Briana & Nick | Kauai Adventure Elopement
KAUAI ADVENTURE ELOPEMENT
Briana & Nick’s adventure elopement on the beautiful island of Kauai was what dreams are made of! This couple flew allll the way from Tennessee to celebrate their marriage their way! And they flew me over from Oahu! All of the Hawaiian Islands are a quick and easy flight and I’m more than happy to travel interisland! Briana and Nick had lots of ideas for their Hawaiian elopement but eventually settled on exchanging vows on a boat cruising along the unparalleled Napali Coast of Kauai!
Once they determined where they wanted celebrate, I stepped in to help with planning the timeline and customizing their day to be everything they dreamed of!
We started with traditional getting ready photos at their ocean-view rental condo on the south shore of Poipu. Though Briana and Nick were both getting ready in the same one-bedroom space, we managed to keep them apart until a special first look on the cliffs overlooking the sea. From there, we hopped in their rental van – the most adorable vintage VW – and went to Shipwreck Beach for a few photos. We didn’t stay long, because we had an hour drive to the boat harbor and a four hour excursion scheduled along the Napali. We built in time to grab lunch, and stopped by the food trucks at Warehouse 3540!
As we continued our drive, we noticed the weather taking a turn for the worse. Weather in Hawaii can be unpredictable! The entire south shore seem unusually gloomy and overcast and it was raining steadily. Briana called the boat captain to see if they still recommended going out. After a little deliberation, we decided to proceed. We loaded up, boarded with all our gear, and off we went.
As we were cruising along the coast, we encountered bouts of rain and super heavy fog. But what we weren’t fully prepared for was the rough seas! There were big swells that day. Unfortunately the boat ride was turbulent, and poor Briana became sea sick. We were all ill to varying degrees, but Briana was feeling it the worst! We still cruised up part of the coast, and managed to get some photos even though we literally couldn’t stand up on the boat – I mean, Briana and Nick are total troopers!! I can’t lie, I’ve cruised along the Napali many times, and these were the worst conditions I had ever encountered! At one point, we decided the rain and swell were too much and we headed back to shore earlier than planned.
Luckily, once we were back on dry land, the skies cleared and everyone was feeling better almost immediately! Somehow, even after hours of getting rained on and literally throwing up off the side of the boat, Briana still looked like a beauty queen! We were nearing sunset and didn’t have time to drive to another location, so we proceeded to take photos right in the boat harbor parking lot! The pics with the van and palm trees ended up being some of my favorites from the day!
Though the day didn’t go 100% according to plan (elopement and wedding days almost never do!) I was super excited for all the beautiful photos I knew we had captured. So imagine my surprise when I received an email from Briana a couple days later that started with “I know this is probably going to sound insane, but I wanted to see if you might be available to come back to Kauai?”
Briana was feeling a little bummed about the weather and fog that obstructed our views and she really wanted a redo of the boat ride in hopes of getting the sunny day of her dreams. So, she literally reorganized the private boat charter, myself (I was on the Big Island by this point for another shoot!), the videographer, even hair and makeup and we planned ROUND TWO for the following day! Stay tuned for those photos in my next blog post! For now, enjoy day 1 of their epic Kauai Adventure Elopement!
VENDORS:
Hair & Makeup – The Artists Co.
Bride’s Hat – Anthropologie
Bouquet: Blue Orchid Kauai
Videographer: Love Roams
Private Boat Rental: Napali Experience
Rental Van: Outdoorsy
Thinking about eloping in Hawaii? Reach out and let’s get started planning your epic day!
