Getting Married in Hawai’i (A 2025 Checklist)

You’re engaged! Congratulations!

Now the more difficult part: Planning a wedding 🫣 Not to worry, I’m here to walk you through the basics of getting married in Hawai’i—My greatest hope is to help your dreams come to reality, so you experience this magical day with no stress or anxiety <3

First things first: Listen to your intuition and dream together!

The dreams you have for your wedding day will guide and inform every decision past this point, so sit down with your partner, close your eyes, and dream of your most perfect day:

• Where are you? Who is there with you? What are you doing?

• How do you feel in this space?

• What time of day is it?

• What scenery surrounds you?

• What are you eating and drinking?

• What’s the vibe?

• What colors are you and your friends wearing?

• How many people are there and what is their relationship to you?

This initial step of dreaming together will set the stage for the next set of questions as you both decide what is important to you on this day—Whether it’s “enjoying a chill day together” or “feeling a sense of adventure” or “enjoying time with our chosen family": These are all wonderful priorities, but extremely different styles of wedding day. Deciding on these priorities beforehand is a great way to keep you both on track to plan a day you will love forever!

• What are your top three priorities for this day?

• What are your non-negotiables?

• What is the most important thing for you both to experience on this day?

A checklist to track your progress.

Now that the dreams and priorities are set, it’s time for some logistics. Keep track of your progress and check it off as you go. Give yourself plenty of room, water, rest and grace as you go!

Each time period is separated into three categories: Planning (strategic decisions), Doing (active tasks), and Purchasing (items to buy).

First steps:

• Discuss priorities with your partner

• Make a mental moodboard of what the vibes, textures and colours will be

  • If it’s helpful, make a visual moodboard too! Don’t get lost in other people’s Pinterest weddings, though: Your wedding is going to be special and unique because it’s YOURS. I recommend Cosmos for creating a moodboard because it is less about selling you something and more about exploring the visual vibes and textures and emotions.

• Determine budget

  • Make sure to include your honeymoon, too!

• Make a guest list

• Choose a date

  • If you're stuck between a few potential dates, check in with your must-have guests and vendors.

• Choose a venue (or beach/park)

• Choose a caterer or food plan

• Create a shared planning document to keep track of everything

• Create a wedding email address for vendor communication

5~ Months Out

Planning

• Send out save-the-dates

  • Consider Paperless Press or Other digital invitation tool to save on shipping/printing costs

  • Use the save the date to collect guest mailing addresses for any future mailing needs (Such as invitations, thank you’s, or future Christmas cards)

• Draft preliminary day-of timeline

  • If you hire a planner (or a photographer who plans ;), work with them on this draft!

• Hire your priority vendors early to ensure they have your date (Photographer, planner, cinematographer, florist, etc)

Doing

• Begin wellness routine if desired

• If you’re planning to make a wedding website:

  • I used Zola, there is also The Knot

  • Write your love story together

  • Add photos

  • Add venue and hotel information, as well as any pre/post wedding activities

  • Add registry information

3~ Months out

Planning

• Finalize guest list

• Send wedding invitations

  • Tip: Since you’re already stuffing envelopes, make two envelopes for each guest: one for the invitation, one for the thank you card. (or the Christmas card if they don’t end up coming 😆)

• Launch the wedding website

• Find your officiant

• Determine and invite wedding party if any

• Make honeymoon plans

  • Especially if you are planning to go to a tourist destination or visiting at a high-visit time, try to book your most important stops (hotels, ryokans, museums, popular attractions, etc) early.

Doing

• Start any DIY plans!

  • These are great to hand off to people when they ask, “do you need any help?” ;)

Purchasing

• Pick out and purchase rings

  • Some jewellers I love: Jason Dow (local), Dear Survivor, Consider the Wildflowers

• Purchase bridal wear

  • Local vendors I love: Miyuki Liem, De La Rosa Bridal

• Purchase aloha attire

  • Local aloha shirt makers I love: Sig Zane, Roberta Oaks

1-2~ Months Out

Planning

• If you are having people do speeches, ask them now so they have ample time to prepare.

  • If you don’t plan on speeches but still want to invite important people’s voices into your day, ask them to write letters for you to read instead!

