4th of July wedding Help (Thanks to love_2_travel for your...

love_2_travel: Thank you for posting information about Ft. DeRussy on the 4th of July.

I don%26#39;t mind some people on the beach during my wedding - I was just concerned about standing in between hot pink umbrellas and guys in Speedos while saying my vows!

My fiance and I are getting married in a short, beach ceremony, with professional pictures taken during and after (portraits mostly right after the ceremony), and then probably going to dinner. We aren%26#39;t sure exactly where we%26#39;re going to eat yet - maybe at the Hale Koa (where my family is staying), or at the Halekulani (where my *husband* and I are going to be staying for two nights after the wedding).

We%26#39;d very much appreciate any help in deciding what kinds of activities to do after the ceremony. We%26#39;re getting married at 4pm, taking pictures after, then going to dinner. Is there a good spot to watch fireworks? (I think that would be very romantic, watching fireworks with all our close friends and family.)

Also, I don%26#39;t know yet where to get my hair done, where to purchase nice flowers (leis for the groomsmen, a traditional wedding lei for my groom, those crown-type leis for my bridesmaids (and ankle leis for them, too), and a nice bouquet for me), or where to get my nails and makeup done. I was considering the Spa at the Halekulani for my hair/makeup, but have no idea where to go for the flowers.

Finally, any suggestions on fun activities for the days before the wedding? We%26#39;re definitely going to Pearl Harbor, some people are hiking Diamond Head, and I think most of us are going snorkeling. Are there any good, reputable parasailing operators we should check out?

Thanks for your help!

4th of July wedding Help (Thanks to love_2_travel for your...

We are also getting married in Hawaii (2 weeks to go), also down near Ft DeRussy park for a sunset wedding ceremony. We are also having photo%26#39;s on the beach afterwards.

We have booked Orchids Restaurant at the Halekulani for our dinner. I dont know how many people you have coming to your wedding, but I was advised that if you have a reasonable amount of people that alot of the restaurants find it hard to cater for groups of 5 or more around dinner time, unless you go somewhere that has a ';set'; menu. We have 12 people so Orchids have a lovely Chefs Dinner Menu which was $53 per person for 5 courses.

I had a wedding co-ordinator organise my hair %26amp; makeup and flowers for me as she is a local. I am booked into a place called Mario%26#39;s on Kuhio Ave for hair and makeup ($60 for both), however I dont know who the florist is doing my flower lei%26#39;s and bouquet.......I have heard that the International Market Place do lovely lei%26#39;s and also in China Town as well.

Best of luck for your wedding

4th of July wedding Help (Thanks to love_2_travel for your...

I don%26#39;t really have any advice to offer, but just wanted to say CONGRATULATIONS to you both!

What about a dinner cruise after the wedding? I haven%26#39;t been to Hawaii yet, but I know here, where I live, there%26#39;s some very nice dinner cruises.... Good luck!

Hawaii50:

Congradulations!!! Please let me know how the dinner at Orchids goes...I was considering doing dinner there, as well. One of my concerns is the menu though - my maid of honor is pregnant (and therefore shouldn%26#39;t eat many kinds of fish), and my mother-in-law is a strict vegan (for religious purposes).

I%26#39;d LOVE to hear a full review of your trip (with reviews of the hair salon, how many people were on the beach, etc). Who is doing your photography?

Where are you going for your honeymoon? My husband and I are staying in Waikiki for two days after the wedding, then we%26#39;re off to Sydney, Cairns, New Zealand (drive from Auckland to Queenstown), and Bora Bora. I am SO excited!!! We%26#39;re from Alaska, and we usually end up in Europe when it%26#39;s cold out, so we can%26#39;t wait to get to where it%26#39;s warm and sunny (I hope I don%26#39;t fry on the beach in my big, heavy, satin dress!)

Hi Piercec2000

We are staying in Waikiki for the whole 12 days of our trip, 4 days before and 8 days afterwards.......we love going to Hawaii

Will let you know how everything goes when we return.

The people who organised all my wedding was Penny %26amp; Wayne from hawaiiweddings.net in Honolulu. They have been really fantastic organising my photography, ceremony etc....

web address www.hawaiiweddings.net

Happy travelling on your honeymoon and will post you a review of the trip when we return

Hawaii50:

I hope you have a wonderful time on your trip. We%26#39;ll be in Waikiki for 8 days. My fiance has been to Hawai%26#39;i before, but only Maui, while I have never been there before. I%26#39;m so excited! And my bridesmaids are also very excited, since Waikiki is their vacation spot of choice.

Congradulations to all of you!

