Shipwreck's Beach, Kauai - Wedding

We’re often asked: “Which is your favorite beach to get married on in Kauai?”. 

This is a complex question as there are many things to consider when choosing that perfect beach to tie the knot on, as location and distance to your hotel, hair appointment and your wedding reception venue. Also, what’s the look you want to go for in your wedding photos? Kauai provides many diverse beach locations offering rocks, cliffs and palm trees in addition to your normal beach setting...

Well, here it goes. Out of all the different beaches we prefer Shipwreck’s beach on Kauai's South Shore. Not only does it offer great weather 99% of the time but it also has some added photo opportunities that many of the other beaches don’t have. We’re referring here to those stunning cliffs and those breathtaking pictures that you just don’t get anywhere else.

Ok, Shipwreck’s Beach doesn’t have those typical Hawaiian mountain ranges in the background that you get at Hanalei Bay or Tunnels Beach, but there is much less chance of rain interrupting your service, and chances are, there’ll be less people on the beach, which gives you more privacy. And as an added bonus, there is a fantastic restaurant right there on the beach that’s perfect for your wedding dinner. How much easier and carefree can planning your Hawaii Destination Wedding get?

Tunnels Beach, Kauai - Wedding

Tunnels Beach is located between Hanalei Bay and the end of the main highway at Kee Beach on Kauai’s North Shore. This is a stunning but remote location that adds vibrant colors and spectacular Hawaiian scenery to your wedding pictures. It’s also a famous snorkeling spot and has a camp ground on one part of the beach but don’t be turned off by that as you won’t see the camp ground in your wedding photos. But you may see the occasional sea monster, aka snorkeler... 

Tunnels Beach is the beach that has “Bali Hai” in the background, that beautiful peaked mountain made famous in the movie “South Pacific” and is a distinctive landmark of Kauai. The scenery here has a raw untamed beauty which will surely show in your wedding pictures. Kauai's North Shore is lush with plentiful tropical vegetation including palm trees and emerald green mountains. The other end of this beach is less spectacular but still offers some great picture opportunities. 



Best time to take pictures here? Morning, lunch time and sunset are great, while we wouldn’t recommend starting your wedding between two and five PM here because the sun will be right behind Bali Hai and make it nearly impossible to get great pictures with this beach’s most stunning asset...that peaked gorgeous mountain.

Hanalei Bay, Kauai - Wedding

There are so many beautiful beaches in Kauai to get married on. In fact, with more than 90 miles of white sandy beaches, Kauai has more beaches than all of the other Hawaiian islands. How does one choose? We’ll spend some time in this blog discussing some of the best wedding locations for your tropical dream come true Hawaiian Destination Wedding.

Hanalei Bay has been voted one of the most beautiful beaches on the planet several years in a row. It’s a spectacular location for your Kauai wedding. Gorgeous emerald green mountains create a stunning backdrop to any event, and many times there'll be small boats in the bay, which are also great “props” in your wedding photos.

On a clear and bright day Hanalei Bay is unsurpassed as a truly magical wedding location, but with it's reputation as being one of the most beautiful spots on the planet, come an army of tourists in bathing suits and cameras. Even though we’ll try our hardest we may not be able to avoid all of them in your wedding photos. 

Being located on Kauai's North Shore, Hanalei Bay gets a fair amount of rain, more so than most East, West, or Southern beaches in Kauai. This makes for it's stunning beauty and dramatic scenery, but your wedding may be blessed with a short rain shower or two. This location also offers views of an old historic pier which can be quite scenic in your wedding photos.

All in all it’s one of the most beautiful spots on the planet to tie the knot. 

What will the weather be like for our wedding on Kauai?