• Confirm song list for ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception with your DJ or musicians. Consider these moments that you may want specific songs for:

  • Pre-ceremony playlist

  • Party/family walking down the aisle

  • Couple walking down the aisle

  • Couple exiting ceremony

  • Reception entrance

  • First dance(s)

  • Last dance/exit

• Start to finalize the wedding week schedule of events and day-of timeline.

Doing

• Do pre-marital counseling

  • Pre-marital counseling is important even if you have been together a long time or aren’t religious—it is a form of couple’s therapy that is intended to help you and your partner get on the same page as well as identify and help you navigate through conflict.

  • On a personal note, my husband and I got super clear on expectations for chores, values and priorities which was so helpful in our first year of marriage!

• Testing with vendors if needed: Caterer, Cake, HMUA

  • If you have a HMUA trial, use that day to take some engagement photos! This is a great way to see how the makeup photographs, vibe with your photographer, and have some great photos to show off at your sign-in table :)

• Try any new “beauty” routines 1-2 months before to ensure your body/skin react well.

Purchasing

• Confirm wedding night accommodations.

• Find/Print a guestbook

  • If you took engagement photos, print out a book of your photos with lots of space for people to leave love notes :)

• Buy stationary if needed

• Return address stamp for stationery

• Stamps for invitations and thank-yous

• Design or order day-of stationery (such as programs, menus, table numbers, etc.)

The Month Of

Planning

• Chat with the officiant about the ceremony

• File for your marriage license

Doing

• Write your wedding vows

• Fit and final adjustments on the wedding attire if needed

• Break in the wedding shoes!

• Pack for the honeymoon

• Schedule any “beauty” appointments (e.g., manicure, pedicure, massage, wax, teeth whitening, etc)

Purchasing

• Buy vow books

• Purchase/gather wedding morning essentials into a bag or pouch

  • Tide pen

  • Portable phone charger

  • Liquid IV

  • Hair ties, bobby pins, safety pins

  • Lotion and lip balm

  • Water, snacks and mints

  • Nail clippers

  • Antihistamines and advil

  • Tissues

  • Insect repellent and sunscreen

• Purchase/gather honeymoon essentials

  • Pack early so you don’t have to stress about it after the wedding day!

  • Pack your wedding morning essentials pouch for all the random needs you might encounter

  • Travel documents

  • Portable phone charger

  • Cash in the local currency

  • Hand sanitizer

  • First-aid kit

  • Birth control/condoms

  • Medication

  • Paper/electronic copies of important documents: Passport, travel itinerary (with addresses), health insurance, prescriptions, hotel booking confirmation, phone numbers of important contacts

2 Weeks Out

Planning

• Confirm RSVPs and dietary needs

• Confirm timeline and send to all vendors

• Wrap any gifts you'll be giving to your spouse, family, or wedding party — or write heartfelt notes for family to open on the day-of

• Make a list of family groups you’d like your photographer to capture (with names!)

  • E.G.,

    • Us + immediate Mizunaka family (Bobby, Gabe, Galen)

    • Us + immediate Buhr family (Doug, Tish, Keala, Robyn, Misty, Marc)

• If they haven’t asked yet, let your photographer/videographer know if there are special moments or things you would especially like to be captured

• Finalize transportation plan to/from the venue on the wedding day, and to the airport (if needed)

• Give your venue/caterer final guest count

• Finalize seating/tables and get the final chart printed

• Organize vendor tips and/or checks

Doing

• Finalize vows

• Handwrite your vows into your vow books

The Week Of

Planning

• Check the weather report to ensure you don’t need a contingency plan

• Ask someone to pack up your gifts/belongings after the reception, and if needed, someone to return rental items the day after the wedding

• Have a friend prepare a great getting ready playlist

• Ask your party or family to bring breakfast and/or coffee to the getting ready time

Doing

• Write a letter to your partner

• Steam all wedding outfits

• Hand the favors, decor items to your day-of coordinator (with instructions if necessary)

• Clean your ring

• If you have space to do it, take a couple hours (and invite friends to help!) to organize the house so it’s (somewhat) clean when you come back from the wedding/honeymoon.

Purchasing

• Buy lei for important guests

Morning Of

Celebrate! You made it! Drink water, eat a good breakfast, and try to take it all in. 💛