Looking for Advice?

[hawaiianprincess]

Hi,

 

I want to get married in Oahu, and I have scouted out some places. I would like a really small venue for maybe about 20 people, and some place for the reception.

 

I would like an open bar for my guests, and I would like to have all the little details planned out, however I don't want to get a wedding planner, because I think for a group of 20 it would be fairly easy (perhaps not dummy proof, so thank goodness for these forums!).

 

I need some advice on how to proceed. Also me and my fiance are Canadian, so would we need our marriage licence from here in order to me wed in Hawaii?

 

Anything would be a great help.

 

xoxo

[BlondeLlamaTreww]

Maybe you can try booking a restaurant? A lot of them will have on-site coordinators, so you won't have to hire one. I'm getting married in 2 months with about 30 guests, and have yet to really need anything but my resort coordinator who is basically just overseeing set-up.

 

My fiance is a German national, and I'm an American. I don't know how it'll work for the Canadian government, but all the Germans want is a certified copy of our marriage license for their records. You can always call and ask your local courthouse.

 

If you have any other questions, just let me know. I have some really great vendors, including a production company that's providing a guitar/dj/hula show package at an incredible price.

[hawaiianprincess]

Blondellamaatreww, I will trade you a photographer who has amazing pictures and is really incredible for your guitar/dj/hula show package. I know an amazing photographer who has incredible rates!

[BlondeLlamaTreww]

I have a photographer, and I'm in love with her work. We were pleasantly surprised to learn that she was featured in a bridal magazine not too long after we booked her, and her pricing still wasn't outrageous.

 

I'll still give you the DJ as a freebie =]

 

Home Page

 

I'm working with David Asing. He's going to be our guitarist as well as DJ. We saw him in action and were pretty pleased with his performance skills. The dancers are apparently women who have retired from the Polynesian Cultural Center to start families and now just dance on the side for extra cash.

[BlondeLlamaTreww]

And maybe check this place out as a venue =]

Ola at Turtle Bay Resort - Hawaii North Shore Oahu Restaurant

[hawaiianprincess]

Oh wow, awesome. Thank you so much!

[TA Dina]

It will all depend on how elaborate or simple you want the entire event. Yes, you can choose a restaurant and the coordinator there can arrange all of the reception activities for you. But as far as the ceremony, are you looking to do it on a beach, at a resort, at a private home? You'll need permits for the beach, you'll pay site fees for a resort/home. Many times this is where a wedding planner, photographer, TA etc can help out and save you time, headaches and money when planning. Remember when choosing places like the North Shore or the west coast of the island, you don't have that many resorts to choose from, so you either have to stay at those particular places, or drive out to your ceremony/reception the day of (meaning transportation expenses).

 

It's not hard to do, but there are alot of little details you'll need to figure out first to then decide the best way to go. If you're doing a hotel site and restaurant reception, you should be good to go on your own. Anything else, I'd recommend getting additional help (& I'm an Oahu bride myself who just hired her own wedding planner-and I've only got 6 guests). And as usual we always recommend using a TA for travel arrangements