Hawaii Island Wedding ~ Putting it All Together

If the idea of planning your wedding in all its complexities on an island far away seems too difficult and too expensive, but would be your dream come true, read on.

Today someone who was looking at our website asked what we do. Do we send you to venues? Do we help you connect with whoever you might need?  The answer to those questions is that we start with your dreams and ideas. Once we have a good sense of what you are hoping for in terms of your wedding and how much money you want to spend, we move on to venue possibilities.  As we talk together, your wedding takes shape, and we take care of making sure it happens just as you wish.

We are the direct wedding planners for four distinctly different Hawaii Island venues.

• There is our Rainforest Pavilion at Kilauea volcano, in the midst of emerald green tree ferns, ohia lehua trees, surrounded by birdsong.  
• Daylight Mind is an oceanfront venue in Kailua Kona, where the upstairs event space is made exclusively available for the wedding, and you have the services of one of the most accomplished chefs on the island for your wedding feast. The sound of the waves breaking just below the deck and dolphins and whales in season out upon the water plus the promise of the sunset set the stage for your event.  
• The Kona Coffee Plantation includes layers of tropical gardens, an event tent, a dance floor, panoramic ocean views from South Kona up the Kohala Coast, and the choice of an authentic luau with fire dancers or the services of the same fine chef from Daylight Mind to complete your fest. With the latter selection, you can combine the sensibility of a wine country wedding with the soft breezes scented with plumeria and orchids of Hawaii. 
• Should you wish something more directly on the water, there is the private catamaran cruise, with or without an ukulele player and singer. You can choose to be married with dolphins as guests, and linger into the Hawaiian sunset on the ocean.  

In the process of selecting the venue, we talk about your anticipated number of guests, any special needs they or you may have, and plan the festivities to fit your budget.  If you anticipate a large number of guests and the only way that can work is if costs are minimized, we can show you ways to work that out so that your guests end up with a Hawaii vacation that costs about half what they would otherwise be spending even for budget travel.  If you are flush and have plans for something people would agree is the party of the decade, we would be delighted to help you with every marvelous detail.  We do not offer you a boatload of suggestions and leave you to sort through them.  As we help you make your plans, we talk about details in terms of wishes you have already communicated to us.

Your honeymoon stay is also on our radar.  We offer a treehouse stay in any package, and can arrange for a romantic cottage on the sand, or an oceanfront suite at one of the top resorts in the world, right here on this island.

Many wedding planners start with a color palette and go from there.  We start with who you are and what you see in your dreams.  We invite you to give us a call.  There is no charge for that conversation.  Let's talk about your wedding.

Aloha!
Please visit our website:   www.myhawaiiislandwedding.com

808-238-0633
Make Hawaii Island with its sun drenched promises your wedding destination 

First comes Yes, then comes Stress… or does it?

The Big Question has been asked and answered: yes, you are getting married. What is number one on the agenda?

Do you begin a set of Pinterest boards dedicated to everything from invitations to napkin folds? Do you visit wedding sites looking for inspiration or something that looks like your own style? Do you begin to look at this wedding venue and that, within a short drive, or maybe a longer drive?  Do you sign up to have vendors contact you, where you are asked to pick colors and describe the wedding you want but have not yet put together?

All this makes sense on many levels, as you want your wedding to be the very best party you have ever been to. It is also certain to begin to add to your stress level, as your weekends are given over to visiting venues while answering calls from friends and family whose well meaning advice and serious questions begin to make you wonder if it is OK to reduce your guest list based on who annoys you the most. The fantasy of you, stress free, in a hammock overlooking the ocean on a golden beach seems as far away as the moon.

Your prospective mother-in-law suggests you can save money and please all your friends by throwing a vegetarian potluck in the park, and you find yourself shrieking that you do not intend to turn your friends into a catering service. She smiles wickedly (did she ever seem wicked before? Will she ever seem sweet again?) and suggests you go with her friend Margot's catering service then. She has a brochure for you, featuring snails and pureed meats on crackers. You try to smile and briefly wonder if that sick feeling in your stomach might mean on top of everything else you are pregnant.

But, as it turns out you have a fairy godmother. She visits your room while you are sitting on your bed getting it for the first time other why some couples elope somewhere far far away. She leads you outside to the porch swing and waves her magic wand in the air.

"Here is where we start," she smiles at you. "Let's talk about the money. How much are you going to spend on this gorgeous party?"

You give her the impossibly low number of dollars you know you can get your hands on and add in a thousand from your credit line. She says, "Great! Now let's get started."

Over the next hour or so she walks through your fantasy with you. As you tell her things, she shows you pictures. Once in awhile she says things like "If you are willing to stray a little from convention and go with a table seating chart instead of place tags, we can get you that light curtain and stay on track with your budget."

When your mother calls the next day to offer up her friend Helene to make your wedding dress and save you money over store bought, you smile and tell her your fitting appointment is already in the works.  It was a small fib, and not the first or last you will tell during this process, but you know there will be a fitting and there will be a wedding, without snails.

This is the role of the wedding designer. This person begins with the given of how much money you are going to spend,  takes your wishes of what the elements of the wedding should be, and almost like magic puts it all together to become all you want it to be. Generally this can happen without a potluck in the park.

If it is a Hawaii Island wedding you might be interested in, we are here, wand in hand. And yes, you could be in that hammock, at that very spot. It can all happen.

www.myhawaiiislandwedding.com