Aloha Kauai lovers! My husband and I recently returned from our two-week South Pacific wedding and honeymoon. We spent our first week in Kauai (where we got married) and then traveled to Bora Bora for a one-week honeymoon.
This was our sixth trip to Kauai, and because we were getting married towards the end of the week, we didn’t do as much “touristy” stuff, such as tours or excursions, as we normally do. Instead, we just enjoyed our rental house in Princeville and got ready for our “big day” which was Thursday.
I decided to take my laptop with me so that I could keep a daily journal of our entire two-week experience and capture all of the important details from our wedding and honeymoon. So, here’s an overview of our wedding week. Be warned … it’s quite long. The link to our photo gallery is at the end.
On Saturday, May 12, we left SFO for Kauai on United flight 41 around 9:00am. Using miles to upgrade, we sat in first class. We arrived in Kauai around 11:30am and our bags came out pretty quickly. We exited the baggage claim area and decided to “divide and conquer,” meaning I would wait at the curb with the bags while my husband boarded the Hertz shuttle. Because of his Hertz Gold Club status, his name was on the board when he arrived and he was pleasantly surprised to find that we’d been upgraded to a full size SUV – a Ford Expedition Eddie Bauer edition – with all the bells and whistles. Sweet. By the way, he was gone all of 10 minutes. I’m not kidding!
We then drove to Princeville and checked into our rental house, Keoniana Kai, which we rented through Remax Kauai. The house was located in a cul de sac on one of the bluffs near Sea Lodge. This house was absolutely incredible and words alone cannot describe its beauty and sophistication. Significant attention to detail was apparent both inside and out. We LOVED this house. It had three bedrooms and four bathrooms with a view of the ocean from almost every room. It was two levels with wraparound lanais on the upper level and a big hot tub on the patio. On the upper level, all of the walls facing the ocean were made of glass and could be completely opened up to let the sea breezes in.
There were birds everywhere. We were quite lucky to have a baby Laysan Albatross nesting in the front yard who we named Baby Huey (because he was huge). We also had a gang of cardinals constantly buzzing our lanai looking for a snack that included one Northern cardinal and two Red Crested cardinals. We named them Larry, Darryl and Darryl. We must have had a dozen doves cooing at us from the nearby trees and also a few plucky mina birds that would check in for a handout from time to time.
The landscaping around the house was beautiful. We had a plumeria tree right by the front door (it smelled wonderful) and as such, I would always leave the house with a plumeria tucked behind my ear. There was also a huge stand of birds of paradise surrounding the back yard. There were nice Asian-themed sculptures scattered around the property as well.
After stowing our stuff and taking in our awesome house, we needed some food. We drove straight to Tropical Taco in Hanalei and ordered fish tacos and quesadillas with fresh made lemonade. Yummy. We just love this place and it’s a “must have” meal for us every time we visit Kauai.
We then went back to our house and hiked down a very steep and somewhat treacherous path to a small but very private beach below the house. This beach is known as “Sea Lodge Beach” on some maps. We thought it would be a nice place to hang out and snorkel (when the tide was low), but getting there was quite a challenge. Not for the faint hearted, that’s for sure. (Editor’s Note: we never did end up going back to this beach)
On Sunday we woke up around 6:00am to a beautiful sunrise right outside our bedroom. My husband immediately jumped out of bed and grabbed his camera for a sunrise photo session. The sky was all pink and orange and the birds were just singing up a storm. I peeked outside and saw that Huey (our resident baby albatross) had decided to step out onto the driveway to stretch his wings and give himself a bath. So cute!
We decided to go the Wake Up Café in Hanalei for breakfast. This is another place that we always go to at least once while in Kauai. For some reason, the waitress wouldn’t sit us on the lanai because the cat was sleeping on one of the chairs? Whatever. Our breakfast was yummy – I had French toast and my husband had the Hang 10 (eggs, hash browns and sausage) – and very fast, so we didn’t mind not having the lanai seat.
We then went to Foodland in Princeville for groceries and other supplies. Because we had made a list this time, we got done pretty quickly and for just less than $150. We, of course, asked for the Makai Card to maximize any specials and discounts. Unfortunately, as we walked out of the store, it started raining. And, it continued to rain on and off almost the entire day.
The rain didn’t really bug us, though, because we really needed to chill out after the crazy week we’d had leading up to our arrival. We basically kicked it at our house all day, either hanging out on the chaises in the living room, in the hot tub, on the patio (for the few sunny times) or in the TV/game room. After a quiet, relaxing day, we had dinner at our house (Huli Huli chicken with rice and fresh pineapple) and then watched the season finale of Survivor on TV.
