Unusual Places to Get Married on Hawai‘i Island: Beaches
By Denise Laitinen
From powdery white to tantalizing shades of green to dramatic black sand beaches, Hawai‘i Island’s 266 miles of shoreline offers breathtaking beach locations to hold your wedding ceremony. While many couples choose perennial favorites, such as Hāpuna Beach and ‘Anaeho‘omalu Bay, there are several other, lesser-known beaches that can also provide a beautiful backdrop to your upcoming nuptials.
In our last issue, Ke Ola offered an overview of unusual places to get married on Hawai‘i Island. In this issue, we take a look at Hawai‘i Island’s beaches off the beaten path that provide breathtaking scenery for a wedding and/or reception.
While we don’t have room to mention every Hawai‘i Island beach this time, you will find a selection of sweet shoreline spots from Kohala to Ka‘ū that are affordable and beautiful sites for your wedding. We’ll cover east side beaches in a future issue.
It’s important to keep a few things in mind when choosing a beach as your wedding venue. Some beach parks have rocky terrain. If you have elderly or disabled guests, will they be able to reach the unusual location you selected?
Also important to remember is that many places, such as state and county beach parks, are open to the public and cannot be closed for your exclusive use. Be prepared, there may be total strangers lounging right next to your ceremony.
That said, Hawai‘i Island offers some of the most breathtaking and gorgeous beach settings you’ll find anywhere in the world. Let’s take a look.
North Kohala District: Kēōkea and Māhukona
Located in North Kohala past Hawi and Kapa‘au, Kēōkea County Beach Park is a small cove surrounded by rocky sea cliffs.
With a grassy knoll and full facilities, including a covered pavilion, this secluded spot is the perfect setting for an intimate wedding overlooking the ocean. Because the shoreline is strewn with lava rock instead of sand and the surf is rough, the oceanfront park is known for its privacy and beauty—not a traditional beach wedding.
“It’s nice for couples that want to have a picturesque yet casual wedding,” says Peter Pomeranze, who has married eight couples at the beach park over the past few years. A chef and caterer by trade, he owns Sushi Rock in Hawi. Peter got his officiant’s license in order to marry close friends and clients.
He says couples are drawn to the quiet seaside park because of its stark beauty. “It’s very dramatic. You’re surrounded by these tall sea cliffs with waves crashing in the background. A couple of times there has been a monk seal as a witness. It’s quite beautiful,” says Peter.
The park works well for the ceremony and reception because it offers a lot of amenities, including a covered pavilion, barbeque grills, picnic tables, restrooms, and a kitchen with a refrigerator. “People can do an inexpensive reception there,” says Peter, noting that couples do need to reserve the location in advance through the Hawai‘i County Parks and Recreation Department.
He adds that Māhukona Beach Park, located a few miles north of Kawaihae, is another popular beach park for wedding ceremonies in North Kohala. Like Kēōkea, Māhukona has a covered pavilion, restrooms, and a small kitchen.
North Kona: Kukio
Tucked in along the Kona Coast, away from the glitz and glamour of the resorts, is a small public beach that probably experiences more weddings than any other location on island. And yet, it is not widely known outside of wedding industry circles.
Nestled within the ultra-luxe Kukio resort is Kikaua Point Park. When this upscale resort community was being built, the developers gave the seven-acre beach park to the State of Hawai‘i. Kukio Community Association leases back the property, managing and caring for the park.
“It’s public access. Part of the agreement is that we do not charge for use of the park,” says Paola Pagan, Kukio Community Association manager.
Paola issues more than 350 wedding permits a year for this secluded, and stunningly beautiful, white sand beach. There is no fee for the permit. However, because the beach is so small, they only issue one permit at a time and each permit is typically for a three-hour period. This enables multiple weddings to be held at the beach on a daily basis.
Because the beach is so popular, it’s recommended to reserve the day and time you want at least 30 days in advance. “Sunset is of course a popular time,” notes Paola. “We have weddings here just about every day, and of course, special days like Valentine’s Day, we have multiple weddings a day.”
Be aware that if you want to get married at Kikaua Point Park, you’ll have to keep your guest list to a minimum. “We typically limit an event to 20 people,” says Paola. There are only 28 parking stalls for the beach and once the stalls fill up, beach goers are turned away until parking becomes available.
Couples interested in getting married at Kikaua Point Park can contact Paola Pagan at 808.325.4108. Permit applications are not available online.
Ka‘ū District: Punalu‘u
Along the Ka‘ū coast, off Highway 11 about an hour from Hilo and 40 minutes from Kailua-Kona, lies Punalu‘u, one of the most famous black sand beaches in Hawai‘i. Lined with coconut palm trees and adjacent to a freshwater fishpond, Punalu‘u Beach Park is also a well-known nesting spot of honu or Hawaiian green sea turtles.
With its jet-black sand providing a dramatic backdrop, it’s easy to see why it’s a popular, albeit remote, location for a wedding. What’s more, available amenities include a paved parking lot, covered picnic tables, barbeque grills, and restrooms.
Jase Takeya, owner of Eclipse Effect Weddings, a Hilo-based event planning company, says he receives several inquiries a year for that beach. “People seem to like it because it’s the nice black sand that you cannot get anywhere else.”
