Tink5

Hey there, Congrats on your upcoming wedding. Hawaii is so amazing. We just had our wedding less than 2 weeks ago. It was incredible. We had 42 guests come to Hawaii to share our day with us. We picked Paradise Cove for our ceremony. It is about 45 minutes outside of Waikiki. They have private grounds where you can get married. We chose The Point, as it was on the grass but right near the ocean. I didn't want to be walking in the sand for the ceremony. We stayed in Waikiki and had our reception back there at Tikis Grill and Bar. We rented The Coconut Club on the 21st floor for our event. It was incredible. Right on the beach with a stunning panoramic view of Waikiki. It is located in the Aston Waikiki Beach Hotel (we actually stayed at this hotel too and it was great!) We chose to have a buffet style dinner which saved us a lot of money and was SO DELICIOUS. We loved the food. We didn't use a wedding planner. We organised everything ourselves and made sure we had contact with all vendors the week leading up to and day before the event. All of our vendors were fabulous. On time, professional and went above and beyond all our expectations. I was a little bit nervous about not having a planner. I had considered a "day of" planner but decided against it as it was an extra cost. And I am so glad we didn't get one, it would have been a waste of money (in our case) because it wasn't necessary. Our budget was a little higher than yours, but we decided on a few extra things that were a little more expensive (eg. Ice cream sundae bar instead of wedding cake). But I totally believe you could do it by yourself for 15k. Let me know if you have any questions!! Good luck with all your planning

You could check out ACCEL rentals http://www.accelrentals.com/ I didn't use them but have heard they are good. I had my wedding reception upstairs in the Coconut Club a week ago! It was fantastic. We used their chairs, and I agree they aren't so crash hot. But no one was even looking at chairs because the view is just so amazing!! We used Debbie from Designs by Hemingway to decorate the room and she did a fantastic job. Good luck with all your planning.

Hey girls, I am Australian and this is an Australian site, so not sure how much it will help everyone. But it is FABULOUS. We are ordering our koozies from this company. http://www.coolaz.com.au/ You can get each koozie personalised with your guests names! And you can select from their designs OR send them your own picture and they will do the design work for free until you are satisfied.

Wow, some of you girls are so awesome!! I might have to look into making up little bags of goodies for our attendants too. As of right now, their gifts for the weddings day are: Bridesmaids: I had their jewellery made for them by an amazing jewellery designer, just outside of Toronto (she will also, design for anyone and ship it to you). I was fortunate enough to go into her studio and work with her to personally pick the jewels to be used for the earrings and necklaces. She also designed my wedding jewellery too Monica at Glam Julz http://glamjulz.com/ I included 2 pics... The first was with the flash and makes the clearish jewels look pink, which they are definitely not. Hopefully you get the idea. They are absolutely gorgeous in real life! I . Groomsmen: My Fi has a watch obsession (like a lot of guys!) Seeing as I spent quite a bit on my girls dresses and jewellery, he decided that he wanted to treat the boys with matching watches. He chose a Nixon watch with blue faces (to match our wedding colours) - cute.

That is too funny!! Really nice idea to do it just the two of you. The week leading up is going to be hectic. Especially with friends and family - so many people to see. I won't have seen my family for one and a half years :-( CAN'T FREAKING WAIT :)

Cool!! I'll have to get the boys to check that one out. And those tours at Kualoa sound so cool. We are meeting up with the boys around 5pm that evening in Waikiki as we are going on the Nahoku 2 catamaran cruise. 90 minutes all you can drink!! http://www.nahokuii.com/ Thanks for the info

I'm having the exact same issues. Boys are deep sea fishing and we are doing hula lessons followed by lunch. Still, want to find something else to do. Cocktails by the pool are always fun, but it would be nice to have an actual activity! I'd love to do a hike or walk, but not everyone is outdoorsy... I've got my bridesmaids onto it, so I will let you know if they come up with anything!!!!