I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to talk about the wedding, which was now about 2 months ago (wow, time really does fly!!!). I thought it would be fun to talk a bit about the wedding process before I shared all the wedding photos with you.
I thought I should mention (just incase you’ve missed posts where I talk about this). I really never believed in weddings. I’m not one of those girls who loves flipping through Bridal mags and I have never watched any kind of Bridal reality TV show. I think all the traditions that go along with a wedding are kinda of crazy and weddings somehow end up turning into this big production which only causes stress for the family and more importantly the couple getting married. Weddings should be about the love you and your other half have for each other. Once I did decide on a wedding, I though it might actually be kind of a beautiful way to say I love you and celebrate that moment with my family. However, I made sure that during the whole process to the day of the “I do’s” everything would be all for just John and I and no one else. We did everything exactly as we wanted and have no care about opinions of others. We spent money where we wanted and cut back where we thought it wasn’t important. We threw so many traditions out the door and definitely had a non traditional wedding. In the end, everything was perfect so good thing we did! I don’t regret anything. Our best and first decision John and I made was picking our dream location. We would have eloped if it meant being able to be in our perfect little world. We didn’t need anyone else of course, having our friend and family there was a beautiful bonus.
John and I decided to have a destination wedding in Maui, Hawaii. I know, seems super over the top, but John and I travel to Hawaii every single year and it always felt like a honeymoon spot for us. Every single trip to Hawaii was and is always magical, memorable and pretty damn perfect. I remember when we started talking about a wedding and with no doubts in our minds we both said… Hawaii!
I knew that if I was having a destination wedding, I wanted it to feel like home. I had in mind a beachside wedding (obvi… duh) with a private home where we could have both the ceremony and reception. I’ve always been one to hate when weddings make us travel all around from ceremony to reception and I wanted my guests to feel comfortable.
John and I even checked out all the hotels just to make sure we were not ruling anything out, but nothing was intimate enough, close enough to the water or even close to the vibe we wanted. There were old stuffy hotels, far away from the ocean, touristy hotels right on the ocean (complete with stranger onlookers) and places that would have left us SUH damn broke for no good reason. After searching high and low we finally found Olowalu Plantation House which was a private old plantation home right next to the ocean. I love the fact that we didn’t have tourists running around or random onlookers being a part of our special day.
After we found the location, finding the right dress made a little more sense. I knew I wanted something ethereal, boho, beachy but also elegant as soon as I picked out the venue. Stay tuned I will definitely have more wedding updates shortly!
Here are a few tips for picking the perfect wedding venue:

• Know your guestlist count before you start searching. Trust me.. this one is the most important.
• Figure out when you want your wedding to be and call around to see if the venue is open around those dates.
• On that note, venues book up damn quick so get on it!
• Know the special requirements of the venue before you say yes. Some venues are super strict while other are not. Depends on what vibe you want and who your guests are.
• Bring a notebook to jot things down and remember to take photos. Video is the best also so you can later share with your family or coordinator when your deciding.
• Make appointments for everything
• If you can have a coordinator before hand. Most venues like to know who your coordinator is when you go visit.

Photos by me and Love and Water Photogragphy