Hawaii Wedding: Time to Start Over?

Ko Olina is my favorite beach in Oahu. I would hold out for there because it’s amazing!

I could’ve wrote this post. I can 100% relate to you. We originally booked with Wedding of Hawaii for July 2020, now I want to change my venue, but dh is hesitant to book far in advance since we postpone for August 2022. He wanted to wait to book until a few months before August 2022. He is worried things changes again and make us lose deposit again. The new venue is asking 50% which is $2,000 which is non refundable.

I had to start all over. Early last year, we started planning a 250 person wedding in New Orleans in January 2021 and had everything booked (venue, Baker, florist, DJ, hair and makeup, photographer and videographer). Then the pandemic hit and in person gatherings were limited. As the summer rolled around, we realized that restrictions (although they had been somewhat loosened) would still be in place and would not allow us to have the wedding we had planned. I was sad,
angry and upset — I stopped planning altogether for a couple of months. We had planned to party for our wedding and didn’t want to be limited to a party in New Orleans with our non drinking parents and my grandma. So we completely changed the plan — location included. We decided to have a 20 person wedding in Destin, Florida. We decided that we would not cheat ourselves from a full wedding experience (I.e., we probably spent way more
than the average 20 person wedding). Once we made that decision and we fell in love with a venue, the zest for planning came back. I was excited again to find and secure vendors and continue planning our wedding.
And 4 weeks after my wedding, I am still thinking about what an amazing day it was. It was better than I could have ever imagined.
Hang in there! It gets better once you come up with your game plan and find a venue you love - even if it’s not in your original location.

Covid has certainly made wedding planning an adventure. It’s funny because we’re considering the opposite. We’re thinking of scratching our plans and having something small in Hawaii.

View Quoted Comment We’ve decided to hold out a little longer!

View Quoted Comment Thank you so much for sharing your story and for the advice! I definitely feel like destination wedding brides have had a rough go. I’m so happy that you were able to rearrange your plans and that everything turned out amazing and congratulations on your nuptials! ❤️

I recently spoke with our contact at the Four Seasons who informed me that their staff are returning tomorrow! I feel that this is good news since it’ll be the first time they’ve returned since the onset of the pandemic. We’ve decided to stay true to our original plans and wait just a little longer to hopefully have the wedding of our dreams. It was a rather intimate (<20 people) event to begin with and with the pandemic the number of confirmed guests will certainly go down further. Our hope is that the governor will allow vaccinated individuals the option to travel to the island without needing to provide a negative test in the 72 hour window or worry about quarantining. Currently, we’re looking at late 2020 or Spring 2022. I was informed that should the resort need to close again due to the pandemic, we would receive a refund as we did the first time around and all of our vendors have been absolutely wonderful. Im. Im not sure which venue you’re working with but maybe try looking into other options. Inquire about their refund policies should cancellations and closures arise again and ask to get the language in the contract to make you more comfortable. Today I purchased this frame to further my recommitment to our plans. It’ll sit on the table with our guest book, which is actually a vintage map of the Hawaiian islands. I hope to hear good news from you! In a way, we’re in this together ❤️