bride and groom holding hands, standing in front of a waterfall. bride is wearing an a-line, tulle wedding dress with floral appliqués. groom is wearing a navy blue suit.

April 26, 2022 / Koloa, Hawaii

How did your love story begin?: Tyler and I met on Bumble in December of 2018. I made my New Years resolution that year to put myself out there in the dating world. I went on a lot of dates in 2018 and was ready to take a break from it. I wanted to cancel my date with Tyler because I was exhausted from dating, but decided to follow through since it was set for December 30th, meaning it would be my final date that year. Tyler had been on the app for a month and had only been on a couple of dates. Tyler planned our first date and took me to an Escape Room that I was surprised to find had us in the dark and handcuffed the whole time (he knew that was the type of room it was!). We hit it off and began seeing each other a couple times a week. After six weeks, Tyler realized he wasn't ready for something serious and told me he wanted to be friends. We continued spending time together non-exclusively for 7 months when Tyler realized he was ready and officially asked me to be his girlfriend. Tyler proposed a little over two years after we met. The proposal didn't go as planned. Tyler set up string lights that said Marry Me in the woods behind our house. He planned to ask me to take a night hike, but he wanted to get the whole thing on video. The first night he tried to propose he went outside to set up his phone to record, but accidentally dropped his keys in the snow that was a foot deep at the time. He spent an hour searching for his keys. By the time he came inside to get me to go on the hike, I was going to bed. A few days later, he tried again. When I got home from work he asked me to go on a hike; but it was the middle of a polar vortex. It was -10 degrees outside and I told him I was tired from a long day and I just wanted to hop in the shower. I felt bad that I said no to him, so I yelled from the shower that we could go for a hike once I got out, but he never heard me because he was already in the woods retrieving his phone he had set up to record again. The next morning was Valentine's Day and we had plans with my family. He wanted me to be able to celebrate with them. As we were getting ready, he showed me a video on his phone. I saw twinkle lights appear that said Marry Me and I thought he was showing me someone's proposal video. When I looked at him he was down on one knee in our kitchen. I screamed "NO!" I realized the lights were something he set up. I didn't know that he had set his phone up to record in our kitchen so he did get the proposal on video and he took me to the lights that night so I could see his original plan! Our proposal was still magical even though it wasn't in front of the lights! We talked about the type of wedding we wanted before we got engaged. We thought we'd have a big barn wedding, but as we started planning Tyler asked why we weren't looking at a destination wedding since we both love to travel. At his suggestion, we dove head first into searching for the perfect destination. Since we were planning during Covid we wanted to stay domestic so Hawaii was the perfect blend of domestic, but still felt international. Once we picked the place, Tyler let me run wild with what I wanted. I checked in with him to get his opinion, but he really just wanted to be in charge of the food!

What was your vision for your wedding?: Since we knew we were having a microwedding I wanted it to feel very intimate. The details mattered. We decided to hire a local wedding planner because we knew we needed someone who knew the area to help us since we'd never been to Kauai. I told her I wanted something that felt romantic, dreamy and fun. I wasn't a bride that had a wedding Pinterest board, but I knew what my style was and that I wanted most of my time that day to be spent with Tyler. In order to do that, we decided we wanted a first look so that we could spend the day together. We chose to get ready earlier in the morning so that we could spend the morning taking photos and having a picnic together in the Waimea Canyons. Tyler loves the mountains so we chose Kauai specifically because it blended a mountain-like feel with the tropical vibe that would give our friends and family a built in vacation. We chose all local vendors. It was important to us to hire local after tourism was demolished from Covid and we wanted everything to feel authentic. I chose most of my vendors by looking on Instagram. Once I found people who shared my aesthetic, I asked them for previous couples they'd worked with so I could get personal reviews. I knew I wanted to be very hands on in the planning process. I loved planning our wedding alongside Heather, our planner from Tie the Knot Hawaii. I relied on her to steer me in the right direction for all of our rentals and florals and she nailed exactly what I was envisioning, while also elevating any idea I had. I was very adamant that we have the best in photography and florals. I knew I wanted the florals to be a wow moment. We decided to keep it simple at the ceremony since the botanical gardens are already so beautiful and do fun, bright florals at the reception. Having an aerial floral piece was really important to me and our florist, Emma, did such a beautiful job hand making lei's to hang from the chandelier above the head table. I wanted the florals to be a mix of garden party and tropical. My one request was that Hawaiian coral peonies be a focal point. Emma did a beautiful job blending the peonies with garden roses, anthuriums, ranunculus and pincushion proteas. She made my niece the most adorable flower crown and gave her a basket of plumeria to throw down the aisle that was already scattered with orchid heads.

