This Hawaiian beach wedding features one of our favorite boho gowns ever!

Relaxed Hawaiian Beach Wedding With Our Dream Rue De Seine Boho Wedding Dress – Absolutely Loved Photography 1

Yes, we’ve been feeling the Hawaiian wedding vibes lately – and how could resist when they transport us to such paradises?! Today’s Oahu wedding may look a bit familiar (remember this wedding held at Loulu Palm Estate?) but with a particular intrigue – our dream boho wedding dress has made an appearance!

Jesse & Jessie (so adorable we can’t deal) didn’t choose Loulu Estate just for its obvious beauty and popularity – it was a special place for them when they started their relationship. Dating long distance, Jessie (bride) would visit Jesse (groom) on the North Shore of Oahu – dancing together in his kitchen & taking long walks to such beautiful places as this.

So the wedding venue was a no-brainer, and Jessie didn’t seem to struggle to find the perfect gown for her Oahu beach wedding either. Eyeing boho designer Rue de Seine for a while (us too, babe!) she fell in love with this totally retro, tie-top, high low wedding dress. Light & airy, embroidered & bohemian, it was perfect for a hot Hawaiian day.

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Photo by Absolutely Loved Photography via Bridal Musings

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Our Love Story

Jesse went to high school and played water polo with my brother-in-law, Grady. Jesse was a Marine Biologist and spent a lot of time traveling while I was also doing quite a bit of traveling on my own, so fate has it we just never met.

When Grady had Jesse over for dinner five years ago, my sister met and just adored him. He hadn’t even left her house before she began sending me messages that I needed to meet him. I was looking forward to some self-discovery single time and he was in a relationship so it was a “no go”. However, after his relationship ended began another barrage of messages from my sister to meet him. She tried for ten months to get us to meet but I avoided him at all costs, I didn’t go to parties I heard he would be attending or left ones I heard he would be arriving to.

I was invited to a wedding in Santa Barbara and at the welcome party, a tall handsome gentleman walked over to say hello to my sister who I was standing with. And well, you can say the rest is history.

We hung out that night talking into the late hours, and again the next day at the wedding. We exchanged numbers and on the drive back on Sunday, he made plans to see me again on Monday. We met for drinks and even with the excitement of the wedding now dissipated, the spark was still as strong as ever. I called my sister on the way home and said, “You heard it here first, I am going to marry this man.”

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The Proposal

Shortly after we met Jesse got a job opportunity in Hawaii on the island of Oahu. Before he left he asked me to be his girlfriend (in the cutest way any 5th grader would dream of). We decided even after three months that the distance would be worth it, plus, who doesn’t want a handsome reason to visit Hawaii?!

We did long distance for a year and a half and spent many romantic evenings dancing to Sam Cooke in his living room as it rained outside, we watched every sunset we were together, and we laughed our way around the island as we explored every nook and cranny. He eventually moved back to LA and at this time I was down in San Diego where we did another year long distance. It was during this time that we decided to visit my Family’s cabin in Lake Tahoe in June, for a little summer getaway together. We had been there a whole fifteen minutes when it began to snow outside.

We watched it from the window and he kept pushing to go stand outside in it. He started acting a little funny, kissing the top of my head over and over again, touching his pocket. I thought to myself he better not ask me to marry him before my brush my teeth or hair so I made an excuse and said “Let’s pour a drink first!” While he made the drinks I ran to the bathroom and did what little brushing I could.

I met him on the balcony overlooking the lake while the sun was shining and yet snowflakes fell on and all around us. He said it was magical kissed me on the top of the head one more time, cleared his throat, said he had a question, I turned around and there he was on one knee with a ring in his hands. I blacked out after that, he says I put my hand over my mouth and let out a little scream and jumped on him hugging him. I quickly forgave him that he proposed while we both were wearing matching Patagonia jackets, now it’s one of my favorite parts about the proposal.

The Dress

I had been eyeing Rue De Seine for some time – I loved their dreamy boho style. I went to a trunk show and tried on three dresses, it was not the one I had originally had my eye on, as most people’s dress stories go. But once I had it on, I felt beautiful and free to move and dance. It felt like a cloud on and comfort was very important to me because having a wedding in Hawaii in the summer I knew it could be a very hot day. I loved the fringe, it made it unique and fun and the details of the velvet flowers would shine in the light.

It was helpful that it was shorter in the front with a small train in the back so I could wear heels if I wanted to, or go barefoot. I immediately saw the Alexander Wang shoes and knew they were perfect, they would blend right in, give me some height (my husband is a foot taller than me), be comfortable (the platform was a must as well as the thick heel on the grass). The earrings were J Crew – they matched the fringe on my sleeves and were light – I got my ears pierced to wear them!

