We hope you have stocked up on airline miles because we are about to travel to a faraway land of warm temperatures, lush vegetation and some gorgeous destination weddings. That’s right, we are headed to Hawaii with this beautiful wedding on the island of Oahu! You can’t go wrong with a Hawaiian wedding, and this wedding is no exception with an intimate beach ceremony and a jaw-dropping post-nuptials photoshoot with a waterside backdrop. So lather up your sunscreen, and scroll below for more!
From the bride…
What was your vision for your wedding?
My vision was always to have a barn wedding, but that’s only because I always thought that I would be getting married in Minnesota. I never put much thought into my wedding further than just that – I thought I wanted a barn. When I was on vacation in Florida, with the trip to Hawaii already planned, someone mentioned that Eric (my fiance at the time) and I should just have a beach wedding. I instantly was on board and immediately started looking into how to plan and have a wedding in Hawaii. That’s when I found Simple Oahu Wedding and started to entertain the idea of a wedding in Hawaii potentially becoming my real wedding day and it fit me and my fiance.
What was the planning process like?
The planning process was quite unique for us. We actually had only seriously been talking about getting married for a couple of months prior to planning the wedding, and not to mention we still weren’t engaged!!! We communicated with Simple Oahu Wedding and everything was easy from there – they had the destination, they had the venue, they included flowers, photography, etc. The only thing I had to worry about was getting a dress and who was coming and I had three months to do so. Planning a wedding on the fly definitely had some very high stress but only because of the short time frame to the wedding and making sure our immediate family and close friends could make it, otherwise everything was a breeze. We planned the wedding, we got engaged (yes, in that order), and before we knew it, we were on our way to Hawaii for a vacation that turned into a destination wedding with friends and family.
How did you personalize your wedding day to reflect who you are as a couple?
We personalized our wedding day by bringing our own officiant who was my youth pastor when I was a child. He had been there in my walk to faith, my baptism, and finally, my wedding. By bringing our own officiant and having a personal connection, it was easy for us to talk about what we wanted in a ceremony and what we didn’t want which is huge since it was our day. In addition, I was able to bring a violinist that played while I walked the aisle and had the most beautiful flowers for the bouquet and my crown which was fitting for me because I have a giant flower tattoo on my arm… I love flowers. We were also able to work alongside the photographer to get the pictures we wanted and she was very understanding that I come from a photography background and had a vision that she made happen.
If you could offer one piece of wisdom to couples currently planning a wedding, what would it be?
One thing I would suggest for couples currently planning a wedding is to keep your eyes on your marriage. You may be planning a wedding and believe me, I know we all want it to be perfect, but at the end of the day, you are married. Planning a wedding is never perfectly graceful and learning to embrace every part of it makes it memorable and builds a bond between your future spouse and you. So many people get caught up in the planning and become overly stressed when it is about enjoying the process because you aren’t just planning a wedding but you are planning a lifetime of marriage beyond that. So my biggest advice is to enjoy planning the wedding with the person you love most because your wedding day will be special no matter what!
Did you love this beach wedding just as much as we did?! Be sure to check out these minimalist wedding ideas!