It's going to be sunny, with occasional showers. Every Day. The weather in Kauai is incredibly consistent most of the time, and that’s because we’re a little island  surrounded by at least 2,600 miles of ocean in any direction, and that keeps us nicely temperate.  The trade winds that blow across the Tropic of Cancer keep us cool and our average daily  temperature of 84°F makes Kauai a tropical paradise. Mark Twain said: "If you don't like the weather on Kauai, wait 10 minutes." This still holds true today!  Chances are overwhelmingly in your favor that you'll have the most beautiful weather on your wedding day! You’ll be grateful for the trade wind's cooling breeze as you stand in the sun during the 20 minutes of  ceremony and hour of photography, as they will keep you cooler. But if your hair is longer you will have  to think of ways to control it to avoid looking like "Wolf Girl" (wolf guy as well, if that fits). Also, long hair  tends to get really hot under the tropical Hawaii sun. Many brides visit a hairdresser and have their hair  put up with orchid inlaid. Others pin their hair back or choose a Haku lei which tends to control longer hair  for the bride who doesn't want to wear her hair up. Others still will use a Cymbidium Orchid hairpiece to  control one side and pin back the other. Whatever you choose to do to manage your hair, you'll thank us  later when you see your wedding pictures. And remember, don’t pack too many clothes, most people get by with shorts and tops because  it’s so beautiful and casual here. A lot of people arrive with three suitcases and go home with two that  they've never opened.

Not sure about your perfect bridal bouquet?

Aloha from Kauai Island Weddings! The vote is in! Over the past couple of weeks we have been posting a variety of beautiful bridal bouquets on Facebook and many of our viewers have commented and interacted with us to let us know their favorite tropical bridal bouquets. The bouquet with the most "likes" is this stunning confection of pink phalaenopsis orchids and white plumerias. Simply delicious! It seems that if you're looking for that breathtaking bouquet but simply can not make up your mind, you can not go wrong with this beauty!  

Your perfect bridal bouquet.

Here at Kauai Island Weddings we're nuts about gorgeous tropical bridal bouquets. Which one to choose, there are so many options? And how do I choose, I don't know much about flowers?

 There are a few simple ways a bride can choose the perfect bridal bouquet:

Most brides like to look at color. You want to choose a bouquet that goes with the overall color scheme of your wedding: bride's maids dresses, flower girls dresses, reception decorations & colors....in addition to the general feel of your wedding. You would choose a different bouquet for a wedding at an upscale New York Hotel, rather than an outdoor organic event in a garden setting. The same is true for a destination beach wedding. Here the colors can be more summery and the flowers more tropical, while in the New York Hotel setting you may be looking at a more classic look in color and flower choice.


A second consideration is fragrance: Do you enjoy fragrant flowers, or are you or your groom allergic? Every year we have some couples who specifically ask for non-fragrant flowers in both the bridal bouquet and table center pieces. If you're not allergic and enjoy the lovely fragrance that some of the flowers have to offer, you'll have some great choices like tuberose and gardenia, or in a tropical setting, plumerias and stephanotis.

Then there is the question of which style of bridal bouquet to choose. Would a hand tied bouquet be better or do you love the look of a more traditional cascading one? This is a very personal choice and our only advice on this issue is that a cascading bouquet can make a shorter bride look even shorter, just because it looks longer and bigger and may overwhelm your more delicate frame.


Most brides will spend a lot of time online searching everything from Google to Pinterest to find that perfect bridal bouquet. Rest assured, any professional florist should be able to recreate whatever catches your eye and will be able to make suggestions as to which flowers may suit your occasion best.

Tropical flowers will stand up to a tropical climate better than more temperate choices and vice versa.

Some brides planning a tropical destination wedding like to choose interesting tropical flowers that they could not easily get back home. A lot of brides choose a simple bouquet of roses, be it in white, pink or brilliant red, but if you're traveling to the tropics why not try something tropical and fragrant instead?

Whatever you choose in the end, one thing is clear: A colorful bridal bouquet will greatly enhance your professional wedding photography.

Wedding Photography - How many wedding photos are enough?

At Kauai Island Weddings we offer 300 Photos with our standard photography package, and sometimes we are asked: 300 Photos for a Wedding sounds like a lot. Aren't 36-100 pictures more normal?

Well, yes, it’s true that most photographers shoot 36 to 100 images for the same price we shoot 300. It’s also true that 36-100 shots can’t possibly capture the beauty and elegance of a beach wedding on Kauai. We will shoot those 100 pictures in the ceremony alone, the most emotional part of your event. We have the bride walking onto the beach, the groom waiting in anticipation, the couple holding hands, the Hawaiian lei exchange, the blessing of the rings, the exchange of vows, the exchange of the rings, the kiss, the Hawaiian wedding song; and that's just the wedding ceremony taking only 20 minutes. After the ceremony we will spend about an hour and a half with the couple taking a variety of romantic beautiful shots on the beach. We simply can not shoot your complete event in 60 photographs, it's not possible...