On Monday, we were up again early to watch another glorious sunrise. My husband probably took 50 pictures before 6:30am. Today was a busy day for us and wedding logistics occupied much of our time. We started our day with an appointment in Kapa%26#39;a to get our marriage license. This took place at the Pono Market (yes, a market) where the store’s owner took our information and typed up the license while locals and tourists alike streamed in and out for Hawaiian takeout and groceries. Their shoyu chicken is known all over the island, but we opted for the Spam musubi instead.
We then went back to Hanalei so that I could have a ';hair trial'; at the Shear Elegance salon in the Hanalei Center. Heaven forbid that I have a bad hair day on Thursday (our wedding day). All went well, so the wedding would not be called off due to bad hair!
After the trip to the salon, we had some time to kill, so we went to our favorite spot on Hanalei Bay and sat out in the sun and splashed around in the surf. We always use the access path off of Weke that is about halfway between the pavilion and Pine Trees. My husband was bummed because the waves were very small and we couldn%26#39;t really do any boogie boarding.
We finished our day of wedding stuff by meeting with our wedding coordinator, Diana Gardner of Alohana Weddings, at the Princeville Resort. We were getting married on the beach to the side of the resort (but not officially on the resort as that costs a ridiculous amount of money). She gave us a ';day of'; run through and took us to the spot where the blessed event would occur. Another couple was actually getting married nearby so we gave them a few golf claps when they kissed. It was very sweet.
On Tuesday, we were up early again and spent the morning lazing around our awesome rental house and hanging out in the huge hot tub. Around noon, we packed up and went to Tunnels to do some snorkeling. We always park at the Haena Beach Park lot and then take the long walk in. With our monster truck, the chances of getting a spot by Tunnels were slim anyway. When we got there, the sky was pretty overcast and it looked like it was going to rain. I decided to go for it and take a quick cruise around. Despite the clouds and overcast sky, the visibility in the water was pretty good. I saw tons of fish but no turtles.
For dinner, we decided to hit Panda’s Kitchen in Hanalei and get some takeout. They are in the same location where Hanalei Mixed Plate used to be, and offer many of the same dishes but with a distinctive Chinese twist. My husband actually liked their food better than Hanalei Mixed Plate’s. I have to admit, it was pretty good!
On Wednesday – the day before our “big day” – we decided to go back to Tunnels again, as the sun was blazing and we figured visibility would probably be better than it was yesterday. My husband got in the water with me this time and tested our new underwater digital camera. It worked like a champ and was probably the best $300 we ever spent. We saw tons of fish, but still no honu. Bummer.
Around noon, we headed back to our house for some lunch, after stopping at the Hanalei Taro and Juice Co. “truck” over near the Wishing Well Shave Ice truck for smoothies. My husband’s was made mostly with mango and pineapple, while mine was pineapple, coconut and banana (the Coco-Bana). They were delicious! The line at the shave ice truck was quite long, while we were the only ones getting smoothies. Based on some previous experiences with surly service (what is their problem?), we didn’t miss going to Wishing Well for shave ice at all.
After lunch we decided to go play down at Hanalei Bay and do a little boogie boarding. The tide was coming in so the surf was kind of small, but we had fun and both caught a couple of good waves.
That night we decided to go to the new tapas restaurant, Bar Acuda, in the Hanalei Center for dinner. It is owned by the same dude that owns 42 Degrees in San Francisco, so we felt right at home with the tapas concept and menu offerings. We didn’t see Pierce Brosnan there, but did end up having a great meal. We ordered six small plates to share: flank steak skewers, sea scallop with mashed potatoes, fingerling potatoes, bruschetta, ahi carpaccio with lime vinaigrette, and my favorite, the house made salami with manchego cheese and roasted grapes. Yum.
Our wedding day, Thursday, May 17, dawned a beautiful sunny day. Because we weren’t getting married until sunset, we had a good part of the day to play. We started our big day by trying to head to the Wake Up Café for breakfast, but for some reason, it was closed. Not really wanting to figure out a different place to go, we hit the Foodland in Princeville for some muffins and donuts and then went back to the house.
After eating, we decided to go back to Hanalei Bay and do a little more boogie boarding. Even though the waves were small, I got a few good rides in. It was probably a good thing the waves were small, as I don’t think either of us wanted to do a face plant on our wedding day.
Following a quick lunch, the wedding fun began. Wade dropped me off at Shear Elegance in Hanalei so that I could get a manicure and pedicure as well as have my hair and makeup done. Lori at Shear Elegance gave me my mani/pedi and did a great job. She grew up (and still lives) in Haena, so she knew all the good island gossip. Christie of Blue Sky Styling did my hair and makeup and also did a great job. She put some orange and red baby cattleya orchids in my hair that were just gorgeous. My hubby had a little pre-wedding pampering, too, and got a mani/pedi.
We then zipped up to the rental house, threw on our wedding garb and then headed over to the Princeville Resort to get the show on the road. We left our car with the valet (no charge) and then headed down to the beach to meet up with Diana.
