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Venues · Signature

Ceremonies born of the sea

Outrigger canoe, paddleboard and surfboard weddings, rare authentically Hawaiian ocean ceremonies you won't find anywhere else.

A Hawaiian beach wedding in a circle of flowers with drummer, hula dancer and conch blower, Maui
A couple kiss in front of a Hawaiian outrigger canoe on the shore of Maui

Waʻa · the outrigger canoe

Arrive by Hawaiian canoe

The outrigger canoe holds a sacred place in Hawaiian culture, a vessel of voyage, of courage and of arrival. If you have ever dreamed of something completely unlike anyone else's wedding, this is it: a Hawaiian outrigger canoe ceremony, just the two of you, on the open waters off Maui's coast. We have been making moments like this possible since 1995.

The groom waits on a secluded beach while the bride and her paddlers arrive from a nearby shore. He meets her on the sand and escorts her into a circle of flowers, and the ceremony begins. At the end, the two of you take a short ride on the ocean together.

Prefer to stay out on the water? You can also charter a private sailboat with captain and crew and exchange your vows on the open ocean, with Maui's coastline as your backdrop.

See à-la-carte options
A couple exchange vows sitting on paddleboards in the calm ocean with their officiant, Maui

Heʻe Nalu · the art of surfing

Trade the aisle for a paddle board and say your vows surrounded by the ocean

Comfortable in the water, Hawaiians excelled in all ocean sports. In this paddleboard ceremony you take your vows on a large surfboard or paddleboard, just off the coast in the calm early-morning water.

Although they may not have invented surfing, Hawaiians earned the greatest renown as surfers. The aliʻi, the high class who surfed, claimed the highest reputation for skill with boards on the waves. They developed their own prayers and board shapes, and used only certain beaches where a select few could surf among people of their talent. The surfboards underwent a sacred ritual before they were ever shaped, and surfers saw it as a ceremonial communion with the ocean.

See the Heʻe Nalu arrangement

Paddleboard & surfboard ceremonies

A hula dancer with an ipu heke gourd drum on the shore, a hand-coloured print by Himani

Hula · the dance of the islands

The ipu heke and the oli

Every signature ceremony can carry Hawaii's ancient layer within it - the chanter's voice, the steady beat of the ipu heke gourd drum, and the hula that tells your story through movement. Let us know which of these elements you'd like woven into your ceremony.

Hawaiian wedding traditions