Weekend, Holiday, and Special Dates Weddings

Hey guess what? In Hawaii, everyone goes to the beach on the weekend (especially on holiday weekends) and beaches and parks are used for all sorts of events (which we cannot anticipate), so it's busy, it's crowded, and parking is a real problem. The larger the wedding the greater these circumstances will affect your event.

We don't suggest or recommend weekends and we suggest you avoid weekends if possible. Consequently, the responsibility is solely yours for all of our locations we suggest if you choose a weekend and for any outcomes for our service affected by a weekend date.

Can you still have your wedding on a weekend or holiday? Of course you can, we just want you to be prepared for what you can expect.

If you must have your wedding on a Saturday or Sunday, here are some locations we suggest. For special numerical dates, we'll let you know. FYI: The times we give offer the best chances of avoiding weekend madness, but they are by no means a guaranty of anything (remember, we suggest weekdays) and if you want, we can go at any time you suggest.

Waimanalo Beach - This is the least busy of all our beaches during any day of the week. Best in the mornings before people start coming to the beach, 10 am is usually good or earlier. FYI: If you are having more than 25 people, we will be using the beach park location (instead of our other location down the beach) and this location can be busy on the weekends irrespective of the time.

Makapuu Beach - At 10:00 am or earlier. The parking lost is just too small and it gets full soon after. We won't go there any later, sorry.

Waialae Beach - At or before 10:00 am and possibly 11 am ( 11 am if you use our transportation and don't need parking). The parking lot is small and it gets full quickly.

Magic Island - Can be all day up to 1 hour before sunset. Parking has been a problem at all times of the day (even with it's huge parking lot), especially in the summer. Saturday mornings throughout the Spring months are not available as they have High School canoe races. Some summer weekends may also have big events which we try to keep track of, but we can't always do this so it's at your own risk. Late afternoons are also usually busy.

Portlock Beach - Late afternoon 1 hour before sunset. Limited to 15 or less people. Fall/Winter months are best for sunset view so we don't go there in the Spring/Summer.

Weekend flat rate fees: We can extra for weekend weddings. See our Order Form for costs.

Why extra fees for weekends?

We use "real" wedding professionals and as you may expect, just as where you live, weekends are when "locals" have their big, traditional, wedding ceremonies. Consequently, this is when the best ministers, photographers, videographers, musicians, florists get paid the "real" cost for their services.

For example, hotels will charge $300 to $400 for a minister (actually, they do that during the weekdays as well :) photographers and videographers charge significantly more for their services and rarely take small 1 hour jobs, many florists won't even do small weddings, and many limousines want 3+ hour minimums. Considering this, paying our weekend flat rate is a pretty good deal!

FYI: For large traditional style weddings at a paid site like a hotel or private estate, expect to pay regular vendor local rates for our services. Sorry, you won't be getting beach wedding prices for what is a regular traditional wedding. With that said, we'll do everything possible to work with our vendors to get you the best rates for the services. And we'll of course, coordinate all the services you secure through us.

Why do we charge more for special dates like 11/11/11, 12/12/12, etc?

Simply, these dates are big income days for us and everyone else and when you get more inquiries than you can handle (or want to handle) and when you know you will get fully booked, you charge more. It's simply good business for us, our vendors, and our clients. Why is it good for you?

We won't do 10-15 weddings in a single day and pack it in like other companies do and we don't use "pick-up" vendors who we do not know (and wouldn't use regularly) just to cover our jobs for that day. If we charged less to book as many weddings as possible, we'd have to use inexperienced people to perform your services. On 10/10/10, we heard of companies using officiates and photographers who had no or very little wedding experience at all.

Most importantly, say you reserve a small, simple, affordable wedding on the beach. What do you think happens when the company you booked starts getting more and more inquiries from people wanting bigger packages and are willing to pay more? With no extra incentive, you may be canceled at the last minute for someone willing to pay more! Yes, it happens, it happens all the time, and they get back to us too late.

Look, we're very up-front. We charge more because on these dates we know that there are people willing to pay more. But we don't charge more than what we normally charge for a weekend flat rate fee and as we have stated above, it's better for you.

What happened on 10/10/10?

Waialae/Kahala Beach was a circus from what we heard. Weddings going on at the same time up and down the beach next to each other with music, conch shell... what a racket, all day long, ridiculous! The parking lot was a mess, no parking, and limos all over the place. Think 11/11/11 or 12/12/12 will be any different? We already know that some companies (our friends) will be camped out all day at Waialae or Magic Island all day long. We were at our special spot all day and it was great.