Of course we were excited when we learned of an opportunity to work in Hawaii. I’d never been, after all, and who doesn’t immediately experience dreamy visuals of lush tropics, white sand beaches, hula dancers, et al. To say that we had been looking forward to this wedding was the understatement of the century.
Something that always sticks out to me about destination weddings is the amount of trust that surrounds the entire process. It takes a ton of trust to fly a filmmaker from the East Coast, halfway around the world, without ever meeting them, and know that it will all work out. Maybe trust isn’t the right word. Bravery is probably more appropriate. Planning a destination wedding, in general, is an unbelievably bold and brave decision. And in the back of my head, while we were working with Hallie and Brian for their wedding, I was taking notes for our own destination wedding we had planned for the next year. And, admittedly, we stole a few things. And we (lovingly) stole those ideas because they absolutely hit it out of the park.
They carefully selected an intimate number of guests, found a gorgeous setting for the wedding day (Puakea Ranch — a quaint and secluded piece of farm land that was home to lots of chicken, sheep, and horses), intentionally planned the events of the day, and ended up creating an experience for themselves and their guests that I’m sure none of them will ever forget.
I’m just happy they trusted us to tell their story. We had an amazing experience on the Big Island with far too many details to recount here in this brief space. One detail I would like to mention, though, is how genuine and sincere Hallie, Brian, as well as their family and friends were to us once we arrived on the wedding day. You could just tell it would be a different experience. There was no fuss. No stress. It was easy. And fun. Certainly, extremely important things were happening that day, but the ease with which they took in those moments was inspiring and it was a true pleasure to be a part of their celebration.
Also — Hawaii is amazingly beautiful and full of incredible people. We count ourselves lucky to have experienced it.
Vendor Love: Puakea Ranch // Hawaii Island Events // Mon Ami Catering // Zephyr & Tide // Martin McDaniel // Maui Makeup Artistry
