Wedding In Hawaii

Me and my fiance are planning to get married June 20, 2004.

We looked at all the hotels, castles, mansions, ball rooms, convention rooms, etc for our ceremony and reception and the average cost is about $85 per person plus tip and tax and some places charge an extra $1000 for the ceremony.

And we would be having over 100 guests. And our budget is limited so we started to get frustrated.

A few ideas came up from our friends about backyard weddings or a firehall or a vfw hall. THis would save a tremendous amount of money, we`d still have to get a caterer though, being both of our familes and friends, well lets just say, nobody wants to eat what they make.

But I dont` want to remember my wedding as `i got married in some parents or friends backyard` or `i got married at a firehall`.

That`s just not what I want at all and my fiance agrees with me. Our honeymoon is going to be in Hawaii, so we were considering getting married in hawaii, somewhere, not sure yet, then coming back home after our honeymoon and having a relatively inexpensive reception at a firehall or vfw hall.

We would invite some of his and my family and friends to go to hawaii, at their own expense, but we`d be lucky if any of them showed up there. Jobs, money, time, etc.

So what I`m asking is, what are some places anybody recommends having a ceremony in Hawaii ?

And my other question is, can we have some sort of "unofficial non denomitional religious ceremony" at a non denomination church when we get back from hawaii where those who wanted to see us get married, still can and then afterwords we`d have the reception at a firehall or vfw hall.

Thanks,
Holly