Waialae Beach is a short distance from Waikiki and is known for all its iconic palm trees, making it one of our popular Oahu wedding locations.

Details: 

• Location: South Shore, 10 minutes from Waikiki.
• Available: 7 days a week, 8:00am-6:00pm.
• Recommended for up to 30 guests.
• Decor: No Arches and Chairs. Runways are available 7 days a week.
• Recommendation: Lighting is great throughout the day. 

Ceremony Considerations at Waialae Beach

The ceremony is held on the beach with the ocean as the backdrop. (If you’re interested in having your ceremony on a lawn right next to the ocean, especially for larger groups, check out Magic Island.)

Following the ceremony, we take the couple along the beach for a variety of photos.

Waialae Beach is perfect for an intimate beach wedding.

Everything You Need to Know About Kawela Bay

Kawela Bay is our top North Shore wedding location. For couples staying on the North Shore, the drive to many of our other Hawaii wedding locations is a bit far, and considering the proximity to Turtle Bay and other North Shore accommodations, Kawela Bay is a great choice. Although we have descriptions and photos of all our wedding locations, we wanted to share more details that may help you choose the perfect beach for the big day!

As you probably have seen in the pictures, this location features soft sand, calm blue water, and one of Hawaii's most amazing Banyan trees.

The combination of the beach and forest gives couples a "two-in-one-location” photo opportunity.

Introduction to Micro Weddings

Micro weddings are rising in popularity, and now more than ever, it is a great time to consider if it may be right for you. Here at Weddings of Hawaii, we’ve been specializing in destination weddings of all sizes for over 40 years.

Thousands of couples have benefitted from the happy-medium of a micro wedding, and we’d love to help you determine if you could be one of them!

Small, intimate beach weddings are the perfect kind of micro wedding.

What Is a Micro Wedding?

A micro wedding for many places in the world is a small wedding, usually with around 20 and no more than 50 guests, but a Hawaii micro wedding is usually smaller, often with the couple and a few guests.

Generally, it is more streamlined but similar to a traditional wedding, with everything on a smaller scale.

Aside from the guest count, the biggest difference is that the reception is more casual and less structured than a traditional wedding reception.

SANDY BEACH Weddings - EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW

Sandy Beach is located on the southeast coast of Oahu and is a well-loved beach by locals and visitors alike.

As with all our Hawaii beach wedding locations, we have photos and videos in our Sandy Beach gallery, but we like sharing all the details about each location to help you decide if this is the best location for your beach wedding!

Note: Sandy Beach is best for weekday ceremonies or early mornings on the weekends. Weekends get very crowded with the local population.

While we wouldn't normally hold the ceremony this close to the waves, your photographer will likely encourage you to get your feet wet for some shots ;)

If you read our blog post on weather in Hawaii, you know that we have great weather, which allows us to have beach weddings any time of year! However, it does occasionally rain in paradise.

Fortunately, our wedding locations rarely get more than a brief shower, usually lasting only a few minutes. In fact, you may want a little rain as that’s what brings rainbows. :) Here are more details about what happens if it does rain on your wedding day.

What does it cost to get married in Hawaii?

We get asked this question a lot, and it’s tough to answer because it all depends on you! The good news? It's cheaper than most traditional weddings by far. 

Before writing this article, we did our research and came across an article by The Knot. While The Knot is a good website (we check it out ourselves), its cost breakdown is misleading.

The image below gives you a basic idea of what it'd cost to fly to Hawaii, stay six nights at a hotel in Waikiki, and get married with Weddings of Hawaii.

*Fights and hotel are NOT included in our packages. Hawaii wedding costs are examples based on our packages and research. (Prices are as of January 2023 packages and are subject to change.)  

The chart above is only an estimate, but we found that most of our couples spend between $5000-$8000 on their Hawaii wedding, flight, and hotel. 

• Our average Hawaii destination wedding couple spends around $2500 (Our wedding packages range from $295 to $8,825. Prices vary as there are many possible customizations.)
• Flight to Hawaii per person from the US mainland: $300-$800 (estimate and not included in packages)
• 7 nights hotel in Waikiki: $1800-5000 (estimate and not included in packages)

We find that most couples can have a destination Hawaii wedding for around $6000, which includes the wedding, flight, and hotel, an enormous savings over the cost of a traditional wedding, which is currently over $30,000. 

NOTE: Hawaii wedding packages do not include flight and hotel, and Hawaii does not have all-inclusive resorts. Once you visit Hawaii, it's easy to see why you wouldn't want to spend all your time and eat all your meals at the same place. Hawaii has much more to offer than just your resort. Also, outer island weddings, such as a Maui wedding, are more expensive. Compare our packages for details.

Is the Knot's Cost Estimate Accurate?

Before you look at these numbers, please know their estimates look astronomically high to us. This is not to say they’re wrong, but these estimates must only consider the costs of traditional weddings with high guest counts, and we know extravagant weddings can easily surpass this estimate.

In comparison, most of our weddings are beach, park, or private venues with guest counts from 0-50. Very different.

You can see on our wedding packages page that we have seven packages running from $395 to $8,825, with our most popular package at $2,995 (we'll look more at that later). 

Let’s take a look at their cost estimates and then compare them to ours. As a spoiler, we estimate most of our couples spend between $4,500 and $8,000 on their wedding package, flight, and hotel. We'll have our breakdown below.