Traveling to Hawaii on the Cheap

Alyssa · March 18, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by shoediva

Alyssa,
I sent you a PM asking where you got your wedding flip flops. I cant find any with a high enough wedge.

sure! i got them at www.myglassslipper.com

I love your wedding! Beautiful in every way. What went in your guest bags and did you do them or have a compnay in hawaii do them? I'd love a referral for that.

Thank you! we did the OOT bags ourselves - i just bought the $0.99 canvas totes and printed a logo out that i designed in powerpoint. as for the contents - we had a lot of stuff - i think there is a thread somewhere around here that i posted a list on - if i find it i will post for you.

also i had these AMAZING custom mini story books done by our very own Sarah from Sproullie Designs - http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t17698

boy the OOT bags were a PITA to put together once we got there - i really let that stress me out

one really good thing is that since it is the U.S. we shipped like 9 boxes (OOT bag contents, bridal party gifts, reception decor, paper products, misc) USPS and it was pretty cheap - it just took like 2 weeks which was fine with me!

Our wedding is at the Four Seasons on the big island. Our family and friends are staying at the Hilton waikola down the road...we are too, except that I will stay at the four seasons the night before the wedding. The Hilton was great with us as far as group rates etc. They gave us a suite for most of the stay and the preseidental suite for the last two nights at a great price. We couldnt get the four season to offer much of a rate to our group. I think they took $25 off published rates. So the Hilton gets our 30 plus rooms of business.

yes the Four Seasons was right next door to Kona Village - we wound up having our Rehearsal Dinner there at the Four Seasons b/c believe it or not it was cheaper to have a meal than Kona Village. Also some of our TTD pics were from the Four Seasons pool (OMG they ahve the MOST amazing heated, salt-water, infinity pool - awesome!)

We had dinner at a Sushi place over at the Hilton Waikola - that complex is HUGE - there are a lot of cool places and the beach is really nice!

are you doing any group activities? how many people are you having?

so exciting!!!!

Im sure it will be great....but there have been some "slip ups" with the Four Season so its making me a bit uneasy. We choose them because of their service. They usually take all headaches out of any event or stay, but it hasnt been that way. Im sure it will all come together fine, but extra stress I didnt expect, or need as a bride from the four season.

also - we found it was much cheaper to fly to Oahu and connect to KOA then fly direct from the East Coast.

litl_april · March 18, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by KimmyG

You said your flight was pretty low priced... can you share how much? I initially wanted to do the wedding in Hawaii but flight/hotel prices would have scared all our guests away. I hope they keep coming down because I haven't booked anything yet!
Thanks for the article!

We booked our trip mostly as a package with airfare, hotel, and car. We are flying in to Maui and out of Honolulu (we are taking a ferry between the two islands). From Des Moines, IA this "round trip" was about $600 a piece. I imagine it could have been even cheaper if we would have flown in to Oahu as well. To give you an idea of what the flight would have been alone, I entered the exact flight in to yapta.com and the tickets were being sold for about $1500 each.
Depending on where you are in Ohio (not familiar with the town!), if you were thinking of flying out of Chicago by chance, I know my aunt lives in that area and her flight looked like it would be even cheaper yet, but I don't remember what the price was on this one.
For my parents and siblings, they are going to Honolulu for 2 nights prior and then coming to Maui. Their entire trip for 5 days plus airfare was $5000 for 5 of them. When we searched last year before prices started dropping my parents were expecting around $8000 for this. So it's really all a matter of searching and watching for the deals.
Hopefully the prices do keep dropping for you! Happy planning! If you would like any more info feel free to let me know!