A Tropical Wedding in Hawaii With a Surprise Family-Only Elopement

On their wedding day, Janine Licare and Alex Avery met for a first look, then surprised their families with a small exchange of vows on the beach—just below where they were planned to say “I do” in front of 160 guests at Mauna Kea Beach Hotel in Hawaii.

“We actually ‘eloped’ on our wedding day and had a micro-wedding with just our immediate families,” says Janine, a wedding photographer, of the small ceremony. “It was really special to have that moment that I knew was just for us.”

The couple, who are based in San Francisco, did have plenty to celebrate with their large guest list, including the formal ceremony. They hosted three days of events at the Hawaiian property on the Kohala Coast of Hawaii Island, a place where Alex’s father had vacationed annually since the 1960s. Janine began traveling with them eight years prior, and it became a special place for the couple too. Janine says she wasn’t even picky about the wedding date—they picked the day that the venue was available, and being a wedding photographer herself, the day her "dream" photographer Rebecca Yale was also free.

From there, the couple combined their favorite elements of Hawaii with details from Janine’s childhood growing up in Costa Rica and thoughtful guest amenities, like a shoe valet. Since many guests flew in before the official festivities commenced, the couple organized water sports and beach volleyball as well as sunset walks on the beach with cocktails, which they dubbed “Mai Tai Walks.” By the end, Janine says, it felt like “adult summer camp.”

The bride admits it wasn’t the easiest to plan. “It was hard to discern between what I genuinely loved versus what I loved because I’d photographed it at someone else’s wedding,” she says. But all said and done, Janine says it all, from the surprise elopement to the choreographed first dance at the reception represented her, Alex, and their relationship.

Read on for all the details of their tropical-inspired wedding in Hawaii, planned by Moana Belle Events and photographed by Rebecca Yale Photography.

Lotus & Ash designed the couple’s tropical-inspired invitation suite, which included a photo strip with images of the destination from a previous trip.

Lotus & Ash also designed the save the date—reminiscent of a vintage Hawaiian postcard—and the paper goods in the welcome pack, like a trifold itinerary.

Leading up to the wedding day, Janine and Alex hosted a white party on the beach as part of the daily “Mai Tai Walks.” Guests grabbed a cocktail and met the pair on sand at sunset.

The next day, Janine and Alex threw an "Aloha-themed" welcome party, complete with Hawaiian décor, such as like monstera leaves, and fire dancers.

“It was really incredible having so many people we loved in the same place for so many days,” Janine says.

Both Janine and Alex woke up on the wedding day at 7 a.m. to write their vows together. They also wrote vows to their families. “This is one of my favorite memories of the day,” the bride admits. She wrote her vows in a vow book by the Wedding Story Writer.

“My dress was one of those dresses that looked pretty awful on the hanger and you wouldn’t even think to try it on,” Janine says of her Zuhair Murad gown. She found it, after much searching, at Jin Wang in San Francisco, where the team helped her alter the lace gown. They removed the long-sleeves—"too hot in Hawaii for those," she says—and used the material to trim her veil. “We turned it into a one-of-a-kind creation,” Janine adds.

Janine’s bouquet by Of the Flowers included a variety of coral, green, and pink anthuriums, roses, ginger, ranunculuses, peonies, and an assortment of greenery.

Janine went with pearls for her accessories, including pearl studs on her Stuart Weitzman heels and a set of freshwater pearl drop earrings she found on Etsy. “That felt very appropriate for a Hawaii wedding,” she says.

Alex put a tropical spin on his look: He wore green pants and a green bow tie with a white jacket and colorful surprise, palm-print suspenders. He also gifted a pair of suspenders to each groomsman.

The boutonnieres included anthuriums, peach ranunculus, and greenery.

“I'd always wanted a small, intimate wedding—three days of events wasn't quite what I'd had in mind,” Janine says of the surprise exchange of vows during their first look.

“We wanted lots of happy and bright colors, with lots of tropical flowers and greenery,” Janine says of the overall wedding aesthetic. “We also wanted it to be a bit different from what most of our guests had experienced before.” That extended to the vibrant palette of bridesmaid dresses.

“The flower girls wore bright pink dresses that matched the bridesmaids color palette and the ring bearers wore bowties that matched the groomsmen’s suspenders,” Janine says of the children attendants.

The ceremony (with all the guests!) took place on the property’s golf course. The third hole looks over the Pacific, so Moana Belle Events used a low, semi-circle arrangement to create an altar without obscuring the view. “It was constructed to feel part of the ceremony site and the view rather than detract from it,” the bride adds.

The couple's attendants walked down the aisle together, with the ring bearers holding hands and the flower girls tossing petals from coconut shells.

A local Hawaiian musician played an acoustic guitar for the ceremony, which included a cover of Savage Garden’s “Truly, Madly, Deeply” when Janine walked in, escorted by her mother.

The couple’s good friend led the ceremony.

During the ceremony, Janine and Alex shared their vows to each other as well as to their families.

“It’s a really special place to the whole family and now to the two of us as well,” Janine says of marrying at the Hawaiian hotel. “We loved being able to share it with our guests.”

After the ceremony, guests headed to the beach for yet another “Mai Tai Walk” that served as cocktail hour. Janine loves that Alex and his family traditionally do the beach walk every evening in Hawaii, so naturally, they wanted to include it as part of the celebration. “It was really important to me and Alex that we get to join our guests for this part of the evening, so we took as many photos as we could,” Janine says.

Janine knew from the start she wanted Rebecca Yale to photograph the event. “Being in the industry, I already had a good idea of who I wanted on each part of the wedding: planning, photography, invitations, florals," she says. “We didn’t choose a wedding date until we knew Rebecca Yale’s availability.”

As part of cocktail hour on the beach, Moana Belle Events built a shoe valet, where guests could kick off their kicks for safe-keeping while they let the sand slide between their toes.

Of course, the couple served Mai Tais, but also had Aperol spritz and Lilikoi margarita, with passionfruit juice, available at the bar.

The guest books were coffee table books, like Tartine’s popular cookbook, repurposed for sweet messages.

Moana Belle designed a wall of flowers for the escort card display, made up of 160 live anthuriums with each guest’s name calligraphed on their own flower. “As a wedding photographer, I love photographing unique escort displays, so having something different was really important to me,” Janine says.

“For our reception layout, we really wanted everyone to feel included and hated going to weddings where guests felt like they were at a “bad table” so we pushed our planners to come up with a design that incorporated all guests equally. They created a custom design of two semi-circles, one within the other, centered around our dance floor. And above all the guests were hung thousands of cafe lights creating a beautiful canopy.”

“Our planners worked with us to design something that was both contemporary as well as tropical and it was truly unique,” Janine says of the reception décor. It mixed prints with bright colors, featured bold linens and modern glassware, and fused tropical foliage, like birds of paradise, with traditional wedding blooms like garden roses.

Guests were greeted at each place setting with a menu that featured a pocket. In the pocket, was a handwritten note from the bride and groom.

The couple’s two-tier cake was filled with macadamia nuts and chocolate on one layer and vanilla cake with lilikoi filling on the other.

Dinner included a menu of Hawaiian cuisines like ahi tuna poke, mahi-mahi fish, and a filet of beef, with a late-night snack of Kalua pork sliders.

One of the standout memories? The couple’s choreographed first dance. Not only did the guests love it—the performance lasted two songs!—but the classes were one of the best parts of planning. “You’ll have to learn to let go and let your partner take the lead, and you’ll gain a whole new level of trust when perfecting dance moves like the death drop,” Janine says. “It gave us something to create as a couple.”