While the natural beauty of the area draws some couples, others hold their wedding here for sentimental reasons.
Kailua-Kona resident Erica Long and her fiancé Drew Veek had their first date at Punalu‘u beach more than two years ago. Originally from Los Angeles, Erica is a nurse at the Veterans Clinic and Drew is a TSA trainer.
Erica says Drew took her sightseeing to the black sand beach for their very first date. It’s also where they had their engagement photo shoot. And it’s where the couple is holding their December wedding.
“After Drew proposed we were figuring out where to have the wedding,” says Erica. “I remembered the black sand and turtles were there and the sand was beautiful. It hit me, I knew that’s where I wanted to get married.”
On December 13, the couple is having their ceremony and reception at a small vacation rental that fronts the beach. “We chose that date because it’s fun,” alluding to the numeric progression of dates: 12/13/14.
“We’ll have our ceremony and reception at the beach house.”
The couple is keeping the daytime wedding vibe intimate and casual with about 30 friends and family and a catered plate lunch-style buffet. Erica’s oldest cat Sophia will serve as her bridesmaid.
If you want to use the beach park facilities at Punalu‘u Beach Park, a permit is required from Hawai‘i County Parks and Recreation Department. For information on the beach cottage, contact Jim Dahlberg.
Puna District: Kaimū
Lesser known than Punalu‘u, Kaimū Beach is also a black sand beach nestled along the Kalapana coast in the Puna district off Highway 130.
Also known as new Kalapana Beach, this beach is next to the community that was covered by lava in the 1990s.
Off the beaten track and not widely known outside of the Puna district, the beach is home to several weddings a year according to the Keli‘iho‘omalu family, who own property adjoining the beach. It’s important to note that it is a rigorous walk to the beach, which may be difficult for people with disabilities or the elderly.
Kara Rivera got married at Kaimū Beach last year. Like Erica, she chose this wedding location because it was where she met her future husband.
Kara has a therapeutic massage kiosk at Uncle Robert’s club. She met her husband, Herbie Rivera, a retired carpenter, by chance one night at Uncle Robert’s Awa Club. Herbie had not planned on going to the club that night, but did so at the last minute on a whim. He was talking to a mutual friend who had just received a massage from Kara and the mutual friend introduced the two. Both were recently divorced with children and grandchildren of their own.
“We met on a Friday and our first date was the following Monday. We’ve been inseparable ever since,” says Kara.
Kara says the decision to hold the wedding at Kaimū Beach was an easy one, since it was the same area where they met. They had originally planned on having the ceremony at the remote hiking location where Herbie proposed. When they realized that wasn’t feasible, Kara, with the help of one of Uncle Robert’s daughters, Lohi Keli‘iho‘omalu, planned the entire event in two weeks at Kaimū Beach with the reception at Uncle Robert’s Awa Club.
Friends and family pitched in to help. “If it wasn’t for Lohi, I would have been a total bridezilla,” says Kara with a laugh. In all, roughly 100 joined them on the small beach for the ceremony; her husband had 22 groomsmen and she had 11 bridesmaids. Kara says there were roughly 400 people at the reception at Uncle Robert’s Awa Club, which featured a buffet and a vegan wedding cake from the Tin Shack Bakery in Pāhoa.
If you want to get married at this beach you will want to check first with the Keli‘iho‘omalu family: 808.430.3526 ❖
Read about more unusual places in our Summer/Fall 2015 issue.
Contact writer Denise Laitinen
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Wiki Permits for beach weddings:
The website offers live help during weekday business hours (HST). For possible suggestions about how to proceed given your type of event: 808.587.0439
Wiki permits from DLNR are required for weddings at the following beaches:
‘Anaeho‘omalu (aka Waikoloa Beach)
Hakalau Bay Beach
Hāpuna Beach (fronting State Recreation Area)
Holoholokai Beach
Hōlualoa Beach
Kaimū Beach (aka New Kalapana Beach)
Kahalu‘u Beach
Kauna‘oa Beach
Ka‘upulehu Beach
Ke‘ei Beach
Kikaua Point Beach
Kukio Beach
Mahai‘ula Bay Beach
Makaiwa Bay Beach
Manini‘owali Beach (aka Kua Bay)
Mauna Lani Beach
Mau‘umae Beach
Pauoa Bay Beach
Pahoehoe Beach Park (fronting Ali‘i Drive)
Puako Bay (fronting residence)
Punalu‘u Black Sand Beach
Spencer Beach
Waialea Beach
DLNR.hawaii.gov/ld/commercial-activities
Permit request for a wedding in a state park:
Division of State Parks, 75 Aupuni St., Hilo, HI 96720
808.587.0300
For a list of all 14 state parks on-island
Permit request for a wedding at:
County park or community center:
Hawai‘i County Parks and Recreation
Hilo office, 808.961.8311
Kailua-Kona office, 808.323.4322
Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park:
For more information contact Walt Poole: 808.985.6027
Download the application
Mail the completed form to: Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park
Attn: Walt Poole, PO Box 52 Hawaii National Park, HI 96718
