A Honolulu Native Marries His Love on Oahu

Stephanie Weers
June 30, 2017
Categories: Destination, Real Weddings, The Blog
Tags: Destination Weddings, Destination Weddings and Honeymoons

Wendy and Robbie first met as colleagues in investment banking, and when it came time to plan their wedding, they knew it had to be special. They chose Robbie’s home state of Hawaii as the setting and brought on Flowergirls, Absolutely Loved, and an entire crew of vendors to bring their dream day to life. Consider this gallery your virtual escape and venture to Oahu right this way.

From the Bride… Robbie was born and raised in Honolulu, so we wanted to get married there. We looked at all the venues in Oahu, and just fell in love with Lanikuhonua the moment we set foot onto the place. It’s SO INCREDIBLY BEAUTIFUL! Breathtakingly beautiful, with its lush green lawns and untarnished ocean view. We had a lot of guests coming from the Mainland, so we wanted a venue that showed off the extreme beauty of Hawaii. We also needed a venue large enough to hold up to 300 people. Lanikuhonua was perfect.

Bride’s Style

Robbie was born and raised in Honolulu, so we wanted to get married there. It’s funny because the Katie May dress is called the Poipu Dress, and I knew I found the perfect dress the moment I tried it on. It was just so me. I like that it’s simple and sexy (with the plunging back), but still very elegant. It’s perfect for an outdoor wedding in Hawaii. I had a pair of cheap Calvin Klein black strappy heels that were the most comfortable heels ever. I searched everywhere for the same pair in white and eventually found them on eBay.

Groom’s Style

I wanted the groomsmen in light gray and Robbie in navy blue so he would stand out. We used to work in finance (that’s how we met), and he used to always wear a navy blue suit. So I felt like that was his color.

Color Palette + Style

We chose romantic and boho with a touch of vintage as our wedding theme. This has always been my personal fashion style. I’m very feminine with a hint of boho chic. We wanted to be in a tropical beach setting because Robbie grew up in Hawaii and I wanted to show all my family/friends on the mainland what his beautiful home was like.

Floral Design + Decor

I just wanted to minimize costs while achieving the look we wanted. I picked lanterns I saw on Pinterest as centerpiece options and absolutely loved that idea. We got the handpainted “Welcome” sign from Etsy. We wanted to add that vintage touch to our wedding. For table cards, we used inside jokes and movies / TV shows that we loved. For instance, one of the tables was named “Westeros” because Robbie and I are huge Game of Thrones fans. Another table was named “The Compound, Part 2,” because Robbie’s passdown house in business school was called The Compound, and he shared a lot of amazing memories with me and his friends there.

Food + Beverage

We wanted our menu to reflect things we personally love! I am absolutely obsessed with Hawaiian shave ice. The first time I’d visited Hawaii with Robbie when I was dating, I made him take me to every single shave ice place on the island. I also love poke in Hawaii–it’s so delicious, so needed to serve Poke at the wedding. We picked our favorite drinks as our signature cocktails–we wanted drinks that were yummy but also refreshing. Our food menu was Hawaiian + Chinese. We wanted to share our cultures with our guests. For instance, tuna poke is Hawaiian, and the roasted pig buns were Chinese.

Key Moments of the Day

There were too many favorite moments. We were adamant about ensuring our siblings all had a role to play in the wedding: Michael (my brother) was my Man of Honor, Mikey (Robbie’s brother) was his Best Man, and Kristin (Robbie’s sister) was our officiant. We also wanted our MC to be someone we knew, so we asked Robbie’s grad school roommate, Dorian Bertsch, who does radio broadcasting in his spare time, to be our MC. I had no idea Robbie was going to sing and dance at our wedding! Those were complete surprises. He totally surprised and touched me beyond words. He made me feel incredibly loved and lucky!