A Laid Back Hawaiian Beach Wedding

Casual, devoted tropical scenes and pastel-colored skies-this casual Hawaiian beach wedding is madness. But what makes this wedding even sweeter is that bride Zoe is a friend of bridal thoughts! (Happy tears!)

Zoe is well versed in the wedding industry. The founder of Canadian retail brand Finding July has represented many of our favorite bridal designers in the past such as Rime Arodaky, Alexandra Grecco, Watters and Laure de Sagazan. So it’s not surprising that she was able to go through this flawless Hawaiian wedding in just two months. Taking advantage of the trip of her boyfriend Ziad’s family to Maui, the elegant couple called a number of Hawaiian places to see if they could achieve a wedding spell on the beach – and they absolutely did!

Although we may not all be wedding professionals like Zoe, fortunately she offers a lot of advice to anyone planning a tight schedule. Since the twenty-six guests would be on their wedding holidays, the couple was flexible on which day of the week their wedding took place-and also offered them many event opportunities in such a short time with availability on weekdays.

What if you don’t have the budget for a travel planner? Zoe says: “Ask your sellers.”If you’ve found someone locally that you already like – photographer, florist, venue, etc. – you probably have suggestions from other vendors that you’d like to work with.

The Dress And Clothes

My dress was from Grace Loves Lace. I had seen some of their dresses on Instagram and luckily they have a showroom in Venice Beach. I made the appointment with a month before the wedding and knew that I had to buy a sample or something at short notice. But as fate would have it, Grace Loves Lace has an RTW (Ready to Wear) line. I found my dress that day and was able to order it to send it to my house with a 10–day delivery-no changes required.

For the groom, Ziad and her groomsmen received their costumes from Zara, and the white bridesmaid dresses of my sisters were from Nordstrom. I wanted them to have modern dresses that they can actually wear again!

Wedding Ambience & Planning

Our wedding was an devoted wedding. We had twenty-six guests attending the wedding in Maui-just family members and close friends. We planned all this in less than two months. We decided on this wedding on a whim because Ziad’s family was traveling to Maui for a vacation and we were engaged for three years with no date or exact wedding plan in sight. I knew that I wanted a destination wedding and we also knew that we wanted something small with just our family and close friends, so we decided right on the spot that this was the perfect option for us.

Since we only had two months to plan a wedding at your destination, we had to call a lot of places pretty quickly and collect the details of the package. We decided to make an appointment in the middle of the week to have more options to choose from. I first searched for photographers on Instagram and quickly found fern photography. Jessica was awesome and recommended so many providers and places to work with on the island. That’s how I found my team of florists, makeup artists and videographers.

For the decor, I wanted it to be very minimalist, with lots of white and green giving the elegant tropical feel.

Location

The venue, Sugar Beach Event, was a great option for us as they offer complete packages with DJs, catering, cakes and everything you need for the ceremony and reception. This has made my planning time so much easier. The ceremony took place outdoors and very private right on the beach and the dance and dinner took place in the doors where there was air conditioning. To be honest, that was the ideal scenario.

Photography And Videography

I really liked both styles. Fern Photography has a beautiful, bright and airy feel to your photos and Areca Film Co is so talented. They really captured the feeling of marriage on video.

Tips for other couples

I think Instagram is a great help in finding inspiration, suppliers, places, etc. Pinterest is another good place to look for flower and clothing inspections. I think if you’re planning a wedding in your destination and don’t have the budget to pay a planner, it’s really important to ask local vendors for their recommendations. Even if you are just at the beginning of the conversation with them, ask them what sites they would recommend, hairdressers and makeup artists, etc. People will share their advice and it is very useful if you are not familiar with the area.

Favorite moment

I think my favorite moment of the wedding was the first dance. Be surrounded by friends and family and really feel their love. It was an unforgettable time.