What have you already done?

klk111415 · February 2015

Our plan so far is to do the Big Island and Maui, but now we are considering extending a 1/2 week or so and hopping over to Kauai and Oahu just to say we've seen most of the islands. The other two I think are a ferry ride away. I've heard good things about using Costco for travel. We are really trying to maximize the rewards on this trip. What hotels are you staying at?

arrrghmatey · February 2015

We haven't booked yet but looking at Wailea Beach Resort & Spa in Maui (a spa is a must for me) and Waikoloa Village in Big Island. We can only get away from work for 8 days. and Hawaii is so close that we can hop over there for a cheap 4 day vacation whenever we want, so we'll splurge on nice hotels this time around :P

hteverywhere15 · February 2015

arrrghmatey it's been over 15 years since I went to Hawaii on a family vacation, but we stayed at both of those hotels on Maui and Big Island and I loved them both. I have so many amazing memories at those 2 hotels and was planning on staying at both of those if we had our honeymoon in Hawaii.

arrrghmatey · February 2015

hteverywhere15 said:

arrrghmatey it's been over 15 years since I went to Hawaii on a family vacation, but we stayed at both of those hotels on Maui and Big Island and I loved them both. I have so many amazing memories at those 2 hotels and was planning on staying at both of those if we had our honeymoon in Hawaii.

Thanks for sharing! Good to know

nolanoele · February 2015

November 13, 2015 bride here...

I have our date (clearly), venues for ceremony & reception (which includes catering), photographer and this weekend I found my dress!!

klk111415 · February 2015

We are looking at the Andaz Hyatt in Wailea and the Hyatt Regency Resort and Spa which is closer to Lahaina. But the first part of our trip will be the big island and we found a "Hostel" but it has private bath and is just going to be more of our home base while exploring. We are definitely renting a car and the place we are staying at (Arnott's Lodge) does tours for discounted prices. They have a star gazing tour at the top of Mauna Kea and a lava tour in Volcano National Park. I think even if you don't stay there you can go on their tours so you should check it out! We also might do air b&b and stay in a tree house close to Hilo.

I went there with my family back when I was in 8th grade and again in college for a semester (which is when I started dating my FI) He never got to come out and see me while I was there and it was one of the biggest tests of our relationship which at the time was still pretty new- so I really wanted to share Hawaii with him for the honeymoon.

flutteringinfl · March 2015

We just ordered our save the dates! We designed them ourselves last night and they look really cool. I ordered them as posters from Vistaprint. Accidentally paid extra for color on the back even though all the text is black and white >.< Oh well. Will pay better attention next time. While I wait for them to arrive I'll be making a guest list spreadsheet. We have to send them out soon because all our guests will be coming from out of town and the main hotel block deadline is pretty early.

arrrghmatey · March 2015

How is everyone doing??

So we recently met with a potential florist (who has been rated well as one of the most affordable int he area) and went into sticker-shock when it came tot he cost of flowers. Holy crap, for freakin' flowers??? Low-profile centerpieces came to $1,000 for 16 tables! My FI instantly freaked out about it. We've decided to just go with the necessities for flowers (bouquets, bouts, corsages, a couple of ceremony arrangements, and a sign-in table arrangement). I was going to have bouquets for the two older flowers girls but I decided to make fake ones myself rather than spend $40 a piece.

Arrrrrgh flowers!!!!

klk111415 · March 2015

That's so frustrating! I started to consider looking into a florist but quickly stopped when I realized that I can just do it myself. I have multiple friends who made their own bouquets with fresh flowers and they all said it was easy (as long as you have a few pairs of hands to help out). So I'm going that route. And for the centerpieces I'm buying pumpkins and making centerpieces by gluing fake flowers to the pumpkins. If you don't cut the pumpkins they will last for months so whoever takes home the centerpiece will have something nice to display for thanksgiving. My fiance's aunt made a bunch last year and she's going to help me make them for the wedding. And my FMIL is going to order the flowers for me so I can get whatever I want. The store she works at sells them.

klk111415 · March 2015

My friend's bouquets... and this was her first time making them. All the flowers were under $200 from trader joes.

arrrghmatey · March 2015

Those arrangements are beautiful. I really wish I was crafty and that I had the time to do these things myself. I know lots of people say they don't have time when they are actually lazy or just don't want to do it themselves, but I really, *really* don't have the time. I have 13 hour workdays. And I'll be so busy right before the wedding dealing with (helpless) guests/family members who will be coming from out of town, which is the majority of the guest list. I'll be lucky if I get the flower girl bouquets done myself.

I think we've decided to use a black lantern on each table and surround them with fake fall leaves--just like the pumpkin photo, actually. And there will be tea lights on the tables, too. That will cost us a total of about $22 per table and will look nice in our darker, rustic looking venue.

klk111415 · March 2015

I know what you mean. I'm not sure how much time I'm even able to take off before the wedding. But I figure I can enroll my bridesmaids to help out. Love the lanterns idea! That will look really nice. That was my first idea but we are having a day wedding so I went with pumpkins instead. Hopefully I will be able to find enough of them and at a good price.

flutteringinfl · March 2015

klk111415 said:
I know what you mean. I'm not sure how much time I'm even able to take off before the wedding. But I figure I can enroll my bridesmaids to help out. Love the lanterns idea! That will look really nice. That was my first idea but we are having a day wedding so I went with pumpkins instead. Hopefully I will be able to find enough of them and at a good price.

Have your bridesmaids offered to help?

Yeah, flowers were definitely quite the expense. I decided to bite the bullet because my craft projects usually end up looking pretty awful. I also made sure I found a florist who understood flowers were not my top priority and I was looking to cut costs where possible. I figure with our venue literally being in a garden, there's no reason to overspend on MORE flowers.

klk111415 · April 2015

@flutteringinfl

Yep, they have offered to help! Most of them are very crafty and will be taking the the day before the wedding off to help me out. I also have my FH family who will be staying at the hotel with us so I'll have a lot of help from everyone. I enjoy doing crafts but I'll probably do a test bouquet closer to the date to be sure they come out good. I'm using sunflowers mostly. Flowers are just so expensive and bouquets are trader joes will cost me under $200 for sure. My friend made much larger bouquets and had more bridesmaids and she paid $160.

Knottie1989 · April 2015

We are getting married Nov 21 2015. We had our engagement party and have booked the church and venue, I have my dress, we have our wedding party selected and groomsman have been fitted for tuxes, bridesmaids have ordered dresses. We have our DJ, photographer and videographer. We just sent our save the dates! Next up-cake, limo and florists!

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