For hair, and etc... (full services too), you can go to my hairdresser-stylist salon. It%26#39;s called Paul Brown. I%26#39;ve been with them for about 30 years now. They are very well known and are more on the upscale $ trendy side. Paul has 4 of his 6 salons on Oahu. I go to the main flagship store on 1200 Ala Moana Blvd. at the Ward Centre. # (808) 591-1881, (pbsalon@aol.com). The Ala Moana Shopping Center will be between this store%26#39;s location and Waikiki. It%26#39;s about 2 miles way. If that%26#39;s too far, there%26#39;s his Paul Brown%26#39;s Spa Olakino Salon at the Marriott Resort %26amp; Spa in Waikiki Beach. # (808) 924-2121, (spaolakino.com). Other contact #%26#39;s are: (808) 924-7799 and (808) 737-1013.

For flowers there are so..... many options and much to choose from. Type in ';wedding florist honolulu hawaii'; on the google search website and you%26#39;ll know what I mean. Lots of florists, lots of competition, wedding packages, and optional choices. One example of many on the internet is ';fasiphoto.com';. It%26#39;s best to get their business phone numbers off the internet websites and then make arrangements to view their portfolios, prices, and range of services, ala carte or packaged. My other suggestion would be to go thru the Honolulu yellow pages over the internet for best selction and services.

Hope this helps...

aloha %26amp; congradulations again!

Vicki... (local girl always traveling)

Any one look into getting married on the Grounds or the beach of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel (pink palace)? It%26#39;s a very romantic place...

I%26#39;d first recommend wedding photos on the beach and then secondly again up on Round Top- Tantalus Drice Lookout point, which overlooks the city and the ocean during sunset hours!

For Sunday brunch I%26#39;d recommend the Orchid%26#39;s Brunch Buffet at the Halekulani Hotel. # (808) 923-2311.

Friday night dinners at Bali By The Sea at the Hilton Hawaiian Village,. You can see the local fireworks show launched from their sandy lagoon in their open air restaurant. # (808) 941-2254.

Restaurants with a view for 4th of July fireworks... Sarentos at the top of the Iilikai hotel. Aaron%26#39;s at the top of Ala Moana Hotel. La Mer at the Halekulani, Chai%26#39;s Island Bistro and Big Island Steakhouse at Aloha Tower waterfront. Kincaid%26#39;s at the Ward Warehouse. La Mariana Sail Club at Sand Island. John Dominis on the waterfront at 43 Ahui St..

I would pick John Dominis over all of them... # (808) 523-0955.

Hawaii Visitor%26#39;s Bureau. # (808) 923-1811 or (800) 464-2924.

Hope this helps...

aloha,

Vicki... (local girl always traveling)

Aloha Piercec2000,

We have just returned from our fantastic 12 days in Waikiki, and you will absolutely love it.

Firstly, as requested a review on Orchids @ Halekulani......it was superb. The whole experience was beautiful, from arrival to departure. We were greeted and taken to our table which overlooked directly to Waikiki and Diamond Head....exactly what I had asked for.

The waiter service was outstanding throughout the whole night, and they were extremely courteous, professional and pleasant.

The meal was devine, we had the ';Chefs Dinner Menu'; which was a 5 course set meal and it was absolutely outstanding. We were the last table to leave for the night !!!!

I can highly recommend Orchids and we will definately go back again for dinner next time we are in Hawaii.

My hair was done at a small salon called Mario%26#39;s which is located in the shops at the bottom of the Outrigger Hotel (where Dukes is). They were great, it is a small and simple hair salon but they did a fabulous job on my hair......I took a picture with me to show what I wanted and that is what they did. The upstyle hair-do for the wedding cost me $40, and I went back to the same salon 3 days later to have my hair cut off shorter (about 3-4 inches as I only grew it for the wedding) and the cut was only $18........extremely reasonable and they did a fantastic job.

I dont know if you have organised you wedding service etc yet but I can highly recommend hawaiiweddings.net

Penny %26amp; Wayne gave us everything and more than what we paid for and the attention they gave us was wonderful....they organised my flowers, dinner reservations, they performed the wedding ceremony %26amp; took 150 photos on both CD %26amp; developed with negatives......I would recommend them to anyone who wanted to marry on Oahu.

I hope this helps you.....have a wonderful wedding %26amp; holiday in Hawaii.....I know you will.......we cant wait to save up and go back again for the 3rd time !!!

Unfortunately, I don%26#39;t jhave any good advice for you on the wedding stuff, but I can tell you where to parasail! We booked through X-treme Parasail. I think we booked on Tuesday for a Thursday morning sail. The price included pick up at our hotel also. I think it was about $45 per person. They also shot a roll of film of us in the air for $15 - they just gave the film to us and we got it developed. We had a great time!