Tell us all about your wedding dress!: My dress shopping experience was so easy! I was shocked it was easy because I was not looking forward to it. I expected to feel really self conscious and I didn't know if I'd feel embarrassed getting shoved into dresses that were too small for me. I knew that I wanted a tulle dress and I was pretty positive I wanted it to be blush. Other than that, I didn't have any specific designers or dresses I wanted to try on. I ended up choosing the first dress I tried on at Strike. Alena Leena's English Ivy in Blush Ivory. It was the only dress I felt like myself in and I remember saying, "I don't want to take this off." I knew I wanted a cathedral length veil and chose a veil by AB Ellie with appliquéd flowers along the edge.

You planned and you planned, but how did the day ACTUALLY go?!: I woke up very calm on our wedding day. We started hair and make up early so that Tyler and I could drive up to Waimea Canyon with our photographer and videographer for a couple of hours before the ceremony. After planning for over a year and envisioning every second of the day, I was not ready for our car to be an hour late to pick us up to take us to the canyons. Surprisingly, I remained calm and then the moment we got to our location at the canyon it started raining, HARD. Everyone looked at each other and said, "We're here. Let's do it!" Tyler and I were soaked and I'd be lying if I said I didn't slightly panic. After all the envisioning, it's really hard to get past your hair and dress being soaked shortly after getting ready. Our photographer was so sweet and showed us the photos on her camera and told us they were going to be worth it. We ended up having our picnic lunch in the car because of the weather on the way to our ceremony. Even though Kauai is small, the weather is completely different wherever you are on the island. We pulled up to our ceremony to completely blue skies. The rest of our day went exactly as planned and our guests never felt a drop of rain. Our ceremony was perfect. Friends and family arrived to bamboo hand fans on their seats. A local musician played acoustic guitar and our friend officiated. I told her I didn't want to know what she was going to say because it was the only part of the wedding I didn't plan. She did such a beautiful job. We kept our ceremony short and sweet and wrote our own vows. After our ceremony, everyone snacked on traditional Hawaiian shave ice and cold pressed juices, both from local shops. We had our first dances next to a nearby waterfall before heading to the Sheraton Kauai Resort for our cocktail hour and reception. Mai Tai's were handed out to everyone on arrival and I surprised Tyler by having customized stir sticks in each Mai Tai with our dogs engraved on them since he was bummed a destination wedding meant they couldn't be a part of it. Our cocktail hour was beachside in a beautiful courtyard lit with tiki torches and fire pits. My sister gave the most beautiful speech to kick off the festivities before we played cornhole and danced as the sun went down. We went inside RumFire restaurant for our reception that I chose for their floor to ceiling windows overlooking the ocean. Having a microwedding allowed me to go all out with our decor and I loved the jute rope chargers, blue goblets and gold and white silverware we chose for each place setting. We also had each guests name handwritten on a piece of blue sea glass that I glued magnets to so that everyone could bring their placecard home as a keepsake. After an incredible dinner of filet mignon and misoyaki butterfish we spent the night dancing in the candlelight, of course with tropical cocktails in hand. It was perfect. We ended the night around the fire pits and didn't leave until the sprinklers turned on at midnight, kicking us out. My favorite part of the wedding was when Tyler and I snuck to the other side of the restaurant where nobody was and danced alone just soaking everything in for a few minutes.

What is your best advice for future brides-to-be?: No matter how meticulous of a planner you are, something will not go according to plan. Just go with it! Don't let it ruin your day. The day truly does go by so fast and it's such a bummer to be upset for even a moment of it. Whether it rains, snows, is 100+ degrees, etc. it will be a part of your days story. It will be perfect no matter what.

Vendors
Dress: English Ivy by Alena Leena via Strike Bridal Bar Veil: Brynn Veil by A.B. Ellie at Strike Bridal Bar Photographer: Julia Poole of Julia Kathleen Photography Videography: Caleb Backus of Love Roams Style & Planning: Heather Singleton from Tie the Knot Hawaii Ceremony Venue: National Tropical Botanical Gardens Reception Venue: Sheraton Kauai Resort Food + Beverage: RumFire Florals: Emma Chidgey of Flowers by Emma Kauai Rentals: Lee’s Rentals & Destination Events Hawaii Shave Ive: The Fresh Shave Juices: Kauai Juice Co Music: Bronson Aiwohi Hair & Makeup: Mia Moriguchi of The Artists Co