Hawaii Beach Brides - How to Create a realistic Wedding Budget in 5 Minutes
So you want to get married in Hawaii and have no idea if this is realistic or completely out of your budget. Here are 11 simple questions that will help you put together a realistic wedding budget for a Hawaii beach wedding - in just FIVE minutes!
BEACH BRIDES 🌴
Best Day Ever’s 5-minute guide
to creating a budget for your Hawai‘i beach wedding
Calling all 🌞 beach brides 🌞
Get a pen, some paper and a basic calculator. Let’s figure out if a BEACH WEDDING in HAWAII fits in to your wedding budget. Here are 11 simple questions that will give you a Hawaii beach wedding budget in about 5 minutes or less. ~ Lets go!
1. Do you want to get married at a Private Ocean-front Venue?
This will help you figure out how much money you’ll need to spend on a venue. If you answer ‘YES’ write down $5,500. If you answered “NO” and you are ok with getting married at a public Hawai‘i beach then for question number 1, you will write down $0.
Private venues are beach areas that reside on private land - ie. a beach in front of a hotel, or a beachy area in front of a private residence. These private beaches are usually not accessible to the general public which means that they are more quiet and very private. This also means you will have the space completely to yourself and there will be no crowds to deal with. This intimate setting comes at a premium price but sometimes paying for privacy is well-worth it.
The upside to getting a private venue is that (1) they are generally gorgeous spaces that are photograph amazingly, (2) private venues will allow chairs, wooden arches and other fun decor and (3) privacy.
2. Do you want to get married at a Public Beach?
If you want to get married at a public beach instead of at a private ocean-front venue, write down $2,500 for question 2. You’ll want to leave question 1 as $0.
Keep in mind, public beaches require wedding permits and can get crowded if not planned out properly. Ask your planner for details on this to learn more.
3. Do you want a professional photographer?
If you want professional photography, add in $350 for question 3. If you’re ok with basic iphone photos then you’ll write in a $0 here.
(photos in this post were taken at one of our Best Day Ever weddings by a professional photographer - Jenna Lee Pictures)
4. Do you want a floral arch?
If you decided on a private ocean-front venue you may want to add in a floral arch. A floral arch is custom made and ahhh-mazing! Add in $1,200 if you want a floral arch at your beach wedding.
Please note - Hawaii public beaches do not allow chairs or floral arches.
5. Do you want a custom bouquet or other wedding flowers?
Add in these numbers for the items you would like to include for question 5 …
$200 Bridal Bouquet
$200 Bridesmaids Bouquet x qty of bridesmaids
$20 Boutonniere Groom
$20 Boutonniere Groomsmen x qty of groomsmen
6. Do you want to have a Live Musician play music at your wedding ceremony?
Add in $250 next to question 6 if it is important to you to have a live musician at your wedding ceremony (about an hr. of time, custom songs, live music acoustic style with a local musician usually playing ukulele or guitar).
7. Professional Planner?
Do you want to hire a planner who will help you to book all vendors, get your beach permit, sets up your transportation, organize and run the wedding day ceremony? If you would like help with these things you will need a planner and you’ll want to write down $0 next to question 7. I’ve already included the planning fees in question 1 and 2.
If you don’t need a planner and want to organize everything on your own then you can write down -$1,500 here (you’ll subtract $1,500 from the total at the end, bringing the overall cost down by $1,500).
8. Hawai‘i Marriage License
When getting married in Hawaii you will need a marriage license. Here’s more info. on how to get that done (check out question 4) but for the purpose of this budget lets add in $65 for question 8 to cover the cost of the marriage license.
9. Hair and Make-up?
Would you like to have a professional hair and makeup artist do your makeup on your special day? We will help you arrange this if you choose to go with Best Day Ever. Our makeup artists are true artists and will make you feel like a queen. They come to your hotel in the morning before the ceremony and will spend about an hour and a half bringing out the the best in you. If you’d like to have hair and makeup done by a professional write down $200 for question 9. Add in an additional $200 for any bridesmaids or mothers that would like services too.
If you want to do your hair and makeup on your own you can write in a $0 for question 9.
10. Dinner and Drinks after the Ceremony
You are probably going to want to take your guests to a nice dinner after the ceremony and we will help you to arrange all of this. Add in $160 per guest to include this part in your budget (this is an average cost of a nice dinner and 1-3 drinks in Hawaii). You will write in $160 x the total number of people into the answer for question 10.
11. Add $500
For good measure, add in an extra $500 to question 11. This will cover guest leis, tips, transport, and other random things that come up. Trust me, there will be things that come up 😜
Now, add all the questions up and you’ll get a total.
This will be your beach wedding budget, a realistic budget you can actually start saving for.
Now that you know what to expect to spend and how your money will be spent, are you ready to start planning your Hawai‘i beach wedding?
Check out the Simple Beach Wedding or the Secret Island Wedding packages to learn more about our Hawaii Beach Wedding packages (all of which you get complete planning help) and let us help you make your dream Hawai‘i wedding a reality!
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Happy Planning ✌️
Nicole
Nicole Salmoiraghi is the author and owner of Best Day Ever Hawaii Events + Weddings, where she helps brides + grooms bring their dream weddings to life. She is an expert planner and has over 10 years of planning experience. Follow her on Instagram, on Facebook and on Pinterest for more wedding inspiration, and Hawaii wedding insider tips.