my pictures don't look dated. I think because we met here...

???

frogurt814 · October 2010

I'm not sure how a Hawaiian theme would date your wedding. Beach themes seem to be kind of an ongoing thing. It's not like you are wearing a wedding gown that has long sleeves and big puffy shoulders. That would date you.

I think if you have elegant Hawaiian touches that it would be nice. Like using orchids for your flowers and serving fruity drinks. It's not like you were talking about making your BMs were coconut bras and grass skirts.

ehathewa · October 2010

I am originally from Woodbury, MN - right next door to Cottage Grove

I think you can do some nice Hawaiian touches w/o going over board... Cake decoration, some tropical flowers, and a theme to your paper goods. I don't think it would conflict too much with a steamboat.

I went to a wedding on a Steamboat through this company - http://www.stillwaterriverboats.com/ I had a lovely time.

There are other options for weddings on the water in MN too. Lake Calhoun Beach Club, Harriet Island, Nicollet Island Pavillion, MIssissippi Dunes, etc.

Vraechel · October 2010

Yeah. That's what I was thinking. I'm kind of going for a classic look with tropical touches. I'm not going to roast a pig in the ground or anything, but do you think it will look weird on a river boat? The carpet, just so you can feel my pain, is gold, red and green. Was going to do orchid and white for my colors but I guess I could change them to something like red and gold.... I think the purple color might clash.

Vraechel · October 2010

I am getting married on the Jubilee II from Stillwater river boats! OMG. Tell me about it! I haven't seen it. I'm doing all this planning from HI. I'll be making one trip in Dec, but other than that I have to rely on the internet and my in-laws.

ehathewa · October 2010

I don't remember which boat it was on. The boat was very nice, but like you said on the traditional side (wood accents, gold, etc). It was very pretty, but I don't really remember specific details. I remember that I liked being able to go up to the top floor for some fresh air off the dance floor and the food was good.

The wedding I attended had colors of lavendar and pink, and I don't remember them clashing with the boat, so I wouldn't scrap your color scheme. They took most of the pics after the wedding on the top deck, so you could really only see the railing, water, and trees.

Here are 2 pics I have from the wedding:

HTH!

tenofcups4me · October 2010

I also don't see how Hawaiian touches would make something look "dated." I like what you're talking about -- small touches like orchids and mai tais to give a bit of a Hawaiian feel without a full-blown over-the-top theme.

Vraechel · October 2010

Thanks for the wedding pics. I've been to Woodbury actually. I went this summer when I met his family. Its really nice there. I LOVE MN. Once my husbands out of the Navy we hope to move to the area. Did I mention I visited in June

He's taking me back this Christmas to see if I can take the winter.

ehathewa · October 2010

Good luck with the MN winter - it might just make a man out of you

sister2groom · October 2010

You could go nuts with some of the food, Mahi Mahi option and...yeah that's pretty much all I've got. Although, you would probably be better at deciding that because I've never actually to Hawaii and the only food I associate with HI is all the cliche stuff that you probably want to avoid anyhow.

Vraechel · October 2010

There's lots of great hawaiian food, but I'm not sure how it would be in MN. Lau Lau is hard to explain, and I'm not sure how poi would be received

Mahi might be easy to do, right now my menu is pretty standard. When we visit MN this winter we are going to meet with the caterer and hopefully change it up a bit. I guess my concern was less about the dated-ness of my theme but wether it would clash with a river boat... My bridesmaid that was so down on the hawaiian theme mentioned today that her ex-fiances new wife did hawaiian theme for her wedding...could explain why she wasn't so enthused about it.

mocha beans · October 2010

Ha, we did a Hawaii wedding but live in MN!

We did an AHR that was sorta Hawaiian themed. We had a guy from Shakopee roast a pig in a roaster at our house. I made all the side dishes: mashed Okinawan sweet potatoes (we fell in love with these in Hawaii), pineapple coleslaw, Hawaiian baked beans, Maui onion dip (couldn't get a hold of Maui onions, so we did vidalias). I wanted to do coconut shrimp and lau lau, but there wasn't money in the budget for that. We were going to mix up some mai tais to put in a drink dispenser, but never had the time.

For really simple centerpieces, I ordered 1000 plumerias from Molokai Plumerias for $120 shipped that were put in vases with some water, my god they smelled awesome, and looked really good when we opened the box, no browning. We never got a picture of them though, bummer. I have an inspiration pic in my bio, but we didn't do candles cause it was outside.

I think the thing that made it feel most like Hawaii was the weather that day. It was a record breaking 85 in the beginning of October in MN.

Think twice about saying you love MN if you've never experienced winter here! It's nice enough in the summer, but winter, not so much. We'd love nothing more than to pack up and move to Hawaii after a week there, I hate winter here.

Vraechel · October 2010

Ohhh. I love the idea of the idea of the plumerias. I'll probably steal that. I'm hoping that I can get the food to reflect Hawaii more. I'll keep my fingers crossed. Maybe we can do haupia cupcakes, or guava. There's an amazing cupcake place out here that does mango and guava.

I do love MN in June

I really like the people. Also after living in Hawaii for 7 years. I miss seasons. It's a lot of pressure to always be bathing suit ready. I could go for a sweater and some jeans. Especially since I have a 3 month old

mocha beans · October 2010

It is nice to be able to hide under a baggy sweatshirt, I'll give MN that. And having distinct seasons is a nice perk. Having to start your car 20 minutes before leaving anywhere sucks though, as does having your nostrils freeze within 10 seconds of being outside.

The Okinawan sweet potatoes were a huge hit, way more than I thought they would be. I made a bunch of standard orange sweet potatoes, and those were hardly touched, but the Okinawans were almost all gone. I was shocked, cause I know no one that we knew in MN had ever seen them. I had tossed around doing sweet potato pie with the haupia topping, but that was going to be too much work for a party of that size.

You could do leis on the boat railing too. Cut them apart and string them together to make a garland, then wrap around the railing. Hawaiian without being too out of place feeling.

aerinpegadrak · October 2010

We did Hawaiian BBQ for our AHR and it was a huge hit, especially the kalua pork. We got a paradise cake and a lilikoi crunch cake from King's Hawaiian, which also went over very well.

Wedding theme-Hawaii??

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