Our wedding was sort of a “planned elopement” meaning that it was just the two of us getting married in a private ceremony. We did hire a photographer (Jeannie of Rainbow Photography) to capture the event for posterity and she was wonderful to work with. I’m quite camera shy, so she did a great job keeping things loose. We also hired a guitar player, Paul Togioka, to play some mood music during the ceremony and he was fantastic. His Grammy-nominated CD is excellent and available on Amazon.
We wanted a very traditional Hawaiian ceremony, so our officiant, Jerry Suliban, spoke much of it in Hawaiian and then repeated it in English. It was very beautiful and spiritual. We did the traditional lei exchange and our leis were gorgeous. They were mainly made up of rainbow plumerias that looked beautiful and smelled wonderful.
Following our ceremony, our awesome wedding coordinator, Diana, arranged for us to have a romantic beach dinner through the Princeville Resort. All we had to do was walk back on to their property where there were three tents set up facing the ocean and Bali Hai. We think she scored us the best tent with the best view. Once inside the tent, we couldn’t see the other tents and it felt like we had the view and the beach to ourselves.
There were tiki torches burning outside our tent. Inside our tent, the table was decked out in flowers and candles of all colors. The ambiance was wonderful. There were purple dendrobium orchid leis waiting for us on the table, too. Although it started raining quite hard about five minutes after we sat down, we were quite comfy and cozy in our tent. My husband brought his iPod and a travel speaker with him, so we were serenaded with Hawaiian music throughout our meal.
Our meal consisted of four courses and we were both allowed to order off a menu with a nice variety of options. The food was very good and it was a hearty meal. We started off with an amuse bouche of seared ahi tuna with a chili sauce and a huge prawn. Then, for appetizers, I had the day sea scallop with truffle mashed potatoes while my husband had the seafood ravioli with lobster, scallop and prawn. For the second course, I had the arugula salad with pears, candied pecans and stilton cheese and my husband had the tomato bisque soup. For our entree, we both had the filet mignon with prawns.
Diana had ordered us a small wedding cake – white cake with coconut decorated with orchids – but we decided to wait to eat it and have the desserts that came with our dinner instead. My husband had the sorbet trio while I had the peanut butter semifreddo with bananas. A small dish of chocolate truffles came with dessert that was excellent. The bottle of champagne that came with our dinner was Chandon and was also quite good.
We thought for the price of about $400 that the Princeville’s beach dinner was well worth it. It was a perfect way to cap off our wedding day and the food, service and ambiance was excellent. We were completely stuffed at the end of our meal, so I’m glad that my dress had an empire waist!
Friday was our last full day in Kauai before we’d be leaving for our Bora Bora honeymoon. We finally got to see Huey’s mom/dad show up this morning. Huey went nuts and was squawking with delight to see his parental unit. There was some feeding and some preening and then mom/dad flew back out to sea to look for more food.
We decided to go back to Hanalei Bay to do a little boogie boarding, but stopped in at the Wake Up Café for one last breakfast before hitting the beach. As usual, it was fast and yummy. We found out that they had been closed the day before due to a plumbing leak.
Again, there were almost no waves at Hanalei Bay, but we didn’t mind. The water was very warm and an unbelievable shade of turquoise blue. We just horsed around for a while and both got in a few good rides but nothing spectacular.
On the way back to our rental house, we stopped at the Princeville Center where I discovered a shop that does “pack and ship” via UPS. Because of the stringent weight restrictions on inter island flights to Bora Bora, we decided to offload a bunch of stuff that we wouldn’t need there (like my wedding dress) and ship it back to San Francisco. We ended up shipping back a 25-pound box that cost $88. We think our overweight charges on Air Tahiti would have been more than that, so it was nice not having an extra 25 pounds to lug around.
After shipping our stuff, we did a little shopping down at Ching Young Village and Hanalei Center. We also hit the Big Save and picked up some extra sunscreen for Bora Bora and then went home to have dinner, do laundry and pack our bags.
On Saturday, it was time to leave Kauai and head to Tahiti and then Bora Bora. We had to fly to Oahu first on an inter island Hawaiian Airlines flight and then catch our direct flight on Hawaiian from Honolulu to Papeete, Tahiti. Hawaiian flies once a week from Honolulu to Tahiti on Saturday. We checked out of our rental house at 10:00am sharp, after saying our goodbyes to Huey, Larry, Darryl and Darryl. We seriously hooked up the cardinals, minas and doves before leaving.
After stopping for gas at the Kilauea Shell station, we had an uneventful drive to the airport, although the traffic just south of the Coconut Marketplace really sucked. For folks departing on a weekend, give yourself plenty of time to get through there.
