Combining a Glam Ballroom Wedding With the Beaches of Hawaii
Glamour is at very single turn in this destination wedding captured by Aria Studios. From the bride's perfect red lip to the all white florals by Su-V Expressions and the tropical elegance of Honolulu's Royal Hawaiian Hotel, it all makes for a wedding day as stunning as they come. Go from seaside portraits to a ballroom dressed to the nines with the full celebration right here.
From the Bride...Growing up in two completely different parts of the United States, I'm a local girl born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii and Tom, a southern boy from Jackson, Mississippi we some how found our way to each other in the middle of one of the busiest cities, Los Angeles. Our love story began with short glances and interactions at work in the hospital. Tom is a surgery resident physician while I am medical surgical nurse at Cedars Sinai Medical Center. We would occasionally talk about plan of care about the patients we would be caring for and purposely start to religiously show up for our monthly unit MD/RN collaboration meetings just to get more of a glimpse and interaction with each other. Not quite like Grey's Anatomy but the real and genuine love that grew between us was extraordinary because we found our person in each other.
When we were planning our wedding it was a no brainer that Honolulu was the place to be but where exactly?! Since both of us lived in Los Angeles we were grateful that my parents were able to help us look at different venue options that were available for our date. When they came across the Royal Hawaiian it was just perfect and came full circle when Tom told me it was the first hotel he stayed at when he first came to Hawaii couple months before we met and for it to be the place where we celebrate our love, there was no other place than the Royal. The lush greenery against the historic pink reminded him of places back in the south and with having Waikiki beach and Diamond Head as our back drop we had the best of both worlds at our finger tips. Our ceremony was held in a chapel that was near and dear to my heart. Growing up Catholic, I wanted a traditional Church wedding ceremony and as a daughter/alumni of Sacred Hearts Academy I knew St. Margaret Mary Chapel was the perfect intimate setting. Lina from Lina B flowers decorated the church with a simple green garland to add to the charming character of the Chapel.
Planning the wedding from Los Angeles felt a little overwhelming even with family back in Hawaii to help, we still had no idea where to start after we got our venue. Everything just fell into place when we found our amazing wedding planner that is now our dear friend Karisa from Say I Do By Karisa! She is definitely the definition of a boss lady! With our first meeting in Hawaii back in August we told her our vision of a clean, chic, elegant and romantic wedding at the Royal, she helped guide us in making our dream wedding come to life! Her vendor recommendations were spot on because they were truly the best! Every trip we made to Hawaii, Karisa had set up appointments with our vendors and continuously emailed, called, and texted us with updates when we were back in LA. If you are planning a destination wedding in Honolulu, Say I Do By Karisa and her team is the first phone call you should make cause she will make your wedding dreams become a reality!
A Cake Life made our wonderful guava chiffon and carrot cake with buttercream frosting! The cake meeting and tasting was truly an experience because Kristen was so sweet and she sketched our cake design at the meeting! Aria studios were our videographer and photographer and Jonas and Holly were our main contacts throughout our whole experience and even after the wedding! They truly listened to our vision of how Tom and I wanted our wedding day to be captured and we are truly grateful on how amazing everything turned out! The floral goddess, Sue from Su-V Expressions is so talented. We wanted more of a greenery wedding with white accented flowers even though the idea seemed simple she made the floral decor so elegant! The sweetheart table was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen and one of my favorite highlights of our wedding decor. The cascading greenery and the pillar candles reflecting against the light coming from Waikiki beach just set the tone for romance.
Little details were just as important. The draping from Les Saison transformed the ballroom into a white canvas and the glass panels that surrounded the ballroom were exposed so our guests could look out and see the night sky of Waikiki beach. I took calligraphy classes from one of my favorite calligraphers Courtney from PoppyJackShop. I hand calligraphy all the escort cards that were in a shape of a marble leaf tile to go with our greenery theme. HappilyEverEtched from Buena Park, California made our amazing Laser etched photo booth back drop and Nestor and Joey Hipolito from One Day Signs from Mililani, Hawaii created a beautiful mirror calligraphy signage to add a personal touch.
Tahiti Rey sang songs to the important dances I'll ever remember. DJ Anit, a dear friend, brought the reception to life. All that mattered was all the love we were surrounded with that came from our friends and family who travelled all over the world to be with us on our special day. Our wedding day was everything we could have imagined and more!
When we were planning our wedding it was a no brainer that Honolulu was the place to be but where exactly?! Since both of us lived in Los Angeles we were grateful that my parents were able to help us look at different venue options that were available for our date. When they came across the Royal Hawaiian it was just perfect and came full circle when Tom told me it was the first hotel he stayed at when he first came to Hawaii couple months before we met and for it to be the place where we celebrate our love, there was no other place than the Royal. The lush greenery against the historic pink reminded him of places back in the south and with having Waikiki beach and Diamond Head as our back drop we had the best of both worlds at our finger tips. Our ceremony was held in a chapel that was near and dear to my heart. Growing up Catholic, I wanted a traditional Church wedding ceremony and as a daughter/alumni of Sacred Hearts Academy I knew St. Margaret Mary Chapel was the perfect intimate setting. Lina from Lina B flowers decorated the church with a simple green garland to add to the charming character of the Chapel.
Planning the wedding from Los Angeles felt a little overwhelming even with family back in Hawaii to help, we still had no idea where to start after we got our venue. Everything just fell into place when we found our amazing wedding planner that is now our dear friend Karisa from Say I Do By Karisa! She is definitely the definition of a boss lady! With our first meeting in Hawaii back in August we told her our vision of a clean, chic, elegant and romantic wedding at the Royal, she helped guide us in making our dream wedding come to life! Her vendor recommendations were spot on because they were truly the best! Every trip we made to Hawaii, Karisa had set up appointments with our vendors and continuously emailed, called, and texted us with updates when we were back in LA. If you are planning a destination wedding in Honolulu, Say I Do By Karisa and her team is the first phone call you should make cause she will make your wedding dreams become a reality!
A Cake Life made our wonderful guava chiffon and carrot cake with buttercream frosting! The cake meeting and tasting was truly an experience because Kristen was so sweet and she sketched our cake design at the meeting! Aria studios were our videographer and photographer and Jonas and Holly were our main contacts throughout our whole experience and even after the wedding! They truly listened to our vision of how Tom and I wanted our wedding day to be captured and we are truly grateful on how amazing everything turned out! The floral goddess, Sue from Su-V Expressions is so talented. We wanted more of a greenery wedding with white accented flowers even though the idea seemed simple she made the floral decor so elegant! The sweetheart table was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen and one of my favorite highlights of our wedding decor. The cascading greenery and the pillar candles reflecting against the light coming from Waikiki beach just set the tone for romance.
Little details were just as important. The draping from Les Saison transformed the ballroom into a white canvas and the glass panels that surrounded the ballroom were exposed so our guests could look out and see the night sky of Waikiki beach. I took calligraphy classes from one of my favorite calligraphers Courtney from PoppyJackShop. I hand calligraphy all the escort cards that were in a shape of a marble leaf tile to go with our greenery theme. HappilyEverEtched from Buena Park, California made our amazing Laser etched photo booth back drop and Nestor and Joey Hipolito from One Day Signs from Mililani, Hawaii created a beautiful mirror calligraphy signage to add a personal touch.
Tahiti Rey sang songs to the important dances I'll ever remember. DJ Anit, a dear friend, brought the reception to life. All that mattered was all the love we were surrounded with that came from our friends and family who travelled all over the world to be with us on our special day. Our wedding day was everything we could have imagined and more!