Hawaiian Wedding, Elope Or Invite?!

My fiance and I are getting married in hawaii may 20 2004 and we are having a reception and vow renewal here and later in the reception we are doing a slide show and viewing of the wedding video......to avoid the cost I would suggest a party at home or a friends house.........or go to somewhere that does the whole thing for a small group you might be surprised how inexpensive it is thanks naomi

I am doing the same thing in April but in Jamacia! I dont think that you will be bored because ,I thought of that too, but you will be in a new EXOTIC place!!! I am also having the recention when i get back in hopes of saving some money! Good luck to you

Jamaca sounds great....we went to aruba for 11 days in november and never got bored and it rained for 9 out of the 11 lol but we still had a blast wherever you look there are things to do...........anyway I was just wondering if you had come up with any neat ideas for favors (beach theme) or centerpieces thanks and good luck naomi

Ps I also see no harm in inviting everyone to come to the wedding and they come if they want to thats what we did so far no takers though but you just never know

Thanks for all of the advise. Naomi, is all of your family in the same city where you both live? I think we may be able to pull this off with no hurt feelings, since my family all lives in our city but my family is very small. My sister got married with a BIG huge extravaganza a couple of years ago and I was the maid of honor...so I think they will be sorta relieved that thay won`t have to repeat the stress all over again if we do it this way. His family is spread out all across the US, so for them not to "feel" obligated to travel all over the place with children or being older in age, they may be relieved to simply receive a DVD that we plan on sending to everyone. We will send out a DVD of the actual wedding video with our thank you cards. My fiance will burn the DVD`s so it will be a minimal cost, but nice for everyone to have or maybe sell their copy on eBay...who knows! I haven`t found the ONE yet, in regards to our reception place, since I am not sure exactly what I want. I thought about renting a place that does it all...but the cost of those can really add up QUICK! Especially since you can`t do anything yourself. The ones in my area (Dallas) are mostly all inclusive, Flowers/DJ/Food/Ceremony or Vowl Renewal. The prices for this type are not affordable. My sister only paid $300 for her reception at a banquet hall that was HUGE...(really really big, no joke) and it was run by a non-profit organization. Of course, it was completely empty & she had to pay someone or do all of the decorating herself. I think I may check into this, since I would prefer to do all of the decor & planning myself. With the other places (the all inclusive) places, you can`t do anything except pay more $$ & upgrade to whatever they have to choose from. I am still sort of undecided though. I will definately let you all know what we have found or problems we come across as we come to them. Good Luck and Congrats Naomi, and to all of the other Brides-To-Be!!

Lol wow thanks for replying you sound so excited it great to hear that excitement......I am excited to but as the planning gets more involved I have gotten a little less excited but I am being told that the closer it gets the more excited I will get all over again lol and I am sure I wll be busting at the seams then.......The main reason that we are going to hawaii is also that my family is in nd and we are living in ny so I also didn`t want them to feel that they had to all travel to the wedding so this seemed the best..........the idea of sending a dvd with the thank yous is a great idea thanks so much naomi

My fiance and I are getting married in Kauai on March 28, 2004. We are going to have a Luau wedding reception back home in May. It isn`t cheap but everyone will enjoy sharing in our celebration!

A luau is also what we have planned what are some of the specific activities you have planned we are probubly hiring a hula dancer or two.... But what else would you suggest as for favours, centerpieces and such thanks naomi

Hawaii sounds great. We getting married on sept 25 `04 and having our honeymoon on Catalina Island off the coast of California. Might be cheaper!!