Hitched in Hawaii

[blackcat20]

I know this was a few months ago, but it feels like a good time to share what was a lovely trip for us.

We'd been discussing Hawaii as a wedding location for some time, and it was a well-timed QF sale that kicked us into gear. We certainly do things our own way, booking flights, then choosing a location With flights locked in, I shortlisted a few venues in various places in Hawaii, however many had wedding packages that started at $10k, and that just wasnt what we were after. Our initial plan also was to not invite anyone, but that quickly went out the window. After sussing out a few options and reading plenty of reviews, we settled on the Royal Kona Resort on Hawaii. This resort is pretty retro (and apparently used to be a Hilton) but the vibe was exactly what were were after and they were willing to customise a package to meet our minimalist needs.


The best bit was we could have our beach wedding without worrying about being on a public beach.

 

[blackcat20]

We had a fabulous wedding planner who took care of every single detail; we literally had a document with options and we had to just tick which one we wanted. Pick a celebrant, photographer, venue (the hotel had several options). What colour flowers? Just make them pink. Three menus to choose from, two drink packages. It was the easiest, most stress-free process possible. The hardest part was keeping it all a secret....which is how we ended up with 13 guests; from Australia, Japan, New Zealand and the US. Hawaii was the most central location we could have picked.

So June 3 came around and we headed off to the airport with plenty of time, or so we though. And then we hit a snag with an inexperienced QF staff member who didnt know how to deal with a dual passport passenger.... we spent so long at check in that we had to go straight to the gate. So much for a nice first visit to the J lounge as a new WP. At least we had an A330 to SYD, and the FAs had no issue at all hanging both my dress and TV's suit. A very unremarkable flight; the "lunch" was a box containing four very sad and bland arancini.


Thank goodness we weren't far out from the F lounge.

 

[blackcat20]

The transfer to international was pretty seamless and we got through security pretty quickly (though my dress bag came out of the scanner with about an inch of dust on it ). Up into the lounge, where our garment bags were hung for us. Then it was time to eat and enjoy ourselves.




Can't go past a good pav



This cabernet was divine


Amazing melt in your mouth beef

 

[love_the_life]

I know we saw some of the pic etc but it's terrific to get the whole story! Was your mum flying with you as well or did she travel over separately?

Though I can't help wondering if you went to Hawaii so you didn't have to worry about a million AFFers 'helping' you celebrate

 

[blackcat20]

I know we saw some of the pic etc but it's terrific to get the whole story! Was your mum flying with you as well or did she travel over separately?

Though I can't help wondering if you went to Hawaii so you didn't have to worry about a million AFFers 'helping' you celebrate

Very smartly booked mum to fly a day after us on the way over and a day before us on the way home

Haha keeping things quiet is a very good way to avoid everyone else's opinion

 

[blackcat20]

If we thought our check in issues were sorted, we were kidding ourselves. Despite having seven hours to sort the issue, it had not actually been resolved, and we sat at the gate as they boarded every single passenger except for us. The dual passports were causing some sort of issue and immigration was 'denying uplift', though as the gate agent said, they can't actually stop a US citizen going to the Us..... I was in tears as they were insisting I could board, but of course not much point heading to your wedding without your future husband. With immigration not answering the phone, they eventually elected to switch off part of the system and force close the flight, then board us manually.

The lovely staff escorted us on board where we were met at the door by an FA who grabbed my dress and took it off to be hung, then as we were seated some J champagne was delivered to calm the nerves. By this point the flight was late for departure. Amusingly once in the air, the announcement from the coughpit was that we were delayed due to immigration issues. Never before have we been responsible for a late flight

 

[love_the_life]

If we thought our check in issues were sorted, we were kidding ourselves. Despite having seven hours to sort the issue, it had not actually been resolved, and we sat at the gate as they boarded every single passenger except for us. The dual passports were causing some sort of issue and immigration was 'denying uplift', though as the gate agent said, they can't actually stop a US citizen going to the Us..... I was in tears as they were insisting I could board, but of course not much point heading to your wedding without your future husband. With immigration not answering the phone, they eventually elected to switch off part of the system and force close the flight, then board us manually.

The lovely staff escorted us on board where we were met at the door by an FA who grabbed my dress and took it off to be hung, then as we were seated some J champagne was delivered to calm the nerves. By this point the flight was late for departure. Amusingly once in the air, the announcement from the coughpit was that we were delayed due to immigration issues. Never before have we been responsible for a late flight

Wow, not a good start! No wonder you were in tears.

 

[blackcat20]

The flight was pretty uneventful. The bulkhead seats were good, legroom isn't great but I love not having anyone in front of me. Remembered during the flight that I'd preordered some duty free. Guess what? It hadn't been loaded fortunately I had my order receipt so they promised to sort it out. At the end of the flight one of the FAs snuck me a bag containing my duty free order and a bottle of J champagne 'to celebrate with'.

