PLANNING A WEDDING IN HAWAII! NEED INPUT!

Re: PLANNING A WEDDING IN HAWAII! NEED INPUT!

• sharkchompsal member

  

  November 2013

  Have you chosen a specific island?

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• Melissa Connor member

  

  February 2014

  We are doing the same thing.  Oahu 2015, no formal date set.  We are from NY and taking a trip there the end of July.  We go to Hawaii a lot so we know the layout but not for a wedding!  The biggest problem I am coming up against so far is most locations won't do a wedding so small.  I want something pretty casual and even Duke's (which if you have ever been to is super casual) wants a minimum of 25 people to reserve their lanai.  We are inviting 30 but we thing maybe only 10-15 are realistically coming.  I spoke to a wedding planner with Oahu weddings and she is sending me some estimates for Paradise Cove and Lanikuhonua for the ceremony.  Lanikuhonua is gorgeous but you do have to bring everything in as it's a blank canvas.  My fiancé likes the idea of doing the luau at Paradise Cove at our "reception" bc its quintessential hawaii and he thinks with such a small group a dinner could get pretty boring.  I am on the fence.  

  There are some great hotel locations but a few won't let you book just a ceremony there until 2 months before your wedding (Moana Surfrider is one).  I guess they are holding out for a full wedding to make more money.  One hotel that was very responsive to me was The Modern Honolulu.  It's a super cool looking place and the coordinator there, Kristal, sent me info if I wanted to do a dinner at their restaurant.  So it's one of the places I will be checking out.  

  I would love to hear how your planning is going!  Hope some of my info helped!

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• Oahu Bride member

  

  February 2014

  We got married in Hawaii November 2012 with only 19 guests including myself and my husband.  We had Diana from Oahu Wedding as our Wedding Planner and she was amazing, would highly recommend her.  We had our ceremony at Paradise Cove and the reception at The Coconut Club which is located on the 21st floor of the Aston Waikiki Beach Hotel, the views are amazing.  They had a minimum of 25 people, we decided to pay for 25 even though there was only 19 of us.  I was worried about it being too big & people would get bored but was pleasantly surprised when we saw it all set up that is wasn't too big and our guests were not bored at all, the time flew by.  We had a hula dancer and 2 piece band for an hour and then just had our IPod for music.  We did look at a couple of others places but you had to bring everything in yourself and we really weren't interested in that.

  Hope some of this info helps

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• Jasmine0601 member

  

  February 2014

  We're getting married November 2014. I did tons of research online and finally decided on the Mauna Lani Hotel on the Big Island, north of Kona. They are a nice, Old Hawaii-style resort. There is a beautiful beach adjacent to the hotel, a golf course, VRBO houses/rentals on the resort property, and restaurants/etc. on the resort and nearby.

  
  

  We've been there and it was one of our favorite spots.

  
  

  They were also extremely flexible with my budget. We're hoping to keep the cost of ceremony and reception for 30ish to around $5,000 and they have been really accommodating and willing to work with me on what I want and don't want. 

  
  

  There also was barely any venue fee. Instead of demanding a minimum food and beverage spend of $7,000+ (which a lot of resorts I contacted did), they merely require that we have a minimum number of rooms booked at the hotel for 2 nights -- which we we're meeting effortlessly because everyone wants to stay at the hotel with us.

  
  

  Anyway, hope this helps. The Big Island is not everyone's favorite -- but we fell in love with it and can't wait to get back there for our wedding! 

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• PinkygirlKauai member

  

  March 2014

  Kauai is great if your looking for something less touristy.

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