We decided on Hanalei Bay in Kauai!

Yea! So much of our wedding planning has gone to our Big Fake Wedding at home, and not a lot of time or thought has been put into our Small Real Wedding in HI. The reason for this is since I work for an airline, we get to fly from SEA to LIH (Lihue, HI) for free, and we get employee rates at hotels, so I haven't really planned much for this legal wedding part, since we (and actually all 12 people that will be at this legal wedding) have to fly standby, and book the hotel much closer to the day we are going to actually travel (very unlike "real" people haha).

Doug and I have been trying to find a beach near where our hotel will be that is not a long drive, but somewhere beautiful and memorable. We stumbled upon Hanalei Bay when googling HI weddings, and decided it would be perfect! An hours drive from the LIH airport, and we loved how the name means "making lei's" since we will be having a lei ceremony to present our moms with lei's!

I was going to try and post some pics that made us cement our decision, but the stupid work computer isn't loving photobucket right now, so I'll do it later

Also thanks to Christine who posted a thread about Hanalei, so when I wanted to see if anyone on BDW had heard of it, I could!

I will soon be posting a list of recommended restaurants in Kauai. If there is anything in particular about Kauai that you need please let me know. I have a great guide book.

Best,

Jessica

Thanks Jessica!

I am interested in info on an evening luau, the cool kind with the food, dancers, fire shows, all the good stuff. We want to do this as our mini-reception/celebration the night of the ceremony, but not quite sure how to go about it. The hotel we will probably be at does not offer this. Anything on Luau's in the book?

The Beach House is a resturant in Kauai that is a must go to place. The food is terrific and view is amazing - it is best if you can make a reservation for close to sun set time - it is one of our favorite places to go! Enjoy!

I was just there in January! Hanalei Bay is beautfiul!!! Just know that side of the island rains more...but it rains in Hawaii all of the time.

I love Tidepools and Roy's...so yummy.

We went to the Beach House and had a very bad experience. That was just us, but both of our dishes were unedible. We were upset since it was so highly recommended. Oh well...that was the only bad meal we had.

I am jealous...can I come to your wedding

That is so cool! Congrats on the decision

I love Hanalei Bay - it's so picturesque and perfect!

(we did a snorkel boat trip that went along the NaPali coast and it was stunning - I highly recommend it!)

congrats on the location!

Congrats!!! that is so awesome!!