Planning a Casual Outdoor Wedding Party in Hawaii
The vendors that we used for our Hawaii wedding party and our experiences with them.
After putting off a celebration for three years, my wife and I decided to have a casual party where friends and family from the U.S., Japan, and elsewhere could gather, have fun, and enjoy each others’ company. We decided to do it in Honolulu in the fall of 2023.
Even though we intended it to be casual, planning it was a lot of work. In this blog, I’ll share who we worked with for our wedding and our experiences with them.
Circumstances and wishes
Accommodate approx. 120 guests
No ceremony
Fully outdoors
Easy for guests to get to and from
Sophisticated yet casual vibe
No sit-down buffet or course dinner
Minimum number of speeches and formalities
Accommodate English and Japanese-speaking guests
Being that this wasn’t typical, all hotel packages didn’t fit and every time a coordinator or vendor we’d reached out to responded with an overly romantic message, we’d get the feeling that they wouldn’t be a match.
Despite these challenges, the night was a success and exceeded all of my expectations.
Here’s what we used and who we ended up working with from to make the night happen:
Invitations & Management
Wedsites
Wedsites - Wedding website, invitation management, guest and overall organization
Having guests that needed both English and Japanese communications added a challenge to finding a wedding management service. Wedsites was the only service that we could find that provided multi-lingual online invitation, email and website templates.
It wasn’t a perfect system. For example, it was difficult separating guests by their preferred language when sending out emails as there wasn’t an option to sort by it, so we had to check them one-by-one when sending. And because everything revolved around a template, we couldn’t control things such as how to display dates and time in a manner that was native to Japanese.
Overall though, it seemed like the best service that we could find that had some ability to accommodate multiple languages, and it did the job relatively well.
Venue
La Pietra School for Girls
The Great Lawn at La Pietra School was the main area for our wedding party
La Pietra was our first choice from the start, but they don’t open their schedules up until March, and that would be too close to our September target date to bet everything on them. We actually had the Hawaii State Art Museum lined up, but their communication with us was spotty at best and overall, they weren’t really helpful. We also found out later that due to their location and lack of parking, it would be basically impossible to have valet service, and the nearby area is not the safest for night events with friends and family.
Luckily, La Pietra notified us that we could select a target date with them and it happened to still be available. While they’re not the cheapest option and they come with some strict rules and limited parking, they were very responsive and helpful throughout the process. Their location at the foot of Diamond Head is fantastic, their campus is beautiful, and they made for a great location to have our celebration.
https://www.lapietra.edu/about/facility-rentals/inquiry
Planner/Coordinator
Lauren R.
Finding a planner/coordinator was a bit difficult, especially because we started our search only a few months before our date, and because most wedding planners have their set approach and teams. We, on the other hand, were looking for something a bit different from the typical.
Our planner/coordinator happened to be someone who had never done a wedding before.
We got connected to her through my mom’s friend. Moving back to Hawaii a few years ago, Lauren’s experience centered around doing events and corporate parties for companies on the U.S. Mainland, and her non-traditional approach and experience getting people to socialize and interact was perfect.
Throughout the process, she was very helpful and made sure everything went the way it was supposed to. She doesn’t have a website or anything that I know of (this was just a side gig, after all), but if anyone’s interested, contact me and I’ll reach out to her and see if she’s open to helping out. I’d definitely recommend her.
Catering
Livestock Tavern & Tchin Tchin! Bar
Two of Downtown Honolulu’s hippest spots, they’re actually run by the same company. While we reached out to a few other vendors, Livestock / Tchin Tchin! were the ones we were hoping for from the beginning because we wanted to have food and drink vendors that we actually liked at our party.
They were really good at working with us to adjust our menu as well as offer services to us so that we wouldn’t have to find someone else to help out. They provided cocktail foods and drinks, had wait staff walk around the party offering the dishes and bartenders handing out beer, pouring wine and mixing the cocktails.
At the end, they did all the clean up and everything went really smoothly. They even kept our leftover drinks for us to pick up at their restaurant a few days after. If you want friendly service and a crew that does things well, I recommend them.
For non-alcohol drinks (seltzers, coffee, water, kids’ juices), we bought and packed them ourselves, then brought them to the event. Livestock / Tchin Tchin! were willing to man those stations for us for the evening.
Black Sheep Cream Co.
Black Sheep Cream Co. has a small station setup to serve ice cream to the guests
Perhaps our favorite ice cream in Hawaii, Black Sheep Cream Co. was our first choice when we thought about having a dessert vendor. They have an amazing list of flavors to choose from, and we could choose 3 for our party, a cookies-and-cream one, coffee and black sesame.
