Looking for Ideas for small Big Island Hawaii wedding

amandaa1660

My fiance and I are looking to get married on the Big Island preferably Kona side next year. We have never been to Hawaii and I am starting from scratch with everything. If anyone has any experiences or tips it would be greatly appreciated. We are trying to not spend a great deal of money, and we will only have about 15 guests. I need a photographer, ceremony and reception location, flowers, hair stylist, and hotels to stay at. I feel so overwhelmed! 

kaesha

We don't have a lot of Big Island brides here, but welcome! Do you have any idea if you'd like to have your reception at a resort or on a beach or at a private home/estate? What vibe are you going for? 

Tanq&Tonic

Welcome Amanda!   Definitely let us know what you picture -- I'm sure someone will have some great advice.  I also Googled a lot to find pictures that seemed promising and then researched those venues

sharkbitemiller

I'm a Big Island Bride getting married on 4/20/12. Our venue is pretty small, super laid back. I have all of my vendors booked except for H&M so let me know what I can help you out with.

Tanq&Tonic

There was aactually a thread a few days back with some reviews:

http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_hawaii_big-island-wedding-reviews

sharkbitemiller

This is what I posted for another knottie:

"Hi Again,
I hear ya on making sure that everything is within a reasonable dollar amount. My wedding, so far, has been fairly budget friendly.
I'm getting married at St. Peter's by the Sea Church (aka "The Little Blue Church"). Although both of us are Catholics, we do not practice and so we wanted a "non-denomination" ceremony. Believe it or not but I found my officiant via Craig's List...Derek Schoenoff, who is a pastor at Pu'uanahulu Baptist Church (aka "The Little Red Church) on the island. Derek has been WONDERFUL to work with!
My photographer is Bob Brown from Eye Expression Photography (www.eyeexpression.com). He, too, has been wonderful to work with via email and his prices were reasonable. For shits and giggles, I contacted another photographer, Ruth Anne (www.ruthannephotography.com). She was really nice via email and her prices were compariable to Bob's. I like both of their style of work but if I didn't already sign a contract with Bob, I probably would have changed it to work with Ruth Anne.
As for florals, I am doing my own florals and either getting them at the local Farmer's Market and/or Costco. I have corrisponded with Annie Sundseth from Bliss In Bloom (www.blissinbloom.com). She has been great to chat with via email and based on the pictures on her blog, I love her work. She has a lot of input...I just couldn't afford her . She's also a WP so you may want to talk to her about other arrangements.
After the ceremony, we are having a small intimate BBQ (I am bringing my own personal cook from the main land) at the 4-bedroom villa that we rented (actually, we rented 2 4-bedroom villas for us and one for our guests to rent out from us). You should check it out (www.vrbo.com/102307). On their listing, it states that you can have your ceremony on location. Jack Miller and Bob Dean, the caretakers at the villa, have been great to work with so far.
I am not doing a fancy cake or anything like that so I did not scope out any bakeries.
I did contact a ukelele player, Dennis (dennis@bigislesmile.com) but decided to use our IPOD during the reception. For the ceremony, I may have my FI friend or my nephew play the ukelele....that's yet to be determined. The only thing that I have not checked into is H&M. I do have a few names that I still need to contact.

I also contacted a few dive/snorkeling companies about the Manta Rey Night Dive/Snorkle so if you need those names, let me know.

I hope that helps some."