Since so many of my clients are couples who are planning their weddings from afar, I thought I would make my first post about the do’s and don’t’s of planning a destination wedding in Hawaii. It can definitely be a tricky and overwhelming job to tackle, so here are a few of my recommendations that will hopefully help you.
1. Do allow enough time for friends and family to plan their trip over with you. Many of your guests may need time to request vacations, plan their budgets etc. so giving them plenty of leeway, will help ease stress for everyone.
2. Do create a realistic budget upfront. Many of my clients have never planned or even given much consideration as to the costs for many of the wedding related items and vendor services they require. This is totally normal, as it isn’t everyday that one hires a videographer to follow them around for a day, right? So, in order to come up with a realistic budget, speak to someone who is familiar with the location and the vendors in the area who can give you some basic pricing for the various services you will need. Trying to plan a full scale wedding for 100 guests with $10,000. is probably a “little” unrealistic. So, speak to a wedding specialist before you get started in order to set your budget and make sure that you will be able to have the wedding of your dreams with the amount you have.
3. Do your homework. Hawaii is one of the most popular destinations in the world for weddings. There are many wedding vendors and many options for pretty much everything you will need. While I realize that all of the information out there online can be completely overwhelming, I just suggest that you cover all of your bases as you go thru the planning process. If someone offers to serve a meal for your 100 guests for $2000.00, I would really be a bit skeptical. If it sounds like too good of a deal, be a bit wary. There are many vendors here that do offer these types of deals, however, the quality and service that you will get will most likely be sub-standard. Ask your vendors if they know of, or have worked with your other vendors before, in order to get some feedback.