They came about an hour into our party, discreetly set up a little cart under an umbrella that we were asked to get for them, and began serving. We were also able to pick up the leftovers from their Waipio location which was great since we like their ice cream so much.
https://www.instagram.com/blacksheepcreamco
The Alley @ Aiea Bowl
Lemon crunch and strawberry crunch cakes from The Alley at Aiea Bowl were among the desserts served at our wedding party
We’re not fans of most American cakes, they’re too sweet. But how can you have a party without cake, right? One of the cakes that we like is the lemon crunch cake from popular local spot Aiea Bowl.
We ordered lemon crunch cakes and a strawberry crunch cake of the same style, had someone pick them up and bring them to our party. Cake stands and servers were prepared by us, and our planner/coordinator helped with managing their set up and clean up. It seemed that everyone else liked them too as I think they were gone pretty quickly.
https://aieabowl.com/restaurant/bakery/
Hauoli Pastry
Chewy mochisadas from Hauoli Pastry were dropped off and placed for self-service
Hauoli Pastry and their mochisadas were introduced to us by our planner/coordinator. We had planned on having malasadas, the doughnut-like pastry that’s popular in Hawaii, but when I went to try these mochisadas at a school fair, I wanted to find a way to have them instead.
Mochisadas are small chewy, mochi-like doughnuts with a light sugar coating on the outside. John, the pastry chef and owner, had options to either set up a booth and cook them on-site or do a drop off just before dessert time. We chose the drop-off, our planner/coordinator handled it, and everything went smoothly. I’m really glad we were able to have these at our party, although I wish could’ve eaten more!
Tables, linens, etc.
Event Accents
Furniture was rented from Event Accents, and they transported, set up and took down everything
After browsing catalogs and reaching out to a few different furniture rental companies, Event Accents had the most options at reasonable prices, and they were able to accommodate our weekend event.
Their rental minimum for a weekend event was $5,000, but our order exceeded that mark. About 4 hours for set up and 2 hours for clean up was requested, so this did add to the time we needed to rent the venue. Everything was completed without issue and the staff was responsive and helpful throughout the process.
WedCycle
Tables were decorated with a combination of rentals from WedCycle and The Wedding Linen Company, florals from Watanabe Floral and items we made or provided ourselves
We bought some of the small decorations ourselves on SHEIN and Amazon, and at places like Target, but we also rented a lot. WedCycle, a boutique rental service located in West Oahu, was a great option as it helped eliminate waste since we only had plans to use a lot of decorative items once.
While they asked to change the exchange time from what was planned, the owners were personable and everything went smoothly.
https://www.wedcyclehawaii.com/
The Wedding Linen Company
While Event Accents rented out linens through their partner, Fine Linen Rental, their prices were quite high and many of the options had to be shipped in. The Wedding Linen Company had the linens we needed for a lot less and they came pressed when our planner/coordinator picked them up.
https://theweddinglinencompany.com/
Wasara
Japanese brand Wasara makes stylish disposable plates, bowls and utensils
Due to the casual nature of our wedding party, we decided to have disposable plates and utensils. As you know, most of these types of things are unstylish. We decided to buy matte black plastic forks from Sabert, and we bought paper plates from Wasara.
Based in Japan, Wasara adds class to typical paper dishes and disposable utensils, items that almost always get overlooked in the U.S. Square-shaped and designed with a slight wave, these plates were easy to hold, just the right size for the cocktail foods, and they looked nice. A lot of guests made positive comments about them as they’re not known or seen.
Floral
Watanabe Floral
The go-to place for flowers on Oahu, Watanabe Floral had options to customize floral arrangements for pick up or delivery as well as individual items for purchase.
Having Watanabe make the arrangements were ridiculously expensive, however. For an 8-foot garland for a farm table made of an arrangement of mainly greens and a little bit of small white flowers, we were quoted $640/each. For a 4-foot version, $320. Delivery would’ve been $40.
This would’ve totaled to quite a bit considering there were several tables to cover, so we decided to purchase the items individually and put them together ourselves. It was a lot of work, but it saved us a lot of money in the end.
Cindy’s Lei Shoppe
Located in Chinatown, Cindy’s Lei Shoppe had a nice catalog at decent prices. Some leis we were considering weren’t available and a couple of our orders needed to be adjusted, but that can’t be helped as they depend on the flowers coming in.
Their staff was really friendly and patient, especially with me since I don’t know much about flowers and leis. We’re very satisfied with them and recommend them.
https://www.cindysleishoppe.com/
MC, music & entertainment
Torch Hawaii
Kaulana of Torch Hawaii did an amazing job MC’ing our wedding party
For lights, sound, MC and DJ, we went with Torch Hawaii as we’re connected through a mutual friend. They were able to overcome some big external issues that was out of either of our hands, and were flawless for our event.
