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Kauai Beach Wedding Locations Explained

by Joel McDonald | Apr 17, 2015 | Kauai Weddings

Many Kauai beach wedding locations offer stunning backdrops such as this cloud reflection.

Kauai beach wedding locations

are numerous throughout the Garden Island. Kauai has been blessed with extraordinary natural beauty, from lush green jungles to towering cliffs to botanical gardens to majestic mountains. Of course, the beaches are wonderful too, and quite varied. Some are crowded, some are deserted; some are rocky, some are sandy; some are super dry and sunny, while others are prone to having overcast weather. Here’s an overview of the main Kauai beach wedding locations, sorted by which side of the island they are on.

North Shore Kauai Beach Wedding Locations

The North Shore of Kauai is truly spectacular. It is the wettest and most lush part of the island, home to scenic views, thick vegetation and the charming crescent-shaped Hanalei Bay. There are several outstanding beach wedding locations on this part of Kauai, including Ke’e Beach (at the very end of the road near the start of the Kalalau trail), Tunnels Beach (a little further along from Ke’e, with a gorgeous backdrop of the Bali Hai mountains) and Hanalei Beach itself.

Pros: Great backdrops for photos, expansive scenery

Cons: Generally wet, high chance of rain in the “winter” months (September to March)

East Side Kauai Beach Wedding Locations

The East Side of Kauai is the most populated, yet strangely, the beaches themselves are less crowded and more private than elsewhere. This is because Kauai’s more famous beaches are either on the North or South Shore. The East Side offers some mostly unknown yet lovely beaches such as Lydgate Beach and Nukolii Beach.

Pros: Private beaches, central location near hotels, restaurants and entertainment

Cons: Beaches sometimes have a lot of driftwood

South Shore Kauai Beach Wedding Locations

One great thing about the South Shore of Kauai is that it is consistently dry and sunny, making it a good Kauai beach wedding location if you are worried about rain on your special day. The South Shore includes Poipu Beach and Shipwrecks Beach – the latter being the most famous and popular beach on the island. While Shipwrecks is certainly picturesque, it is often crowded and home to many beach weddings occurring simultaneously.

Pros: Almost always sunny, located near many hotels

Cons: Beaches are popular and crowded, some such as Shipwrecks often has multiple weddings occurring at same time

West Side Kauai Beach Wedding Locations

The West Side of Kauai is very dry, dusty and desert-like. It is sparsely populated with very few hotels or restaurants. Not many people choose to get married on a West Side Beach, but there are some options, the main one being Polihale, a remote and rugged expanse of beach far away from the main highway.

Pros: Almost always dry and sunny

Cons: Very remote, not close to hotels and restaurants, beaches such as Polihale difficult to access

For videos and more pictures of Kauai beach wedding locations, visit the wedding locations page of our sister site AlohaEverAfter.com.

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Having done Kauai wedding photography and planning for many years now, we know the best hidden and secluded Kauai beach wedding locations to make a perfect backdrop for your wedding photos. Call us at 888-939-3885 today for a free consultation!

Kauai Beach Weddings: The Best Ways to Wear Your Hair

by Joel McDonald | Dec 24, 2014 | Kauai Wedding Photography, Wedding Photography in Hawaii

Kauai beach weddings are notoriously

windy affairs. Without a doubt, the best hair do for any kind of Hawaii beach wedding is a full up do. Whether you do it yourself, or you hire a professional hair stylist, get all your hair up and use as much product as you need to plaster it back. It is always windy at the beach, and here on Kauai we are sitting in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, so the wind has plenty of space and time to pick up velocity. It is not super windy every day, but nonetheless hair is light and easily blows out of place, even if there is virtually no wind and you use product to hold it down.
Our Kauai wedding locations are truly gorgeous. According to many people, there is not a more beautiful place to get married. So – just plan ahead and put your hair up so it’s not blowing all over the place during your wedding photos! Fortunately, there are plenty of creative ways to style your hair so it will both look great and stay in place.
Here are what we think are the most essential tips for wearing your hair at a Kauai beach wedding or Kauai outdoor wedding:

Kauai Beach Wedding Hair Tip #1: Pick an updo with a beachy/relaxed look.

Do not pick a perfectly polished hairstyle that will look obvious if it is blows out of place. Relaxed is fine!

Discover the best ways to wear your hair at a Kauai beach wedding. Hint: remember the wind!

Kauai Beach Wedding Hair Tip #2: Select hair styles that are likely to stay in place even if windy.

Select hair styles that are likely to stay in place even if windy. Braids are popular right now at weddings (as are twists). Both are great at keeping your hair in place during a breeze. Remember you can incorporate a little braid or twist on the side into another up do style that does not include braids, so you have something stylish to do with those annoying little baby hairs that don’t reach back into the rest of your style.

Kauai Beach Wedding Hair Tip #3: Think about hair accessories or hair flowers before you get your hair done.

A regular piece of feedback we get from Kauai hair stylists is that brides only think about hair accessories and flowers right before or during their hair styling session, rather than before. Obviously it is better to think ahead about what kind of flowers you may desire, since a hair stylist can then take that into account as she styles your hair.

Kauai Beach Wedding Hair Tip #4: Get a picture of what you want that you can show to your stylist.

Pictures of your vision are extremely useful for a hair stylist. Explaining it all in words is much harder. Also, if you let them come up with a style all by themselves, it may look fine objectively, but may not be a style matching your tastes at all.

Kauai Beach Wedding Hair Tip #5: If you’re having your hair done, do not wash your hair for 24-48 hours beforehand.

If you want to enjoy your time here and swim, check with your hair care professional, but usually it’s not a good idea to swim on the day of your wedding, even if you do not wash your hair afterwards. Professionals normally recommend keeping your hair completely out of any possible water on the day of a special event.

Kauai Wedding Photography Blog