Lauren and Marc met by chance when she and her friends took a vacation to Oahu, where
Marc lived. They were together for eight years before Marc proposed, then had
about a year engagement, making it nine years together before getting
married. They needed that one year, too, to plan a fab semi-budget destination wedding in Hawaii. From the gorgeous venue to the nature-inspired details throughout the day, this wedding was lovely and allowed Lauren and Marc's guests to really enjoy the local culture. Read on for Lauren's thoughts and details of the day:
Images Courtesy of: Rachel Robertson Photography
What attracted you to your particular wedding venue: Sunset Ranch, our venue, looked beautiful from the pictures I had seen.
Plus all the reviews were great. We were looking for something
different, not the standard church and hotel ballroom reception. I
personally wanted an outdoor wedding, and Marc was open to listening to
my ideas. After speaking to the owner of the ranch it was set, he was
so friendly and gracious. We were able to use the entire area of the
ranch, it was ours for the day. No random people watching our special
day. We booked without even doing a site visit beforehand and had no
regrets. The setting was just as we had hoped.
Images Courtesy of: Rachel Robertson Photography
What made you decide to have a destination
wedding instead of a home town affair, and why did you choose Hawaii? We chose Hawaii as our destination wedding because although Marc and I
live in California, Marc grew up in Hawaii and most of his family and
friends still live there. Although we could have chosen to get married
in California, I thought it would be nice to have a wedding in Hawaii so
that Marc could have most of his family and friends there. Also, when I
was a little girl I always dreamed of getting married in Hawaii.
Although those dreams were of getting married on the beach, our ranch
wedding had ocean views with that calming feeling you have when the
tradewinds blow, and it was just as I had imagined.
Images Courtesy of: Rachel Robertson Photography
Did you have any events prior to or after the ceremony for your
guests or bridal party? We rented two villas at Turtle Bay for our wedding party to stay at for a
few days, and many of our friends and family stayed at the main Turtle
Bay Resort. The night before the wedding my mom hosted a rehearsal
dinner at Lei Lei’s. We enjoyed a private, four course meal out on the
patio.
The day after our wedding we hosted a BBQ at the villas, for the
remaining local and mainland guests. The BBQ was a great way to
decompress after all the stress of the wedding. It also gave us a
chance to chat with people who we didn’t really have a chance to see
much at the wedding. The BBQ was a success thanks to Marc’s parents and
other family members helping with the food. Marc’s sister’s fiancé had
gone fishing and caught some ahi, and different styles of fresh poke
were made. It was a great experience for the mainland guests to have a
local-style BBQ.
Images Courtesy of: Rachel Robertson Photography
What was your wedding theme: We tried for a casual, rustic, nature-y feel. Themes we tried
incorporating into our wedding were trees and love birds. Our
inspiration was the humongous eucalyptus tree that we said our vows
under. During our ceremony, Kamuela Kahoano played a variety of current
and local music with his guitar giving a casual, relaxed feel.
To
combat the unknown weather, we had the reception in the ranch barn. The
dirt floor was covered with hay, and with the large doors and open
windows, the breeze nicely flowed through the venue. Our cake was a
simple two layer swiss-dot designed cake, with love birds sitting on
top. Also for dessert an old fashioned ice cream truck drove up to our
venue and served guests an assortment of ice cream bars and local shave
ice.
Images Courtesy of: Rachel Robertson Photography
What did you envision for your event: Marc gave me the lead to do what I envisioned, I kind of took
over, but always asked his opinion. Since we were going for casual, I
wanted the décor to match. Marc’s favorite color is green. So I
started with that. I, too, like green and since our venue was at a
ranch up in Pupukea, I thought it was perfect to incorporate all the
vibrant green colors of nature. I also wanted fun, bright colors. So
besides the green, my accent color was yellow, with ivory to tone out
the bright greens and yellows. The main green items were the
bridesmaids’ dresses. The groomsmen wore ties with green stripes, and
also wore maile-style, ti leaf leis that incorporated the green color.
To incorporate yellow, our favors were little glass jars filled with
Lemonheads, to give a fun pop of color to the ivory covered tables.
Centerpieces were filled with herbs and plants in differing green
shades, with a cream colored lantern to give the tables some light, and
also a sprig of yellow roses, symbolizing friendship. The bridal
bouquet and bridesmaids’ bouquets were of ivory and cream-colored
flowers. I envisioned soft, romantic looking flowers to match my dress
and to complement the emerald green dresses of the girls.
Images Courtesy of: Rachel Robertson Photography
Did you give out special gifts or favors: To thank my bridesmaids for supporting me throughout the whole process I
gave them each an Adina Reyter sterling silver necklace with a pave set
diamond dove. To keep the Hawaii sun out of their eyes, the groomsmen
were each given a pair of Oakley Frogskin sunglasses. We gave the flower girl a photo
album which I plan to scrapbook pictures of her from the wedding, hoping
when she’s older she will look back at her experience of being a flower
girl.
For our parents
and siblings who greatly helped us, we plan to take them on a relaxing
trip to the Big Island. We thought it would be nice for those family
members on the mainland to revisit Hawaii. To our mainland guests
staying at Turtle Bay, we dropped off out-of-town-guest bags. The bags
themselves were inexpensive local designed Foodland reusable bags. We
thought these bags were cute and wanted to give the guests something fun
to read and learn some local culture, also be able to tote around all
their essentials while in Hawaii, and for use when they arrived back
home. In the bags were some local snacks, some large bottles of
Menehune water, sunblock, aloe vera, a book about Hawaii, and a
laminated card of the fish of Hawaii.
Images Courtesy of: Rachel Robertson Photography
Tell us about your gown, the groom's attire, and bridal party attire: My gown was a strapless, champagne-colored gown with an ivory lace
overlay. Since we were on a budget we bought Marc a suit from Macy’s
(getting a good discount). Being unsure of the weather, we didn’t want
the groomsmen too hot, and since the wedding was outdoors we went for a
casual feel, giving them matching white shirts, ties, and slacks
Trying to let the bridesmaids be creative with their own style and body
shapes, I gave them transformer, jersey dresses that came from Etsy
shop, CoralieBeatrix. The dresses were called palm tree Kelly green,
although more of an emerald color. I thought the jewel-tone would look
great with the girls’ dark hair and would bring out their features, not
wash them out. The girls wore nude colored shoes in differing styles.
Images Courtesy of: Rachel Robertson Photography
What was the highlight of your celebration: The highlight was having our family and friends come out to the remote
setting of Sunset Ranch on the North Shore to celebrate our wedding.
Many of our guests had never been to or heard of the ranch, which made
it special to others besides Marc and me. The weather and location were
just perfect for us to relax, let loose, and enjoy the celebration all
together.
Tulle Nation, would any of your have a destination wedding in Hawaii?