The MC, Kaulana, was really personable and always made us feel relaxed and reassured that things were being taken care of just how we wanted it. He’s amazing at reading the crowd and their energy, and responding accordingly.
Prior to the party, we submitted a short song list so they could get a feel for what we wanted them to play throughout the evening, and the music was on point for the whole time. We’re really happy to have been able to work with them and would easily recommend them.
https://www.instagram.com/torchhawaii/
Jordan Paul
Kauai-based singer songwriter Jordan Paul performed live music at our wedding party
What’s an outdoor wedding party without live music, right? To set the mood at the beginning of our event and for the first hour or so, we had local singer songwriter (and my cousin) Jordan Paul perform. Based on Kauai, Jordan not only performs locally but has also toured as far away as Europe, performing for enthusiastic crowds there.
He was a breeze to work with and was exactly the vibe we were looking for. Guests who didn’t know we were related came up to us complimenting him, so I definitely recommend checking him out.
https://www.instagram.com/jordvnpaul/
Photography
Colby and Jess
Colby of Colby and Jess took great couples’ shots as well as candids at our wedding party
As someone who takes photos myself, I was a bit particular about who I wanted to work with. I looked around at potential candidates but would find reasons to not go through with them. I was referred to Colby and Jess by a great photographer we worked with in Japan, Sam Spicer.
Colby flew into Honolulu from Maui, was really chill and easygoing, and helped us feel relaxed in front of the camera. He was able to capture great photos of us, our event and the moments that happened and delivered 385 shots from the evening. We're very happy that we worked with Colby, wouldn't hesitate to work with him again, and would recommend him to anyone.
Signage
Zazzle
Zazzle allows users to design custom signage, stationary and more
Due to their wide range of customizable products, Zazzle proved to be a good one-stop option to get our signage and thank you stationary from. We ordered directional signs for parking and guidance, a welcome sign, drink and food menus, and tabletop directions on what to do with the disposable cameras that we had left out for guests to use.
Products could be designed on the site simply by editing existing designs, and everything arrived as ordered with no issues.
Guest Photo/Video Sharing
Guestpix
Guestpix lets wedding party guests easily upload their photos and videos that can be downloaded after for memories
We wanted our evening to be documented as much as possible, and getting the guests involved is a great way to do that. Guestpix allowed guests to easily upload the photos and videos they took into a gallery that could be downloaded and shared by us after.
This could be done by providing a link to an online drive, however this service was more seamless for those who may not be as tech-savvy. QR codes were generated by the service and we printed them out and left them around our event for easy access. We were able to download all of the content submitted and everything was separated into folders according to which guest uploaded them.
It’s a pretty easy tool to use and a great way to easily collect the photos and videos from your event.
Insurance
The Event Helper
Insurance was required for us to have by the venue, and we were able to get coverage quickly through The Event Helper. I’m not sure how they compare to other options, however I had no issues and getting coverage was pretty simple as it’s just going through a few pages of online questions.
https://application.theeventhelper.com/
Security
Honolulu Police Department
Officer presence was requested by the venue, and we were able to apply for an off-duty police officer through an online application. Payment was made by check directly to the officer who reported at the time of the event.
https://www.honolulupd.org/police-services/hire-a-special-duty-officer/order/
I hope my comprehensive list and reviews give some insight as to who you could potentially work with for a casual yet classy outdoor wedding party on Oahu. While planning was still a lot of work and at times quite chaotic, the actual wedding party went smoothly, guests had a great time and so did we - and that’s what matters.
Keep in touch:
About My Japan-Related Business
I started a company that is connected to Japan, helping businesses do international marketing to the country.
In 2023, I officially started a business that works a lot with Japan.
After teaching English in Fukuoka, Japan as an ALT on the JET Program, I went back into the social media / digital marketing world. It was what I had done at a startup in Silicon Valley before moving to Japan.
I fortunately found a job at a medium-sized Japanese digital agency called TAM which had been around for more than a couple decades, and worked with the CEO to help crack a window so that the company could do more internationally related work.
What I’ve learned doing international marketing
The language and cultural barriers that exist between Japan and other countries, especially Western ones, prevent most Japanese companies from working with ones outside of Japan and vice versa. They also present enormous challenges for businesses trying to market and sell to and from Japan.
Throughout my years at TAM, I’ve worked on Japanese government projects, helping clients such as the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the Yokohama City Government with outbound international marketing.
I’ve also worked with a lot of international companies trying to market to Japanese people - Small startups, large corporations, airlines, fashion brands and so on. While doing so, I’ve learned the different challenges that are common, what some of their needs are and what I could do to help them.
I will continue doing this through my new company.
My company is called TAMKO X, and we are an independently operating company within the TAM Group.
What my company does
The TAM Group has several companies within it doing things like digital ad strategy, content production, e-commerce site design, AI tool building, VR world creation and more. And with the way that we’re set up, we can all draw upon the group’s resources, knowledge and network when we need to in order to best help clients.
