All posts tagged Hawaii elopements

So, you’re thinking about eloping in Hawaii? How exciting! As Hawaii wedding coordinators, we love seeing brides and grooms make their Hawaii elopement dreams come true. Our awesome couples travel from all over the world to enjoy a gorgeous destination wedding in Hawaii with just the two of them. Despite how wonderful a Hawaii elopement can be we see a lot of couples experience unnecessary stress over eloping. Here are five wedding planning tips from brides and grooms to make eloping in Hawaii simple and stress free.

Make Eloping in Hawaii Everything You Want With a Solid Plan

When one of our recent couples Alex and Carlos chose to elope in Hawaii, they made a list of of what was important to them — both of them. This way when the time came to make important decisions about what to include in their ceremony and what to pass on, they knew their priorities. 

This is a great example of making sure your elopement is what both of you want it to be. After all, you’re eloping in Hawaii because you wanted your wedding to be about each other. Couples often loose sight of what ‘they’ originally wanted when looking at what other couples have done for their elopements. Don’t loose sight of what you want and who you are in your nuptial planning. This is your chance to do exactly what you want uninhibited and make your elopement in Hawaii all yours. Having a solid wedding plan allows you to refer back to it when making choices and keeps you anchored in what matters most to you as a couple and eliminates confusion.

Understand the Differences From a Traditional Wedding

So, you’re starry-eyed in love and excited for your romantic wedding adventure in Hawaii. While your friends are stressing over their wedding plans trying to fit in what everyone who is paying for the affair wants, you think you totally got away with something by eloping to Hawaii. Then you get on Facebook and see photos from someone’s reception — they are surrounded by friends and family having a great time, wishing them lots of love. Then it hits you. You won’t have someone to walk you down the aisle. Only you will be brought to tears by your vows. Your wedding won’t be a social event. Then you remember why you wanted to elope in the first place. Weddings are about two people in love, not a whole entourage of people you kind of know and a few key friends and loved ones. Just remember why you decided eloping in Hawaii was such a great idea, less stress and everything you dreamed of in a wedding experience. Oh yeah, and when you get home you can have an amazing wedding reception so people can drool over the breathtaking photos of  your dream wedding in Hawaii so you won’t be missing out.

Get Great Wedding Photos

Since your friends and family won’t be attending your wedding, you should share the day with them through amazing wedding photos. Hire a Hawaii wedding photographer who is able to capture not only the fabulous bride & groom portraits, but also photos that capture the style of your Hawaii elopement. If the photographer is good they should be able to capture the full look of the beach or venue and the way you both were feeling. Beach photography can be challenging to capture perfectly with extremely bright and harsh light.  A true experienced professional will know how to handle it, or any other weather or lighting situation that might occur on your wedding day.

Keep photography at the forefront of your wedding budget especially for an elopement. Wedding photography is going to be what tells the story of your amazing day for the rest of your life and it needs to be great. Make sure you choose a photographer who can really capture your wedding day to show just how romantic and beautiful it was while reflecting your personalities and capturing your surroundings. Just remember you won’t get an amazing Hawaii wedding story with low-budget photography from an ill experienced wedding photography company.

Speaking of Budget…

Be Budget Friendly

Weather you’re eloping in Hawaii because of how romantic it is or because of its cost effectiveness (or both), it’s still important to stay within your budget. We don’t mean make your wedding cheap (unless that’s what you want), we just mean don’t spend more money than you need to. It’s just the two of you, so you may not need a lot of the traditional wedding aspects meant for guest enjoyment.

Maybe you don’t really need a musician — you just want to play your favorite song from a portable speaker or wed to only the sound of crashing waves. You can definitely skip on the excessive floral. You came all the way to Hawaii to get married with beautiful scenery, there’s no need to go overboard on your floral budget. Refer back to your list as you make spending decisions (big and small, since small stuff adds up), so that you know what’s worth digging in your pockets for and what’s just as well to skip.

When you consider your budget you’ll be able to splurge on the things that matter to you, weather it’s a fancy dinner, 5-star accommodations, or fun activities while you’re in Hawaii. Just don’t give up something really important to you that you may regret leaving out of your budget. Skimping on on things really important to you can be worse than saving a few extra bucks when you look back. Wedding budget can be a double edged sword so refer to your plan.

Hire a Wedding Coordinator

Hiring a coordinator is a must if you’ve never been to Hawaii before or if you want to keep things super stress free. A good Hawaii wedding coordinator knows all the best vendors, ceremony spots, scheduling, and wedding tips. Your coordinator should live on the island where you’re planning to elope and have excellent reviews. You will definitely be able to find Hawaii wedding packages that fit a small destination wedding like yours. They’ll put together all the fine details of your ceremony and be a great resource for anything you book yourself, such as dinner afterwards or activities. A wedding coordinator is your local source of all information, and they’ll worry about your wedding day so you don’t have to.

If you want to have the best elopement in Hawaii possible, listen to your planner’s advice. Fill them in on your vision and idea of how you want your wedding to be. You’ll be able to work as a team to make eloping in Hawaii everything you dreamed it would be!