The Groom’s Attire

For my husband, his measurements are not off the rack, so we got him his first custom suit. At first, we thought all white linen, but we wanted him to be able to wear it again and let’s be honest, a whole white linen suit is hard to pull off when it isn’t your wedding. So we opted for a light sandy tan linen pant and a white linen shirt and jacket (which I had embroidered with our names and the date of our wedding inside).

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The Venue & Style

We knew that we had to head back to the North Shore of Oahu as soon as he proposed. It was a place that brought us closer to together while keeping us apart and we wanted to prove that love does conquer all. During one of my visits he brought me to a beach near his home – he pointed out the venue Loulu Palm Estate and we both admired how beautiful it was. We called them immediately and set the date.

The venue itself led to a lot of the wedding vision, we didn’t want to take away from the beauty Hawaii has to offer, only add to it. My vision was ‘Dreamy Boho Tropical with a 70’s Edge’. We wanted whites, lights pinks & peaches, greens and woods, with some gold thrown in as well. I loved every vendor I worked with, and I worked with many in order to create something that showed us and who we were.

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The Flowers

I had my eye on Passion Roots before I was even engaged. I came across their Instagram while on the island and fell in love with their creativity and artistic eye for their arrangements. I didn’t blink twice when we got engaged to use them for our wedding.

Growing up with a mother as an Interior Designer, and working as one myself for awhile, I knew how important flowers are and how they can really add to a venue if done correctly. I trusted that Passion Roots knew what they were doing. I first wanted all tropical greens, but they insisted on adding some color or they might just blend into the background. Wow! Am I glad I took their advice?! The flowers turned out perfect.

I got my orchid waterfall bouquet that I wanted and every flower placed was absolutely stunning, they also used roses, and peonies, and a King Protea. They were dreamy, they were tropical, and they were everything a girl could have dreamed for on her wedding day.

Favorite Moments

A friend gave some very sage advice before the wedding. She said, “It happens so fast, it’s important to make memories that will last.” She recommended for us to do two things. She said during dinner while everyone is in one area, take a step back and and look at everyone that came to celebrate your wedding day and that will be there to support you both on this new journey. So as we were walking back from taking our sunset pictures, we did just that, and my heart still swells with joy when I think about everyone there and I have this lovely snapshot in my head.

The second recommendation was to take a moment to lay down and look up at the stars, just take that moment to hold hands and be present to not think about anything else except for exactly where you are and who you are with. We snuck away at one point and laid down on the beach and looked up at the stars and just for a few minutes existed in that moment and it was so lovely. When I close my eyes I can imagine us laying there now. We then ran back to the dance floor where I thought it was a good idea for my friend to flip me (as he was doing to some of the party) – and accidentally flashed most of my guests! Oops!

The Important Details

The most important thing thing for us was to make sure that our guests would have a lovely time. We knew most of them would be traveling long distances and we wanted to make sure that they knew we appreciated them being there.

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The Planning

We didn’t splurge on anything in particular, because we also didn’t want to skip anything. We worked hard with our vendors, and onsite coordinator to make sure that we weren’t spending money on anything that was not necessary while also making sure that the flowers would be gorgeous (they were thanks to Passion Roots), our food was delicious (thanks to Memoirs), and our venue and rentals were comfortable and beautiful (thanks to Pacific Party Rentals, Roam Rentals, Maison de Ware, and Loulu Palm Estates).

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The Cake & Desserts

I’m not a big wedding cake person, to be honest. So when I heard about Uncles Ice Cream Sandwiches I thought this would be the perfect dessert for our guests that they could order at the bar along with their drinks. They have a lot of interesting & yummy flavors, we chose: fresh lilikoi ice cream on old fashioned sugar cookies, coffee ice cream on dark chocolate cookies and a few others. His wife even came up with a custom packaging design with our names and wedding dates and a big tropical palm leaf that was perfect for our theme! She is talented!

When my husband found out there was going to be no cake, it was the one thing he put his foot down on. He’s a big wedding cake guy and had always imagined the cake cutting at his wedding (he’s also a romantic). Our coordinator recommended UpCountry Creations, I was very relieved to know that she could make us a custom cake that would be just for the two of us – so he could enjoy the cake and we could do the traditional cake cutting.

She made a delicious and beautiful cake and even converted me to be a cake person! It was even yummy one year later after sitting in our freezer! I’m thankful too that my husband insisted, it was a special moment that we didn’t announce but only a few guests who saw us in the corner came to watch – we got some good photos out of it as well!