I'm trying to plan a romantic wedding in Hawaii. My dream is of exchanging vows on a white, sandy beach at sunset. I've only seen pictures of Fern Gratto, but it doesn't look like what I had in mind. Any suggestions? While there, what other must sees are there? TIA.

I got married on the Big Island at sunset. The beach is at the Waikoloa resort area. At the time of my wedding it was the Royal Waikoloan. It was a beautiful wedding on a spectacular crescent beach lined with gigantic palms. In the water off the beach we could see the whales cavorting as we exchanged our vows. I wore a traditional Victorian white gown made in Hawaii (and purchased less than an hour before the ceremony up at the Parker Ranch area). My husband and I wore maile leaf leis and I also wore a gorgeous orchid and pikake lei. The maile leaves are dried and in a little bowl in our bedroom. We can still smell a bit of Hawaii when we open the bowl! The minister was arranged by the hotel staff and he was fabulous. My husband and I were with our best friends (we surprised them) and we have never regretted making that most fabulous day a very private personal one. Besides it is entirely in keeping with my personal philosophy to scrimp on every thing and splurge on travel.

I attended a gorgeous wedding this spring in Maui. There were at least seven other weddings going on simultaneously on the beach. Not my idea of romantic. Keep in mind that many of the best spots will be very popular at sunset and on weekends.
Best wishes.

PS it occurs to me you might be able to have a pretty private wedding experience on Molokai. It is much less visited than the other islands.

A lot of couples get married at Ala Moana beach park at Magic Island. The sunsets are quite spectacular. To get you closer to the sunset (less obstruction), get married at Ko Olina, on the west coast of Oahu. You can either get married at one of the beach coves or at the Ihilani.

cmcfong, we also got married at the Royal Waikoloan a while ago ( we used Carlton Bubboltz who we nicknamed The Colonel as he resembled Colonel Saunders to us). Shauna, I second the Marriott that cmcfong recommends as it is magical. Sometimes I look at the pictures of our sunset ceremony and cannot believe it was so perfect. The hotel arranged most of it. The Hawaii Visitor's Bureau can provide you with a list of wedding planners who can help organize some or all of the ceremony. Good luck, let us know where you end up choosing!

My brother in law got married at the Waikoloa in May. It was beautiful!

We were married at Paradise Cove on Oahu, very pretty setting, but wedding was on the lawn overlooking the ocean not the beach.

Some research suggestions: hawaii-bride.com, order one of their magazines, has lots of pictures and vendor advertisements.

Also theknot.com, they have a hawaii section and message board for hawaii and destination weddings.

Good luck

We were married on the sandy golden beach near Princeville Hotel, Kaua`i overlooking Hanalei Bay and the inspiring Napali coast (a.k.a. Bali Hai) mountains, which made for great .

We used Marcia of Bali Hai Weddings (see sunset photo of couple in area near our wedding site, link: www.bestplaceshawaii.com/kauai/weddings/wedding_coordinators.html