Weddingbee Blog

I realize that most of wedding planning is about both the present and looking ahead—what we will be including on the big day, my inspiration for things, what I am currently working on—but I wanted to take a moment to look back on (and perhaps mourn a little) something that was not meant to be.

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That’s right—our destination wedding. Sigh.

Image via Kapalua

I suppose that, in a way, we are technically having a destination wedding. I mean, Mr. Candy Apple and I both have to travel to Seattle for the wedding. So, it’s a destination for us. Since I grew up in Seattle, though, and most of my family is still there, it doesn’t feel like a destination wedding (henceforward referred to as DW because I am lazy).

After we got engaged, and after the panic of “Holy crap I have to plan a wedding from across the country what the hell am I doing I don’t know how to do this” set in, I toyed with the idea of having a small, intimate DW in Maui. Well, more than “toyed”—I did a lot of research. Why Maui? Well, do you need any more convincing after this?

Image via Kapalua

Didn’t think so.

My family has been going to Maui since I was born. We have pictures of me on the beach as a baby, diaper clad and munching on sand. So, there is a lot of sentimental value there; I consider Maui to be like a second home to me. Also, the idea of a wedding on a tropical isle is just so romantic. I would love to take gorgeous beach pictures and to have the smell of plumeria forever remind me of our wedding day. Um, and I could force my cousin to make our wedding cupcakes. That too.

In terms of planning and vendors and size, it just seemed easier. But, it wasn’t.

I think all families involved (Daddy Candy Apple’s family, Mommy Candy Apple’s family, and Mr. Candy Apple’s family) would have killed us. It would have been a small wedding (think: around 20 people), and that just wasn’t going to cut it for my large family our large families. I realize that weddings are about the celebration of the love between two people and the joining of those two people, but when it boils down to it, I think we would have been disappointed not to be surrounded by all of our family and friends on our wedding day. It is just an excuse for a big party, right?

Yes, the stress of wedding planning frequently sometimes makes me wish I were still planning our simple, small Maui wedding. I am secretly totally jealous of Miss Ostrich and her amazing Hawaii wedding. (I’m living vicariously through you, Ostrich!) But when I think about all of the people I love and who have supported Mr. Candy Apple and me through our lives and our relationship, I know that we made the right choice.

Image via Kapalua

Did you have a destination wedding? If so, what made you decide to have one? If you didn’t have one, did you ever consider one? (Am I the only person who still calls my dad “Daddy” and my mom “Mommy”?!)