It's a question we often hear: How can I get my wedding dress to Hawaii? 

While it's easier to bring the groom's wedding attire, transporting your beach wedding dress is something you need to think about. We generally have two options we recommend.

1. Carry Your Wedding Dress on the Plane

It's rare these days for the airlines to loose your luggage, but it's best to play it safe and not pack your wedding dress in your checked luggage.  We ALWAYS recommend bringing your dress on the airplane as carry-on luggage. The safest place for the dress is in your possession. 

By carrying it on the plane with you, you're responsible for it arriving safely and undamaged.

If you'd like to have your dress pressed and your hotel does not offer the service, you could use Marie Louise Cleaners (808-593-1110 ). They do same day pickup and drop off, so it's very convenient. Many of our brides use their services, so we feel confident recommending them. 

Make sure to schedule ahead of time to ensure they can accommodate you. 

If you're coming to Hawaii for a wedding, honeymoon, or renewal ceremony, where you choose to stay can make all the difference. Whether you're looking for the beauty of the Hawaiian mountains and beaches or the energy of the Honolulu nightlife and shopping scene, the island of Oahu has plenty to offer.

We get asked all the time where we recommend staying. We usually say Waikiki, which is next to Honolulu on the island of Oahu, as that’s often the best fit for what our couples are looking for. However, the whole island is beautiful, as are the other islands of Hawaii.

Here are our thoughts on some areas you may want to consider.  :-)

What Makes a Good Hawaii Wedding Planner?

When having a destination wedding, there are a few important things to look for in your wedding planners. Writing this article was a great chance for us to reflect an make sure we’re doing all the important things for our couples. We teamed up and went over everything we focus on to be successful.

We believe there are four important characteristics you should look for in your wedding planner:

1. Trust
2. Good Communication
3. Value
4. Experience

1. Trust - Weddings of Hawaii has been in business for over 40 years. Although we’ve grown over time, we remain a small family and know the importance of what we do. We’re helping you prepare for one of the most important days of your life, and we want everything to be perfect! We take great pride in our online reviews (Yelp, Wedding Wire, Google), and we’re always looking for new ways to continuously improve.

2. Communication - We work as a team to make sure everything goes as smoothly as possible for your ceremony. We are open Monday through Saturday, and we even try to work a few hours on Sunday. Our goal is to never leave you waiting too long for an answer. While we’re not perfect, we try to reply as soon as possible. We also try to stay logged in to our online chat bubble as much as possible to answers those quick questions you might have.

As your trusted Hawaii wedding planners, we do our best to make sure your day goes as smoothly and perfectly as possible, but there are a few things that are up to you. These are the tips and reminders we’re always trying to communicate to our couples.

We speak from experience here, so please trust us that these are some of the best tips you should consider for your special day.

Here Are Our Top 10 Tips for Your Hawaii Wedding Day:

1. Bring Your Marriage License and Wedding Rings

Don’t forget your marriage license and wedding rings! Your officiant needs your license, and your rings are part of the ceremony. You will need to pick up your marriage license from the Hawaii Department of Health or a license agent before your ceremony to be legally married. Here are more details on the marriage license process.

(Note: a marriage license is not required for vow renewals.)

It’s not uncommon for family and friends to reach out to us before your Hawaii wedding, and we often hear many of the same questions. We’re always happy to help, but we thought it’d be nice to provide some of the information ahead of time to help you and your guests plan better.

We focus on providing a stress-free wedding or vow renewal for our couples, but we want your entire party to have a relaxing, wonderful experience.

We feel this is a great link to send your guests, and we encourage them to send us an email (coordinator@wedhawaii.com) if they have a question not answered here. That’d help us improve the list!

And one bonus tip for all guests: Don’t be late! If the couple is waiting for you, that means they are losing ceremony, photography, video, and transportation time (depending on their wedding package). Be safe and arrive early!

Okay, here we go. We hope these help!

We have couples who book over a year in advance, and we have plenty of couples who decide on a last-minute elopement or vow renewal. Planning is obviously different for everyone, but we always like to provide you with a guide and as much information as possible, so we’ve put together a list to help you plan your destination wedding to Hawaii.

A Hawaii sunset wedding at Magic Island.