Destination Wedding in Hawaii - what to do after early reception/brunch

Knottie10724897

My fiance and I are hoping to do a destination wedding in Hawaii (Big Island). Our plan is to have an early (sunrise?) ceremony with a brunch as our meal for the day - along with plenty of mimosas and other brunch drinks! But we aren't sure what to do with everyone after that. In the afternoon we would love to take everyone for a snorkel cruise on a catamaran. This means the day would wrap up around 5:30 or 6:00pm. We'd love to just hang out with everyone in a casual way after that - without having a formal dinner. Any ideas on how to handle this? 

DrillSergeantCat

Don't make the snorkel trip a formal part of the wedding. Just let people know that if they'd like to join you for it, it's on you.

charlotte989875

Knottie10724897 said:

My fiance and I are hoping to do a destination wedding in Hawaii (Big Island). Our plan is to have an early (sunrise?) ceremony with a brunch as our meal for the day - along with plenty of mimosas and other brunch drinks! But we aren't sure what to do with everyone after that. In the afternoon we would love to take everyone for a snorkel cruise on a catamaran. This means the day would wrap up around 5:30 or 6:00pm. We'd love to just hang out with everyone in a casual way after that - without having a formal dinner. Any ideas on how to handle this? 

How early are you planning to have the ceremony? Sunrise is Hawaii right now is before 6am. This is way too early for a ceremony that you're inviting guests too. I would recommend starting the ceremony at 10 or 11, and having brunch after. 

You can have information about events or activities available and let people know what you're doing (such as snorkeling at X time, and dinner at restaurant Y at Z pm) without people feeling like it's still part of the wedding event. 

Knottie10724897

Thanks! I agree, before 6am is too early. We'd likely do the wedding in the winter when the sun rises closer to 7am. But totally fine with maybe an 8 or 9am ceremony, followed by brunch. Just trying to figure out what to do with everyone the rest of the day and how to separate wedding stuff from optional stuff. 

charlotte989875

Knottie10724897 said:

Thanks! I agree, before 6am is too early. We'd likely do the wedding in the winter when the sun rises closer to 7am. But totally fine with maybe an 8 or 9am ceremony, followed by brunch. Just trying to figure out what to do with everyone the rest of the day and how to separate wedding stuff from optional stuff. 

A good way to separate activities is via the invitation. The wedding invitation should detail the ceremony information and the time and local of the reception only. Then you can use a wedding website or if you're doing welcome bags you could put in a list of optional activities. Also if it's a small group (as DW often are) spread what you're doing by word of mouth and tell people they are free to join you. 

Also, I'd say anything before 9 (and that's pushing it) is still too early for a ceremony. Remember people are traveling (possible the day or night before) and requiring them to get up really early and be ready before 9 is pretty inconvenient. If they're traveling with children that's even more difficult. 

kvruns

are there a lot of hotels/rental options near your desired location? If I'm staying on a different side of the island an 8am ceremony will be more annoying than if I'm close by. Similarly I might be more inclined to join for the other activities if they are convenient to where I'm staying. 

I will say that I'd rather have an early ceremony in HI than a later one because of heat of the day and also I'm normally on eastern time so when we were in HI this past May we were up and at em by 5:30 every morning whether we liked it or not

SaintPaulGal

8 or 9 AM is still SUPER early for a social event, and particularly one that involves lengthy/involved travel arrangements, flights, hotel stays, etc.  I second @charlotte989875's original suggestion to kick things off no earlier than 10 or 11 AM.  That is still plenty early for brunch afterwords unless you are having a 4+ hour ceremony.  

My fi and I are night people, but we wouldn't have our ceremony start at 11 PM because that would not be comfortable for many/most of our guests.  Likewise I don't think you should start your ceremony at an early morning hour that is going to be uncomfortable for many/most of your guests.  If you and your partner love the pre-dawn hours and the sunrise, maybe the best thing to do would be to spend this time together focused entirely on one another.  Then once the sun is up you part ways and start getting ready for the wedding.

I agree that word of mouth is probably the best way to let people know about peripheral events like the snorkel trip and the non-hosted group dinner.  Wording like "We will be at ____ in the evening so feel free to stop by if you would like to hang out" makes it clear that you won't be funding a second meal.

SP29

Your invitation should only include information on the ceremony and reception. If you wish to host any other events, you could include these on a separate insert in the invitation, or on your wedding website. I'm thinking the snorkeling trip- you have offered to cover the cost, and I assume you'll need an RSVP to book the trip. That would be fine to have a separate insert for.

As for anything else, unless you plan to fully host the event, spread it by word of mouth that you and your future DH will be at X restaurant and Y time.

WinstonsGirl

You don't need to plan anything specific after the ceremony/reception.  People may want to do their own thing too, especially after an early morning ceremony.  

We had several different activities around our wedding - snorkelling day, meet up for fireworks and drinks, etc.  We put this information on our wedding website and a separate card insert.  All were optional, though we paid for snorkelling rentals for those who joined us.  

Fun stuff on the Big Island - hiking, snorkelling, luau night.  We also did some Scuba and spent 2 days driving the different areas, but it gets tricky with lots of people.  Remember that not everyone can afford/wants to pay for all the different possible excursions you could do, so I suggest making the after reception stuff optional.  The cruise you are thinking of sounds like a good option - people who want to can snorkel, those who don't can chill on the boat

lyndausvi

I worked on a catamaran in the Caribbean.   Wedding guests LOVED going on those types of tours.    Normally they lasted about 3-4 hours.   There was sailing, drinking, snorkeling, relaxing and laying out in the sun.  Much like they would do on land in HI anyway.

I personally do not have a problem with a 8-9 am start time.  Have the brunch/breakfast from the end of the ceremony until 11-12.  In a separate invitation invite people on the catamaran.  Have the catamaran trip start at 1-2pm.  End around 4-5pm.   Gives them a little break between events so they are not rushed to get to the boat.      

Use word of mouth for dinner/rest of the night.   Some guests will break off on their own, but most guests will naturally just continue to hangout with each other in a non-official wedding capacity.