Oahu beach weddings are one of the most popular and affordable ways to get married in Hawaii. While there are many beautiful beaches in the state, we believe Oahu is the best Hawaiian island for a destination wedding.

What You Need for a Beach Wedding on Oahu

Like all the Hawaiian Islands, Oahu requires a permit from the State of Hawaii to marry on a beach. We can apply for and pick up the permit for your event. At the time of writing, a Hawaii beach wedding or vow renewal permit costs $50.

Best Oahu Beach Wedding Locations

Since all beaches in Hawaii are public, most couples want to choose a beach that offers incredible beauty, some seclusion, and a certain amount of convenience. Our selection of beach wedding locations takes this into consideration.

Before going over each location, here’s a quick comparison to help you get started.

• Closest to Waikiki: Waialae Beach
• Best Sunrise & Lava Rock Location: Sandy Beach
• If you’re staying on the North Shore: Kawela Bay
• If you’re staying on the West Side: Secret Beach

Everything You Need to Know About Sherwood Forest Beach

Sherwood Forest Beach (aka Waimanalo Bay) is a popular Hawaii beach wedding location. Not only is it a great beach for a wedding, but it’s also a personal favorite of many of us here at Weddings of Hawaii. Although we have descriptions and photos of all our wedding locations, we wanted to share more details that may help you in choosing the perfect beach for the big day!

Details:

• Location: East shore, 40 minutes from Waikiki.
• Available: Monday - Friday (excluding state and federal holidays), 8:00am to 4:00pm.
• Group Size: 30 people maximum (including couple and vendors).
• Decor Add-ons: No Arches and Chairs. Runways 7 days a week.
• Limousine: Requires one additional hour ($110). Not permitted on weekends and major holidays.
• Recommendation: Lighting is best from 10:00am-4:00pm. Early and mid-day offer more vibrant colors but also more sun, while later in the afternoon offers softer, less vibrant colors.
  
  

As you probably have seen in the pictures, this location features soft white sand, clear turquoise blue water, and the striking ironwood tree forest. We often get requests for a Waimanalo beach wedding, likely because it's attention as one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, and Sherwood Forest Beach is the best Waimanalo has to offer.

The stark contrast between the beach and forest gives couples a "two-in-one-location” photo opportunity. Because of its logistics, it is also our most secluded beach location.

When planning a destination wedding or vow renewal, it may seem stressful at first. Not only do you have to plan travel, you also have to plan the details of your day. Fortunately, we’re here to help as much as we can. We want to make the whole process as easy and stress free as possible, which is why we’re always happy to chat and answer all your questions.

To help even more, we’re always trying to improve the information we provide on our website, and we thought this week’s blog post would be a good chance to write out some of our most frequently asked questions.

For this article, we tried to think of the average flow of questions from the first time we speak to a couple up until their big day. While it’s impossible to cover all your questions, these are ones we think will be most useful to you.

1. Hawaii Wedding Packages

Can the wedding packages be customized?

Yes! We’re happy to customize your wedding package for you.

A Hawaiian luau is an experience most visitors to Hawaii want to have, and we’re always happy to recommend our favorites. We’ll help you pick the right one for you, and we’ll even help with the reservation.

To make sure we’re providing the best recommendations, we like to visit a luau every couple of months to experience for ourselves. This month, it was Ka Moana Luau. 

When we heard Chief’s Luau was moving to another part of the island, we were a little disappointed. Chief puts on a great show, but we also really liked the location in Sea Life Park on the East-side of Oahu. When we heard a new luau was moving in, we couldn’t wait to head over and try it out!

Beach wedding dresses aren’t really different from other types of wedding dresses. Anything goes for a destination wedding, so what you wear is entirely up to you!

There are, however, certain dress styles and materials that work better for a beach wedding.

After planning Hawaii beach weddings for more than 40 years, we have seen what works and what doesn’t. We’ve put together all the information you need to pick out the beach wedding dress that’s right for you!

What to Know for a Waikiki Beach Wedding

Waikiki Beach is probably the most famous beach in Hawaii. Located on the south coast of Oahu fronting the hotels, nearly every visitor knows this stretch of sandy paradise.

It’s important to note that the State of Hawaii does not issue wedding permits for most of Waikiki Beach. There is one particular part on the western end of Waikiki Beach (Kahanamoku Beach) where a permit can be obtained for beach weddings, and this is where we hold the ceremonies.

Unlike our other Hawaii beach wedding locations, we don’t yet have a dedicated photo gallery for this location. We have done several ceremonies here because couples have asked for this location. You can think of Waikiki Beach as our “secret menu” item, not on the usual menu, but if you ask for it, we can do it for you!