Date and Location

We picked a date and a location!  It isn't official yet, we haven't signed a contract, but that is just because we are waiting on the venue to draft it.  We chose Waimea Valley and we will be getting married there on May 20th 2013.  We made our Save the Dates too.  We will be sending them out in September, nine months before the big day so everyone will have plenty of time to make arrangements. Charles likes the bottom picture better and I prefer the top picture, so we have half of each.

Waimea Valley

Now the venues we are deciding between.  The first of our top two choices is Waimea Valley. Waimea Valley is a nature preserve, botanical garden and historical/cultural center. A non-profit organization is the steward for the 1,800 acre valley. I like the fact that the proceeds of our event would be going to a worthwhile cause.

The reasons we like this location are its beauty, the on-site coordinator and caterer, the reception site equipped to host a wedding, the temperature is cooler and less muggy than right on the water, and it is one of the least expensive sites we looked at.

The three main draw backs to this venue are: there is no view of the mountains, when we toured the site we got a bunch of bug bites and it is open to the public until 5pm so if our wedding was earlier than 5, it wouldn't be very private.

Above is the visitor's center and vegetation surrounding the parking.  Too bad all parking lots can't look this good.

Just on the other side of the vistor's center you come out on the main lawn.  There is a huge monkey pod tree and gardens surrounding the lawn.  There are also metal tiki torches that are lit in the evening.










The reception space is a covered open-air pavillion which is connected to the vistor's center via a walkway and composes the East side of the main lawn.

Some of the flora and fauna from Waimea valley.








It does seem like a peacock would be a nice addition to a wedding party (as long as it is not too loud).











The ceremony space we would use is the Upper Meadow.  It is about 1/2 mile from the main lawn towards the waterfall on a paved road.

 These pictures were provided by the event coordinator at Waimea Valley.  You can either use the benches they already have in the valley for seating, or you can rent white chairs.

The Upper Meadow has a beautiful tree canopy covering most of the space.

 The waterfall is just 1/4 mile from the ceremony site, so any guests who want to see it could easily walk to it. We can hire the golf carts to shuttle people to and from the ceremony location, but we would encourage anyone able to walk to enjoy the beauty of the valley.

This is the backup ceremony space in case of rain. It is surrounded by tropical plants including bamboo (which Charles loved).

 If we want pictures on the beach, Waimea Bay and Sharks Cove are located just outside the preserve.