We arrived at the airport and decided to divide and conquer again with me waiting with the bags at the curb while my husband returned the rental car. As luck would have it, a skycap offered us curbside assistance the second we pulled up, so we jumped at the offer. The skycap grabbed all of our bags, I grabbed my husband’s passport and we were off to the Hawaiian counter while my husband returned the car to Hertz. By the time he got back (maybe 15 minutes later), we were checked in to both our flights on Hawaiian and our bags were with TSA. My husband tipped our skycap $10 and it was worth every penny. He was a really nice guy.
And then we were off! Aloha Kauai and Ia Orana (hello in Tahitian) Tahiti and Bora Bora. Overall, we had a wonderful week in Kauai and a beautiful wedding. It’s a good thing this is the end of my report because I’m running out of superlatives!
If you would like to see photos of our Kauai trip (and some wedding shots, too), you can see them here: www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp…
To see reviews from our Bora Bora honeymoon, you are welcome to visit our blog: http://andreaandwade.blogspot.com/
Finally, I would to like to thank the warm and gracious people on this forum that patiently answered my questions and provided invaluable support for the planning of this trip and our wedding. Much mahalo to you!
I will be happy to answer any questions, so please feel free to post them on the forum or send me a private message through Trip Advisor. This forum has been part of my life every day for almost a year now, so I certainly want to “pay it back” while everything’s still fresh in my head.
Much aloha to everyone!
Andrea
Wedding %26amp; Trip Report %26ndash; May 12-19, 2007 (LONG)Nice write-up Andrea, seems like the perfect low key wedding.
I love that house / culdesac on Keoniana Road. Unbelievable views and easy access by car to anywhere on the North Shore. The baby albatross should be flying away soon.
That beach access path by the house down to ';Sealodge'; beach is handy - the beach is secluded and uncrowded. But I%26#39;ll agree with you that it%26#39;s not one of the best North Shore beaches and I%26#39;d rather drive to Ke%26#39;e, Haena, Lumahai, Hanalei, Anini, Kalihiwai or Rock Quarry every time.
I do have a personal issue with the owner of the house building that big ';prison gate'; last year to try to keep folks from using the road for beach access. I know some local fishermen who have used that access since %26#39;82 when hurricane Iwi took out the old access path. They now just walk around the gate by the house to get to the beach fishing, but they feel that the addition of the gate was very disrespectful to them and the community. The gate is intimidating enough to keep tourists out. The guidebook now directs people to access the beach from Sealodge if I recall correctly.
I also make a trip to Tropical Taco every trip, but I miss the old truck - just not quite the same.
Wedding %26amp; Trip Report %26ndash; May 12-19, 2007 (LONG)Really enjoyed your post, blog and photos. Congratulations and mahalo!
Thoroughly enjoyed your writeup and the beautiful and fun photos! Sounds like the perfect way to begin your married life. Thank you for sharing it with us! You%26#39;re making me all the more excited about our upcoming trip!
Great post. I very much enjoyed reading it, especially the
wedding part. Congratulations.
Mahalo for the report and blessings on your marriage.
Congratulation! It sounds as if your wedding on Kauai turned out just great.
I wonder if you would share a bit more with us about your time in Bora Bora. How does it compare to Kauai? What did you like and dislike? We have often thought of going there, but just haven%26#39;t been able to decide if it is worth the extra time a nd money over Kauai.
Mahalo,
Carla
loved the bird daryl, and his other brother daryl...that made me chuckle.
i could almost smell the plumeria when i opened that photo.
your cake looked awesome.
congratulations.
Beyond ... Funny you you should mention the gate. It didn%26#39;t work half the time, and one day, we were literally trapped inside because it wouldn%26#39;t open at all. We saw the fisherman you spoke of almost every day and always said Aloha as they walked by. We just got a little peeved when tourists would walk right up to Huey (the baby albatross) and try to pet him (!!!) or snap a picture with a bright flashbulb right in his face. Sheesh!
Kimo ... I posted some impressions of our Bora Bora trip here on Trip Advisor and also on our blog: http://andreaandwade.blogspot.com/
In general, we LOVED Bora Bora but it is ridiculously expensive. The lagoon is like swimming in an aquarium. Kauai is still great in our books and we will continue to return every year because it%26#39;s a good value for us (coming from SF). But Bora Bora is really special. We definitely want to go back at least once more in our lifetime.
Andrea,
What a great report and lovely pictures. I have been anxiously waiting for your review of the Princeville dinner. I made reservations for this last week for our upcoming trip. Thank you for sharing your trip!
Congratulations on your wedding! Your trip report and photos brought back so many memories of our stay at Hotel Bora Bora in 2005. It is truely one of the most beautiful places we have ever visited. (and most expensive!).
We staying up in Princeville next March so I took some notes of what you did and etc. We have never stayed in that area so we are excited about spending more time up there.
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