DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM Fall is the big season for weddings in Hawaii, outpacing June's brides. Above, Ryota Kunimori escorts his bride, Naomi Ishida to the chapel where they will be married in Kahaluu.

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Summer weddings may be
stereotypical, but fall is more
popular among couples making
their marriage trips to Hawaii

Forget about the June bride, who seeks to follow the adage, "Blessed is the bride on whom the sun doth shine."

In other parts of the country, sunny June is a favorite month for weddings. But in Hawaii, where the tropical sun shines just as brightly in the autumn, fall wedding bells ring the most.

The Japanese wedding market has long boosted fall revenues, but industry experts say the state's growing domestic wedding market, which traditionally was strongest in summer, also has started favoring fall.

During the past two years, more couples have chosen to marry in the fall when they can often get better rates and hotel rooms are more accessible for large parties, said Silvia Gama, president of the Kauai Wedding Professionals Association.

"There's been a shift from May and June, which used to be our busiest months, to fall," Gama said. "In the fall on Kauai, the island has been busier than in the spring."

In addition to a trend toward fall weddings, there's also a trend toward larger and more creative destination weddings, said Gama, who also works as the senior event manager for the Kauai Marriott Resort & Beach Club, which is known for its strong domestic weddings business.

"We are experiencing a peak in revenue as more brides are choosing to have larger parties and spend more money on weddings," she said.

That's been the case at Danny Kaleikini's World of Aloha, which operates the simple Aloha Ke Akua chapel next to a fishpond in Kahaluu, where Ryota Kunimori and Naomi Ishuda, of Osaka, Japan, married last week.

"Before I got into this business, I used to think February and June would be our strongest times," President Linda Wong said. "But really, we see more weddings take place in September, October and November. It's a very popular time to marry in Hawaii."

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DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM Photographer Jerry Salmond and videographer Matthew Ofisa record Ryota Kunimori and Naomi Ishida being married by pastor Kalehua Featheran at the Aloha Ke Akua chapel in Kahaluu.

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On Oahu, where the bulk of international weddings take place, "It's been like that for ages," said Don Amemiya, control department manager for Watabe Wedding Corp., which controls 50 percent of Hawaii's wedding market from Japan.

Japan's improving economy and the perception of better world conditions have increased the desire and means for Japanese couples to come to Hawaii, Amemiya said.

"Fall travel is a trend that will stay," he said, adding Japanese couples like the opportunity to leverage work holidays and take advantage of value pricing.

Hawaii's reputation as a safe destination is also a key motivator for mainland couples, said Holly Saito, of New York, who plans to wed fiance Josh Kantor on Oahu in January.

"Here in New York, people are even now wary of traveling to other countries," Saito said. "Hawaii is part of the United States, but yet it's really exotic."

Fall season is the peak of the state's wedding market, especially for international visitors, said Eugene Tian, a research and statistics officer for the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.

Last year, 220,587 visitors came to the islands for a wedding. Of those visitors, 92,263 came in the fall, 62,685 in the summer, 55,939 in the spring and 56,024 in the winter, Tian said.

The state doesn't have November 2004 statistics compiled, but from September to October 63,471 visitors came Hawaii as part of a wedding, he said.

"This last year has really improved over the year before and the year before that," said Jerry Salmond, a wedding photographer. "Fall was especially busy. We aren't exactly where we were before 9/11, but we're coming back."

In 2003, which represented a typical year for Watabe, fall weddings comprised 31 percent of the total market, Amemiya said. The summer season represented 19 percent of the market, he said.

The strength of this past fall's business is a good indication that the market is improving, Wong said.

"We had as many as eight weddings a day in November," she said, adding that business has been so good at World of Aloha that the company, which grew out of the need to revitalize one of King Kamehameha III's historic fish ponds, has been able to provide jobs for more than 35 people.

"At any moment, there are dozens of weddings taking place all over the islands," said Kennie Lou Villalon, who works as a wedding singer to supplement her income from waitressing. "Work is good. More businesses are focused on weddings, even small businesses."

Although growth in the wedding and honeymoon market was especially strong in the fall, it's been up nearly every month, said Kelvin Bloom, president of Aston Hotels & Resorts.

"It's a real good indicator of the strength of the overall market," Bloom said. "We are having an exceptional year."

The country's overseas wedding market to the islands, which peaked with 31,000 weddings in 2000, had been in steady decline due to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, SARS and the war with Iraq.

By last year, the Japan wedding market had dropped 32 percent to 21,000 weddings, but the trend has started to turn around, Amemiya said.

For the first time in three years, the market is forecast to grow, and will likely rise 14 percent to 24,000 weddings by year-end, he said.

"Fall was strong and we are very hopeful that we will be able to reach our goal," Amemiya said, but added that an improving market has also increased competition.

"We've got plenty of price wars going on," Amemiya said. "There are many new businesses hoping to get their share of the pie."