This Waimea Valley wedding on the North Shore of Oahu is everything you would expect from a Hawaiian wedding, and so much more. It’s full of lush palms and greenery – as a tropical wedding should be – but also beautiful boho wedding elements such as succulents, rattan lounge furniture, and macrame. Our favorite part, though? The bride’s day-of style; she paired a beautiful cathedral veil with a fitted lace gown and the perfect protea bouquet. Below, she shares her favorite parts and all the details that felt extra special to her and her now husband!
The bride shares…
As a professional surfer, I don’t think my husband could have gotten married anywhere but the beach he grew up on. We both are spiritually connected to the ocean so getting married on the North Shore of Oahu was an obvious choice! I wanted my Waimea Valley wedding to be simple and fun for not only all my guests, but for my husband and I.
The focus of my “look” was centered around the Mantilla Veil. As a Chicana, I love The Virgin Mary and I wanted to embody that spirit in the entire ceremony. The dress was just an added bonus to my veil. For me, there is no other time in my life that I would ever wear a veil so I really wanted it to be dramatic and represent my Mexican culture. Claudia, my wedding stylist at Panache Santa Barbara, helped me find the Mantilla Veil that matched an all lace dress from Essence of Australia. I wanted my dress to be simple as far as the form and shape, long, and tight, but I wanted it to be head to toe lace with a small train. I chose the honey color so the white lace would pop on the top of it. In the end, Claudia did an amazing job of helping me put this look together, and now I have an heirloom piece with the Veil that I can use when we baptize our first child, or for another special time in the near future. The piece with the lace can be gifted again and again and we can start a new tradition in our new family! FUN!
My flowers were a combination of tropical and desert plants put together by the talented La Flor Events. The protea was the center piece of all the arrangements with little potted succulents, sprigs of ferns, and orchids to support it. We also were able to forge some beautiful flowers and leaves – a bonus of getting married in Hawaii!
My color palette included muted tropical tones with the pop color being a dusty rose gold developed by the talented artist Kim Sielbeck. She created a painting for the Save the Date and tropical graphic elements that had a light dusty rose/pink, olive green, dark navy blue, forest green, sage green, and mint green. My style for the wedding was a combination of boho tropical meets Southwestern. Although we are in Hawaii, I couldn’t image a table without succulents or cactuses. I almost changed to “retro tiki” because its a style I am very inspired by here in Hawaii, but it didn’t feel right for our wedding. I wanted something more romantic and bohemian that included macrame elements and gauze runners to make things feel softer. The style of our wedding was a combination of the best elements of Hawaii and California, our two favorite places and homes.
We were incredibly blessed to have the best wedding band EVER! Kirk Hammett took the lead and put together the entertainment for the reception that included himself, Rob Trujillo, the base player from Metallica, John Theodore, the drummer from Queens of the Stoneage and Whitfield Crane, the lead singer from Ugly Kid Joe. We could have never imagined that this combination of musicians would happen for our wedding and The Wedding Band made a point to bless the ceremony with musical hits from playing Black Sabbath, Ozzie Osborne, AC/DC , Kool And The Gang, and many more classic favorites. The evening and entertainment came together so organically. I think all of our guests had a rocking time and this was indeed the cherry on top of a beautiful evening filled with love.
My favorite moment was when I didn’t care about my sweaty hair and flower crown anymore and I took it off to head bang with my husband. It was the part of the night when all the speeches were done, the first dance over, and it was time to let loose and just have fun and be in that moment!! Dancing with our tribe, loved ones, and family, while listening to rock and roll played by some of the greatest musicians of the past three decades is a moment that my husband and I, and our guests, will cherish forever.
Another detail that I am beyond grateful for is the “get away” car we used to drive to the reception. Our friend Lani drove us in her champagne GTO and she decorated it with coconuts and plumeria flowers. I LOVE hotrods and muscle cars and here in Hawaii, they are very hard to find because of the salty air, so this detail made me sooo happy. And more importantly, the car really made a lot of our guests happy. I think they were really surprised actually. You can’t really say that about new cars these days, but old cars, man, they make people stoked!!
Looking for more celebrations like this Waimea Valley wedding? You will also love this tropical wedding at Dillingham Ranch!