For the projects I’ve been a part of in the past several years, I collaborated with Japanese specialists at TAM because they know the market the best and they’re Japanese themselves. They currently live in Japan so they have an up-to-date pulse on things, so together we’re able to help out and provide a lot of value to these international clients.
The challenges we help businesses with
I’ve learned that most of the challenges international businesses face when trying to market to Japan extends beyond just translating and learning business etiquette and things like that.
Much of it relates to how to actually reach and communicate with people in Japan in a natural way, how to build relevance with their lifestyles which can be quite different so they pay attention, and then how to spark an interest so they think about buying.
A lot of times the approach in marketing communications is quite different from how they’d be done in places like the US, for example, and there are a lot of nuances to think about and figure out.
We help localize and connect culture so that our clients have a better chance at getting Japanese customers. We do this through things like native Japanese social media, content creation and transcreation, influencer marketing, Japanese ad management, website creation, Japanese article creation and publications. Basically if it’s a form of digital communication that can have an affect on people, we can do it.
I’m looking forward to continue working with those I currently work with but also working with new passionate clients and new people who would like to collaborate on these types of project as well.
If you’re interested, feel free to contact me.
Website: https://tamkox.com
Keep in touch:
Why Moving Back May Be Hard After Living Abroad
Here are some common challenges American expats may face when moving back to the U.S., based on my personal experience.
I’m basically an immigrant in my home country of the US.
This is the result of living overseas for about 13 years. Here, I’ll highlight some general challenges that I’ve either faced or realized may be an issue that can affect those moving back to the US from wherever they may be.
If you are living abroad and planning to move back to the US or are planning to move abroad, you may find my realizations useful.
1. You may lack relevant professional experience
The work you do overseas may not have much relevance to a job you’re looking to do back home. Even for someone like me who works in marketing, some of the things I do is for the Japanese market, which would be quite different if an employer was looking to market to people in the US.
Even if you do have relevant experience, it may be likely that an employer will favor someone who is equally as qualified as you if their experience is in the US. Why? People want to protect themselves and make sure they’re doing their job correctly.
Not being able to judge your foreign work, skills, company, clients, etc., means more risk to the person in charge of hiring.
You may also have fewer professional connections since you’ve been away.
Knowing people and maintaining those relationships matters. The longer you’re away, the higher the chance that your professional relationships have weakened over time.
Your relevance will decrease with time and distance. This is why I believe you should build some your personal brand (reputation) online at some level so that you can be found from anywhere and people can’t connect with you based on interest.
2. The US government may doubt you
There’s a chance you’ll run into issues with moving back to the US if you’ve been overseas for a while. This is especially true if you end up marrying a foreigner and are sponsoring them for a spousal visa.
While applying for a spousal visa for my Japanese wife, I was asked to provide more proof that I actually intended to move back to the US. This is difficult because while the US has “permanent addresses” that could be a sign of intention to relocate back if it’s a U.S. address, there’s no official legal documentation for it.
I ended up having to gather various pieces of evidence that I still kept an American base, signaling an intention to one day move back. I talked about it in my video, but basically if you’ve been gone for a while, it might not exactly be free sailing back home.
3. Your credit might be good but too weak
Just because your credit score is good doesn’t mean you won’t run into problems, I realized.
I had no problems getting a mobile phone contract nor a new credit card, but I wasn’t able to get a good rate for a car lease. I wasn’t denied, but the amount was roughly double what was being advertised even with a decent downpayment.
The reason given to me was that while my credit was good, I didn’t have enough credit history.
I had never taken out a personal loan or car loan, never bought a house and didn’t have any tuition loans. I did have credit cards, but due to living overseas, they were rarely used.
Even though my credit score was said to be 114 points above the average for my age, that didn’t mean that I was being offered what others with that score were when it comes to bigger purchases.
4. You may notice “gaps” in your existing relationships due to time and distance
When you first move back and see friends, family and acquaintances, things are great because they’re happy you’re back and you can have a good time reminiscing about your past experiences together.
You’ll realize, however, that everyone has different lives, routines and rhythms that aren’t like how they were before. And the same goes for you since you’ve likely changed quite a bit while living abroad.
Activities and interests that tied you together before may have changed, and rebuilding your relationships requires some adjusting. There may be a bit of feeling like an outsider, because in a sense, you are. But if you’re both willing to work at it, you should be able to bring your relationship up to speed and build on them.
I hope this provides some insight into what challenges are common for American expats when moving back to the US. I’m sure this doesn’t cover them all and returning may be difficult, but having an international life isn’t meant to be simple.
Keep in touch:
The vendors that we used for our Hawaii wedding party and our experiences with them.