Kiholo Bay Hawaii Elopement on the Big Island
I was visiting Hawaii’s Big Island this past September for a wedding. I had two full weeks to explore, and I totally fell in love with the island and the fun, relaxed atmosphere. In addition to shooting a wedding and checking out the city of Kailua Kona, I planned an extra elopement shoot at Kihilo Bay Hawaii!
Big Island Hawaii offers so many different landscapes - tropical black sands, rainforested mountains and jungles, white sandy beaches - just to name a few. It’s such a cool place to explore!
For the elopement, I shot a couple of local photographers that live on the island. I first connected with Caleb + Cece through Instagram - they’re also wedding photographers, and travel all over the world! They’re the definition of a super cute couple! They offered to meet up, show me around, and get in front of my camera for a fun shoot. We decided to go to a spot I hadn’t been before, and Kihilo Bay was suddenly on my radar.
Keep reading to find out my favorite things about the Big Island, where Cece got her gorgeous dress (for $100!), and how we made the best of a crazy thunderstorm on the day of the shoot!
Caleb + Cece are the photog duo who make up Zephyr and Tide Photography. They’re so fun, adventurous, and I love their work - so I was excited when they said they would model for me!
We planned for a truly epic Hawaiian elopement at the black sand beach at Kihilo Bay.
Grace Flowers Hawaii created a super beautiful tropical flower crown. She used a unique mix of tropical flowers that you’d expect to see for a Hawaiian wedding, but also used regular warm toned flowers. It fit our vision perfectly and the colors popped against the black sand backdrop. Not to be confused with Grace the florist, Grace the makeup artist and hairstylist from Grace Makeup Artistry got Cece ready for the shoot. She did an amazing job - I love how it all came together!
Cece wore the most beautiful, boho wedding dress. It was a crop top with the most subtle lace appliques, and a long flowy tulle skirt. It was perfection. Oh - and it was just over $100. Lulus has some seriously beautiful dresses, and this one was magical and whimsical - perfect for those tropical vibes!
On the day of the shoot, it started to pour rain like nothing I’ve ever seen.
Caleb + Cece live in Kona, and they said it NEVER rains there - go figure!
It was dumping buckets, thunder was booming, but - we had so. much. fun.
We all fully embraced the rain and storm, and had so much fun running around together. Our clothes were soaked, so ducking in and out of the ocean was no biggie. We had such a good time!
It was also so fun taking photos of other wedding photographers. It was so great to have them in front of the lens instead of behind it. I also love the whole vibe of the black sands. It’s so moody, especially with the stormy skies. At first I was a bit worried about the rain, but it made the shoot that much more unique.
Caleb + Cece are so cute and so in love. They were so wrapped up in each other toward the end of the shoot that they barely knew I was there. We ended the day by getting in the water, and I got the cutest photos of them splashing around and kissing in the ocean while the rain fell around them.
It was a total Notebook movie moment, and I couldn’t have asked for a better day or couple!
This was such a memorable elopement shoot, and I’m so glad we got to make it happen in such a beautiful place!
The amazing vendor team:
Dress - Lulus
Hair + Makeup - Grace Makeup Artistry
Flower Crown - Grace Flowers Hawaii
Couple - Caleb + Cece of Zephyr and Tide