Am I crazy?!

knockout7075 · September 2012

So our "wedding" is supposed to be in 60 days... And I have no plans set in stone. Yes, you read that right!!

I wanted to rent a beach house and get married in the back yard overlooking the ocean but cannot nail down an affordable place that will allow a "wedding ceremony", even though it's small.

I also cannot find a photographer. Everyone that I've contacted is booked which I suspected might happen since it's such short notice. Photos are one of the most important things to me and I'm really picky about them since after the wedding it will be all we have!

Am I crazy to think that I can pull this off in less than 60 days? I'm wondering if I should hire someone to do this for me. I can't get responses from lots of venues/caterers/photographers that I have contacted. If so, does anyone have any recommendations for a coordinator that won't break the bank and work with our budget?

I'm not big on the wedding "packages" that most places offer where they do tons of weddings in a day and have their own photographer. I don't mind doing leg work for stuff like cake, flowers, rentals if needed, etc. but I feel like I have totally hit a wall! We don't want to spend over $5,000 which I think is reasonable for 9 people total for a ceremony and dinner.

I'm thinking of us just running away from our small "destination" wedding. It's just as stressful as planning a big wedding!

luvbug2014 · September 2012

Just sent you a PM!

allisonpickup80 · September 2012

which island are you planning on?

marriedonmaui · September 2012

It's definitely doable. If you want a beach wedding the permit is only $25 and you can totally do it in a fairly private area. We had the same amount of guests as you and that's what we did. It was really beautiful. Dinner was only a couple hundred for everyone and it was amazing. The photographer was the most expensive part-- and we flew her and her husband to Hawaii from Baltimore and paid for them to stay for 5 days and that was still only $2k.

Just H · September 2012

Which island? I think you can def do this in 60 days, but you need to get started. Between this board and google, I had my stuff book a little more in pretty short order. If you are interested in Maui I would be happy to point you in the direction of some of our vendors, we loved them all!

knockout7075 · September 2012

Thank you so much ladies! I appreciate the fact that I'm not completely dreaming here and can still pull something off. I was really thinking there for a minute that we would have to postpone.

We are living on Oahu right now while FI works at Pearl Harbor so Oahu is probably the easiest.

But, I will definitely take suggestions for ideas/vendors in Maui... I'm not totally ruling it out beacause could be possible to island hop for the weekend.

I'm intrigued at the idea of flying a photographer in... I have never thought of that for some reason. I do know some photographers on the mainland. I'm curious if you paid for a photo package and their travel expenses or just paid for the travel and they used it as a "vacation" in exchange for their work?

Thanks again, y'all have been so helpful!

Orange813 · September 2012

Make quick decisions.

If your husband works on pearl harbor, is he Military or DoD Civilian? Either one can rent military beach cottages on Waianae, Barber Point, Bellows, or Kbay. Don't quote me on this but getting married on a military beach without any rentals (chairs/arch), you may be able to forgo the beach permit.

Need a officiant? Contact the base chaplain, they'll generally do it for free.

Catering? the military clubs can do it, but I recommend a local place for better food and prices actually. Taniokas or Kenekes is popular for people on a budget.

Cake and Flowers? Costco.

Photo? this is where you invest. (my personal opinion) My Photographer's pretty good, I love his modern and romantic style. Floyd Fajardo of Ifloyd Photography.

knockout7075 · September 2012

Orange, thank you so much! You just gave me some hope. I hadn't even considered doing anything on or near base. He is civilian DOD. Do you know how I can go about getting more information about the cottages? He is not the type who will plan anything so I'm pretty much on my own. Also, thanks for the other suggestions. I'll look into the catering and photographer. Thanks in advance for any extra info about the cottages, I really appreciate it!