Average cost

[Deleted User]

What is the average cost for a DW to Hawaii? Flights and all

breaness

Ours (just the costs for us) was about $3,000. That includes hotels for all 7 nights, rental Jeep for the entire time and flights from Baltimore, and we splurged a bit with upgraded rooms in nice hotels. The wedding part was only about $600, including bouquets, hair and makeup, officiant, beach marriage license, etc. We've budgeted another $1k or so to cover food and activities costs. I don't expect to spend that much but we've got it just in case.

[Deleted User]

Wow that's awesome! Do you mind me asking where you got all this from? We looked at some places and we figured about $5,000. And the wedding didn't include all that!!!

breaness

We booked the travel through Expedia. We're staying 3 nights at the Makena Beach and Golf resort, one night at Hotel Hana and 3 nights at the Ka'anapali Beach Hotel. We booked the 2nd lowest room at the Ka'anapali Beach Hotel BUT they told us when we booked that since we're honeymooning and we put that in our reservation notes they will upgrade us upon arrival. 

According to Hotel Hana's website they have a 2 night minimum at $1,000 a night, but I called and got a room for us for one night in the main hotel at $350. It's not that bad. It's still a 5 star hotel, and we are doing the road to Hana one day and we would rather do 3 hours one day 3 hours another than all 6 hours of the drive in one day!

breaness

Oh, and the wedding package is through Mauidforever.com. We aren't using one of their photographers, we're bringing our own, so that's not included in the cost I gave you, but when I was researching Maui photographers we were looking at $700 or so for the ceremony coverage.

[Deleted User]

That's so confusing! How come your moving so much?

breaness

Well, we're getting married on the South side of Maui, and that's where all of our family is staying so the first couple days we're going to be there, then we're leaving to do the Road to Hana and leave them on the South side for the rest of their vacation (which is really awesome and you should look it up if you haven't heard about it! ) which is a long scenic drive and then we're going to stay the night in Hana, and then finish our trip out on the West side of Maui.

The South side is more secluded and with great weather so we thought that would be best for our wedding, the East side (Hana) is beautiful but it takes forever to get to, but we love driving so that's something that we're really looking forward to, and then the West side is moreso where everything is so that's where we're going to end up We figure we're going to be there for a week and we want to see as much of the island as possible.

[Deleted User]

Very smart!! Sounds awesome

sparklegirl84

It really depends on how much you want. Theres package deals or you can plan it all out like an at home wedding. Ours is around 8,000 with 30 people. Theres some info in my bio.

carrieoz_76

It depends on what you want.  Our wedding cost about $15,000 (not including our flights, but including our lodging during the week of the wedding).  This included: dress, GM clothes, gifts, welcome bags, my H&M, photography (we splurged, and I loved our pics), florals, WC (another splurge because you don't need one, but I loved having someone help me plan), cake, officiant, invitations, reception dinner, afterparty drinks, lodging for 3 nights for our WP (which you don't have to do, but we did for personal reasons).

The biggest expenses were: reception dinner (it ended up costing over $100 per person, and we went with pretty low-cost options, where we could); lodging; and photography.  But we wanted to show our appreciation to our guests for flying so far to our wedding, so it was important that the dinner to be somewhere good on the water, we wanted to stay in the same small location with our WP (and have a place for the afterparty), and we wanted kickin pictures, so that's where our money went.

Ours was a beach wedding, so we cut costs on the location, but if you have your wedding at a private venue, you'll need to budget extra for that.

To stick to a lower budget, you have to decide what few things are most important to you, put your money there, and make cuts elsewhere.  It's all doable, if you make reasonable decisions.  Have fun planning!

jtraczuk

Our wedding is going to cost us around 30K for 45 people (if I could figure out how to put a smiley in here that looks like its going to throw up I would) This includes the flights/wedding planner, hotel, flowers, ceremony site, even down to the dress and accessories. So this captures EVERYTHING, even my alterations. My fiance is probably the most organized person I know and he tracked it all. This also included my gifts for my girls WHat I will say is that doing a DW is costing us a lot less than if we would have gotten married on the mainland. His family is HHUUGGEE

morris1h

Ours was appox. $15 thousand for ceremony, reception dinner and private venue for dancing after 10pm along with the WC, photographer, and videographer.  Our largest cost was the dinner ($80 per person) and photographer ($3000)!

FSForever

Ours will be about $15k for 22 pp but that includes everything including flights and we are taking our 6, yes six, kids with us for 4 days before the wedding. We will then stay 9 nights after for our HM.  We are having our ceremony/reception at Gannon's and DIY on a lot of the favors and table decor.  We will stay in condos and bunk the kids up for the first part of the stay and then when we move it will be to a more secluded resort for FH and I.  I should say that we are including a lot of activities, snorkeling, surf lessons, and Hana but my parents are going to pay for a lot of those so I didn't factor them in.  Just figure out what you want and negotiate deals or search DIY.  There are many options and ways to save money even though Maui is very expensive.