 

[blackcat20]

So excited to be arriving into Honolulu, my first time.


We connected to Hawaiian Airlines for the short hop to Kona, flying F. The planes have no where to hang a dress so it was carefully folded and stashed in its own overhead.

Pretty awesome views on the runway.

 

[Pushka]

Wow. Had no idea you experienced so much stress in getting to your wedding. You’ve been to the US before?

 

[blackcat20]

Wow. Had no idea you experienced so much stress in getting to your wedding. You’ve been to the US before?

Yes, many many times. Apparently the Aus Government recently started collecting info on dual passport holders. So previously you could check in on one, and leave Australia on the other without issue. But now the system wants to know you have two. They are meant to be able to link them but for some reason it failed and no one could get it to approve departure. We were incredibly grateful to have several people at the gate working on it who were determined to get us on board, even if that meant tricking the system. Fortunately we did not have a repeat when we went to the US in August.

 

[Denali]

$10K! We eloped to Vanuatu and our wedding package cost $800AUD, inc wedding arch, band ect.

Looking forward to more pics.

 

[blackcat20]

$10K! We eloped to Vanuatu and our wedding package cost $800AUD, inc wedding arch, band ect.

Looking forward to more pics.

Yeah some of the packages are hideously overpriced. Ours was around $2k I think, but then obviously we added in dinner for all 15 of us. Still far cheaper than the average $50k plus that is apparently spent on Australian weddings.

 

[Pushka]

$10K! We eloped to Vanuatu and our wedding package cost $800AUD, inc wedding arch, band ect.

Looking forward to more pics.

Yeah. But TomCat wanted to be legally married.

I’ve been learning lots about being married in an overseas country as my son’s partner is a Brit living in Australia. Can’t get married in the UK as they don’t live there and won’t be able to spend 28 days getting the license. Can get married in Australia but her family won’t be making the trip over due to brothers young family etc. She is also a US citizen but that won’t work at all either. So looks like a civil service here - eloping in Australia - then sorting out some kind of celebration in UK and Aus and somehow appeasing everyone.

Must tell her about the change in dual citizenship laws as she has 2 passports - UK and USA and will in next 2 years get an Aussie one.

 

[blackcat20]

We arrived in Kona and made our way to the hire car lot to pick up our car. I do not ever recommend a Nissan Versa... But it did the job of getting us around the island.

Our room wasn't quite ready when we arrived at the resort so we sat in the beautiful outdoor lobby to wait. Let's just say our room did not thrill me. Despite paying for ocean view, we mostly had a view of the roof and the skip bins behind the hotel. It smelt musty and the fridge had leaked all over the carpet.


When mum arrived the following day and was given a lovely corner room with full ocean views I cracked it. Fortunately the lovely lady on reception was very sympathetic and quickly arranged for us to move to a similar corner room on a different level with this lovely view.

 

[blackcat20]

Yeah. But TomCat wanted to be legally married.

I’ve been learning lots about being married in an overseas country as my son’s partner is a Brit living in Australia. Can’t get married in the UK as they don’t live there and won’t be able to spend 28 days getting the license. Can get married in Australia but her family won’t be making the trip over due to brothers young family etc. She is also a US citizen but that won’t work at all either. So looks like a civil service here - eloping in Australia - then sorting out some kind of celebration in UK and Aus and somehow appeasing everyone.

Must tell her about the change in dual citizenship laws as she has 2 passports - UK and USA and will in next 2 years get an Aussie one.

Its funny how many people were suprised that we got actual legal married in Hawaii. I wasnt going all that way to get pretend married! Its very easy to apply for the license online, then you just go to an agent to get it signed off and you're done. The only downside is if I want to use TV's surname I actually have to change it via deedpoll rather than just having the right to use if we'd got married here.

 

[Pushka]

Its funny how many people were suprised that we got actual legal married in Hawaii. I wasnt going all that way to get pretend married! Its very easy to apply for the license online, then you just go to an agent to get it signed off and you're done. The only downside is if I want to use TV's surname I actually have to change it via deedpoll rather than just having the right to use if we'd got married here.

Is that because of TV’s US citizenship? Knowing the kerfuffle son is going through then add me to the surprise list!

 

[Denali]

Its funny how many people were suprised that we got actual legal married in Hawaii. I wasnt going all that way to get pretend married! Its very easy to apply for the license online, then you just go to an agent to get it signed off and you're done. The only downside is if I want to use TV's surname I actually have to change it via deedpoll rather than just having the right to use if we'd got married here.

I have said a few times over the years, I wonder how legal our wedding is but have no plans to test out the legalities.

Did you go diving with the manta's at Kona?

 

[blackcat20]

Is that because of TV’s US citizenship? Knowing the kerfuffle son is going through then add me to the surprise list!

Anyone can get married in the US, there are no requirements for citizenship or being there for any length of time prior.

 

[LadyC]

Thumbs up for doing things your way Plus it means more money to spend on travel (or in your case house building)!