Here is the perfect downloadable Wedding Planning Checklist
to assist you in coordinating your Kauai dream wedding, civil union ceremony or vow renewal celebration.
It is truly a wise use of money to hire a wedding coordinator on Kauai, even for a small beach wedding in Hawaii. This way you can trust that all of your destination wedding details are handled in a manner that allows you to fully relax and enjoy your ceremony. In addition, you enjoy the tender time before the wedding, which sadly so many brides do not enjoy (due to unnecessary stress).
Think about it – how important is it to you to be able to relax and enjoy your wedding day?
The following checklist includes 3 top priorities, and is not only a great tool for determining your Hawaiian wedding location, but will also support you in getting organized in a way that will allow you to enjoy the process instead of being overwhelmed.
It is vital to handle wedding details in order; otherwise, it could cause you extra work or stress that could be easily avoided (e.g. placing your flower order too early). We hope this printable wedding checklist is of great benefit in helping you relax and enjoy your special day.
Please let us know if we can be of any further help > Contact Aloha Ever After Wedding Coordinators
Click for a > Printable Wedding Planning Checklist
Note: Our Wedding Planning Checklist is in PDF format and requires the free Adobe Reader or similar software.
Wedding Planning Checklist Part I – Pace Yourself
There are a lot of important planning details that need to be done – but they don’t all need to be done right now.
The following 9 Wedding Planning Priorities provide you with an essential guide for the first part of your wedding checklist.
1Choose the general area you want to get married in – This means pick which island, not which beach. This is especially important to do first if you’re having a Hawaii Wedding.
2Choose your wedding coordinator – Please read the Aloha Ever After Blog article > “How to Pick the Best Wedding Coordinator for You”
Most wedding coordinator and vendor deposits are quite reasonable and you’ll experience more stress and regret by waiting.3Make a deposit – In the wedding industry wedding vendors can not be booked without the wedding coordinator first receiving a deposit. Once you know the general area you want to get married and have found a wedding coordinator in which you feel comfortable, don’t wait – act now! In our experience nothing good ever comes by waiting on this issue.
4Pick a wedding date – It’s important to reserve the best wedding vendors before they are booked up!
5Have your wedding coordinator book the initial vendors you know you must have (e.g. a fabulous photographer or videographer). Click to see beautiful shots of > Kauai Wedding Photography
6Figure out what your approximate wedding budget is – It’s important that you don’t go so over budget that you feel stressed, so ground yourself and figure out what you can do comfortably.
7Figure out (and communicate) what the top 3 priorities are for you for your wedding (and communicate these) – A common “Top 3 Wedding Priorities” would be wedding photography, wedding dress, and a favorite tropical beach location. This is important because most people want more than they can afford easily, so alleviate stress by allocating money to your top priorities first.
At this stage it is still too early to decide what type of flowers and their colors. If you choose too early you will likely change your mind several times before the event.
8Pick out a package, or list of items, that you want for your wedding. Find a practical balance between the wedding of your dreams and your bank balance if you want to be happy. Do NOT start discussing specifics about flowers yet. Just lay down the general things you’ll want, e.g. tell your coordinator you want a bouquet and a circle of flowers (to get an idea of where you are pricewise) but do NOT start talking about what colors or specific flowers you want. It’s still too early and if you do it now you will likely change your mind several times before you’re finished. Click to see > Kauai Wedding Packages.
9Book the rest of your wedding vendors (if any remain unbooked) now that you have a complete list of what you want.
Wedding Planning Checklist Part II – You Still Have Plenty of Time
Start your own behind-the-scenes work on the wedding. The important stuff to get booked is now behind you, so now is the time to start thinking about all of the details. Most brides get WAY ahead of themselves and start this process too early on, which overwhelms them and distracts them from the truly urgent tasks.
- Start looking for your dress.
- Figure out what accent colors you would like to have. If you are going to have a wedding party do you want them to match? Do you want any bride’s maids to have bouquets?
- Consider specific flowers and color schemes that would look good with the above (still do not order flowers yet!)
- Make a guest list and send out “save the date” cards or invitations
- Start looking at exact Kauai beach locations online and get an idea of where you might want to get married if you have not already decided.
- Book your airline, hotel and car reservations.
- Make sure you have secured the dates you will be gone with work, babysitters, house sitters and other people affected by your trip.
Wedding Planning Checklist Part III – The Wedding is Only a Month or Two Away!
- Submit a written list of the specific wedding flower order. Make sure your guest list is confirmed before doing this and you have thought through your order clearly. Going back and forth on the flowers (even if just with minor details) is the best way to cause an easily avoidable mistake with the order!Submitting your wedding flower order should not be done until 4 to 6 weeks before the ceremony to avoid costly errors and to ensure you order the best flower choices in season. Remember that at this point the flower order is being placed already; florists are busy and they are not wedding planners. Take the months ahead of time to plan out who gets what flowers, avoid the temptation to rush into ordering flowers early and wait to submit your specific order until you are really certain it will not change due to budget cuts, changes in the guest count or preference changes. In many cases a tropical mix with a general color scheme request is the best choice (because then the florist can pick the most beautiful options that you may not know are in season) … but if you choose otherwise then now is the time to be specific.
- Submit any special requests. Is there someone coming to the wedding with disabilities who needs a chair or help? Submit a list of “must have photos” only if photography is one of your highest priorities and you plan on having more than 15-20 guests. Put someone responsible in charge of managing this list: they will be able to locate your guests much better than the photographer would (she/he does not know them) and you want your photographer focusing on taking pictures, not finding people.
- If you’re getting your hair done, find out what the specific requests your hairdresser has. The general rule of thumb is do not wash your hair for 24 hours prior to styling. Pick out your style early. If you’re having a Kauai Beach Wedding it will be windy, so go for a full up do! On the Al a Carte menu find prices for a > Kauai Wedding Hairstylist
- Get ready to go to your destination wedding early. Be kind and gentle with your partner, he/she might be nervous or stressed. Help them relax, and give them lots of hugs. Get everything ready early and make wise choices about the last week before you go. Less is more. Make choices that make you happy and relaxed above being an over-achiever. Your wedding will still be perfect even if you don’t buy every last item for your trip. Hopefully if something is really important for your trip you will have bought it long ahead of time to be able to relax more now!
- The day is finally here. Always leave plenty of extra time after makeup and hair appointments for getting dressed before the ceremony so you can relax and enjoy your special day!Check back in with your wedding coordinator only if it makes you feel better or if you are worried a specific detail you mentioned at the beginning might get forgotten. This is really not necessary as most wedding coordinators are highly detailed oriented professionals who would contact you if they had any questions, but it normally makes brides feel better to hear that “Yes, everything is taken care of”.
- Wedding day prep. Arrive to hair/nail/makeup appointments prepared and early. Set things out ahead of time. Hair and makeup appointments and getting dressed will always take longer than you think (leave 30-45 min to put your dress on). Relax, enjoy – this is the day you’ve been waiting for!
Please let us know how we can further help > Contact Aloha Ever After Wedding Planning & Photography
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