Info on ceremony/reception venues

Because I had a really difficult time choosing a location on Oahu for our wedding, I thought I might pass along some information I got from the various venues I contacted for anyone else who may be looking for information regarding ceremony and reception venues.

We started out wanting a beach wedding. It was something I never thought I'd be able to budge on until I found out that not many places outside of resorts offer chairs or decorations for wedding ceremonies. For some people, this may be totally doable, but for us it was not okay as both of our mothers have medical issues that would make standing in the sand uncomfortable for that amount of time.

There are a variety of internet package sites that do offer the option of a beach wedding with chairs and arbors, but they charge quite a bit of money and none of them are close to Waikiki. The best way to do something like this would be to rent a home on the beach and rent out the chairs and arbor yourself. We felt that would be too stressful without a coordinator, so that option was out.

However, here is at least one online wedding package site that offers chairs and an arbor in case anyone would be interested in that:

A Fairytale Wedding

Next, we contacted this cute little place called The Bayer Estate. Let me just say that I have seen many pictures of this place from different photographers and it seems so very, very cool. The woman I spoke to on the phone was fantastic - friendly, very helpful, and so very nice! I would honestly grab this place up in a heartbeat if I had the money. However, I do not.

It is quite expensive. The site fee is around $2500 for 2.5 hours for the evening time slot and $1500 for morning time slots. Should you decide to have both ceremony and reception there, you must either choose the evening time slot or book the two morning slots together. If you go over the 2.5 hours (which you undoubtedly will), it is $500 for every hour you go over. Any time required by catering takes away from this time frame, so it's really quite expensive.

What is included for this price? Well, you get the whole place to yourself which includes a wonderful garden overlooking the beach. Fresh flowers in the rooms, water and fans for guests, a coordinator, and other small touches are included. However, chairs and linens are not - so they will cost extra.

You are allowed to bring in any outside vendors and your own alcohol, though, so that is a huge plus.

If you have the money to book this either for reception or ceremony, I highly recommend looking at this venue. It is just very funky and cool!

The Outrigger Waikiki now offers wedding packages for $2900 (this has gone up since I last looked - before it was $1350)

Here are the amenities:

2,900 USD - Wedding Package

* Licensed, non-demoninational officiator

* 1 hour professional photographer

* CD of unedited digital photographs

* Contemporary Hawaiian guitar soloist

* Floral bouquet for the bride

* Flower lei for the groom

* Wedding trellis set on the Voyager Lanai overlooking Waikiki Beach

* Guest seating for 30

* All applications and filing fees

Pricing with options:

3,650 USD Ceremony on deck with Voyager Conference Room reception

6,300 USD Ceremony on deck with Voyager Conference Room and outdoor tent reception

If you or your family are military, the Hale Koa has some awesome looking options. We do not qualify for this, but it does look quite awesome!

The folks at Tiki's Grill have been fantastic, and even though we decided not to do our reception here, we are still considering this restaurant for our welcome dinner because the food looks DELISH! In case anyone is looking for a fun, casual reception site, there are many options at this place - each with a different feel. If you choose the private Coconut Club for a Friday night, you get a free fireworks show viewed from the roof (which is where the Coconut Club is located).

Now, I have saved the best for last because it is the place I chose!! And I am so excited right now!

After finally reaching outside of my beach wedding realm, I came across the site for Haiku Gardens. It is stunning! And the best part is that it is affordable!

Packages start at $2800 (which includes high quality photography, decorations, CHAIRS!!!, site fee and wedding coordinator among other things), and if you choose to have a reception at the restaurant that overlooks the gardens, as long as you have an evening reception the site fee is waved. I highly recommend checking this place out if you get the chance.

So, there are my pre-wedding venue-searching reviews! I hope this helps anyone who may be looking at Oahu for their destination.

Hey Annabanana,

What wedding company did you end up going with and which wedding company do they use in Hawaii?

I'm using destinationweddings.com

They really weren't that helpful in regards to giving me information (I have since switched "specialists").

A Fairy Tale Wedding and A Dream Wedding Hawaii were the two that were recommended to me by them but I didn't choose either.

My WC cost comes with the site fee for Haiku Gardens and is pretty freaking awesome, so I'm glad that I found her!

And the same package for $2900 is also now available at the Outrigger Reef on the Beach. Fabulous hotel for moderate budgets.

Thanks Annabanana this information is so helpful!

I've just started planning our Hawaii wedding (from Sydney Australia) and it looks like we're looking for similar things.

I've actually been to Tiki's Grill and you're right, the food is AMAZING! We ended up going there twice because the food was so good (and you can get your drink in a coconut!).

In your research did you come across Loulu Palms Estate? We're looking at them as a venue welcome to beach weddings in hawaii

Cheers

Kate

Hey Kate,

I too am from Sydney.

If you need any help to do with anything, let me know.

You can check out my planning thread for any ideas!

I am currently in Hawaii now! 6 more days!

My fiance and I checked out the Outrigger and a couple other places in Waikiki before we decided we wanted to have our wedding in a more intimate setting. We wanted a beach wedding, but the Waikiki beaches are always so crowded (esp. in August), and none of the hotels could promise us any privacy. We decided on Turtle Bay Resort. I highly recommend checking it out. They have several ceremony and reception options. We're getting married on the public beach, which is saving us some money so we could book the reception venue we really loved. The $1000 for the beach includes setup, blocked access to the area for 2 hours, chairs for up to 50 guests, and tables for the marriage license.

The reception location we chose is actually what couples commonly use for their ceremony. It's an all glass pavilion and lawn that feeds into the ocean. We got to go in February for a tasting and to tour the area, and we're so excited. The food is AMAZING, and from the chefs at their 5star restaurants. But the best thing is that the buffet option we chose is under $100/pp. The bar is $55/pp and that is for the upgraded option and 4 hours of mixed/blended and wine/beer.

http://turtlebayresort.com/Romance/w...s_overview.asp

Thank you for let me the part of your discussion! Thanks for sharing these views about Reception venues in Los Angeles. It is helpful for me. Actually I was looking a reception hall in LA for my brother’s marriage reception party.

Thanks for sharing.