venue

In an ideal world, we would be getting married here.

{Marvimon House, via The Wedding Chicks}

Marvimon perfectly blends the Boy’s and my rustic and urban sensibilities. I swoon whenever I see weddings there. Lucky, lucky brides. Alas, we don’t actually live in LA, and my search for local alternatives found me 0 possibilities. Urban, chic wedding venues are pretty much impossible to find here. What we do have a lot of is this.

{Lanikuhonua, via Pacific Weddings}

Which is lovely, though not what I had originally envisioned. This was the first hurdle for me. Having grown up in Hawaii, I was pretty positive I was never going to get married here. Merely the mention of tiki torches and lu’aus give me hives. Don’t get me started on leis. Still, with the economy in shambles and having settled on actually wanting a wedding instead of eloping, home was the best choice for us. Once we settled on this, and a basic time frame (spring/summer) the search for a venue began. Lani (above) was our first choice. It’s beautiful, in our budget, beach front, has a hotel within walking distance (!) and allows us to bring in our own vendors (key). On the downside, it wasn’t as private as we had hoped, was a little too close to Paradise Cove and didn’t allow pets; the latter being the deal breaker for us. One thing we agreed on from the beginning was we wanted our puppy to be with us on our day. Finding a pet friendly venue is nearly as impossible as finding an urban modern oasis. Luckily for us, it wasn’t impossible.

{Loulu, via Red Heart Photo}

Two weeks after our engagement we had found our space. We knew we didn’t want our wedding on a Saturday (too difficult for most of our friends) but Hawaii being a pretty popular place for weddings in the summer meant that every Sunday (and Saturday and Friday) was booked except two that didn’t work. And then we realized that Monday, July 5 was a holiday, and we booked it. So yes, we are those annoying people having their wedding on a holiday weekend, but we’re hoping that most people won’t mind. And if they do, we promise to have an open bar. And a post-party beach bonfire / smore’s party. Just because.

Tagged as: venue

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