The original reason behind 36 photos was that that’s how film was sold in rolls of 24 or 36 shots, and when the change over to digital came along, many photographers just kept everything the same; although they did shoot more images, they would only tell you about them later and offer them to you at an extra cost. Every photographer we know will shoot more than the 36-100 pictures you have commissioned from them, and will try to up-sell you after you've received your pictures, letting you know that he has additional photographs that are gorgeous and you can purchase them at an additional cost. So when hiring your wedding photographer interview them well, find out about how they handle additional pictures and also inquire about copyright issues to your images.

Even though your wedding photos are of you, the bride and groom, and you have paid for them; copyright law dictates that the photographer owns the images. Most companies charge extra for a copyright release, and this is generally for a specific image, and not the whole lot. At Kauai Island Weddings all customers get a free joint copyright to all of their images - that's a great added bonus, and it's free.

How much does the average wedding in Kauai cost?

There are many wedding planners and packages to choose from, and having been on the Board of the Kauai Wedding Professionals Association for many years now, we found that the average cost of getting married will be between $900 and $1,200 for a couple eloping. This includes photography, the wedding ceremony, usually 2 complimentary fresh flower leis, and assistance with the wedding license & location.

There are many companies that'll offer low-end packages of $900 or just below, but you'll only get a few wedding photos included in these packages, with the option of buying additional ones at a later time after the wedding. This is a good trick to get you to book at a low cost and then up-sell you after your wedding if you want the really pretty pictures that aren't included in your wedding photography package, so look out for this. We've seen packages with just 24, 36, 40, 50, or 70 pictures that seem to save you a few dollars, but by the time you'll add the extra photos being offered to you after you're wedding, you're paying more than you've originally budgeted for.

Some couples opt for a more fancy affair, including site fees for a waterfall or other private venue, or maybe a wedding video that will be cherished for all time. Couples have many choices to customize their wedding packages to get exactly what they desire.

Larger groups mean larger costs for photography, coordination, and the big one: the reception dinner.

Why you should get married in Kauai rather than any other Hawaiian Island...

Kauai is the most romantic of the Hawaiian Islands and is referred to as the Wedding Island of Kauai. It's oldest island, offering the most lush scenery & beauty and it distinguishes itself by having the most beaches of all of the Hawaiian Islands - a total of 90 miles. While the Big Island refers to lava rock as "the beach", and Maui's coastline is quite narrow, Kauai has it all: tropical beaches, white sandy beaches, a black sand beach, and beaches that are mostly deserted and empty. It's approximately the same size as Oahu, but while Oahu has over 1 Million residents, Kauai has only 60,000. This is where you'll find the Grand Canyon of the Pacific, and a breathtaking stretch of coastline called the Na Pali Coast.

Kauai is called the Wedding Island of Kauai The Polynesian people consider Kauai "the heart of the planet" Has the most beaches of all of the Hawaiian islands - over 90 miles in total Most beaches are deserted Most beautiful of the Hawaiian Islands Only 60,000 residents (Oahu has over 1 Million and Maui 200,000) Small and quaint place, that feels like time has stood still

How to save money, and still get married this year.

The latest "Wedding Report" tells us that the average cost of a wedding in the United States is now $28,704. Now, some people will pay more than that and some less, however on AVERAGE that's the cost of getting married in America nowadays...except in Hawaii!
At Kauai Island Weddings, we don't think you should have to spend that kind of money just for the wedding, and remember that's not including the Honeymoon or the Flights there and back. We believe we can offer you an alternative that will give you more for your money. 

Elope, or bring some family & friends. Kauai, the most beautiful of all the Hawaiian islands awaits you with romance, blue skies and tropical breezes, and an array of unforgettable fun activities...
We've put together wedding packages including, good accommodation, the wedding ceremony, photography, and extras that are tens of thousands of dollars less than the "average price of a Wedding in America". Let us help you realize your dream come true destination wedding in Hawaii, including seven night accommodation, all for under $3,000. All you need are your flights and rental car, we'll take care of all the rest...
Don't cancel your wedding because you don't have that $28,704, have it in Kauai instead!
Call Mike at 808-822-5381 for more information.