Hey guys! Megan here, assistant for Bradyhouse Photographers! We’re excited for you to hear from Madeline and Colson, clients of ours who honeymooned on Kaua’i and spent the day with our awesome lead photographer, Micah! In this post, Madeline shares their favorite parts of the day, along with honeymoon tips for those of you considering or planning a honeymoon to Kaua’i!

We love how their gallery turned out and if you know Madeline or Colson or love their photos, leave them some love below in the comments!

Our decision to take a honeymoon was last minute (TWO months before our wedding last minute), but both my husband and I agree it was the BEST decision we could have made. In hindsight, I don’t know how we couldn’t have taken one! The very first thing I did after we decided to go to Kaua’i was to book our photography session with Bradyhouse Photographers. Their obvious skill at capturing REAL moments was evident all over their website and social media. I was set on them taking our photos before I even got in touch with them! I am a huge fan of genuine moments captured. I knew there would be nothing quite as special as our first big getaway together, and I knew it would be a while before we could afford to take a trip like that again (we are fresh out of college haha send help), so how could we not take the time have some of those moments captured??? The answer is: WE HAD TO DO IT!

Meg and Megan helped us find the perfect location for our shoot and accommodated me when I made the crazy decision to bring my wedding dress (I guess all of our best decisions are last-minute???)! They made the process easy and exciting! We. Could. Not. Wait.

PHOTOSHOOT FAVES:

1) Micah. Micah was our photographer for the morning and an instant best friend. I am not kidding. The photoshoot felt like three best friends just hanging out and having the time of their lives together. He gave some helpful guidance to get those epic shots we wanted. At the same time though, he let us be us! When we look back at the photos, we see the perfect mixture of genuine moments and thoughtful creativity. I don’t know much about the art of photography, but I think it’s hard to be the best at both. Not for Micah though. He KILLED it. Not only did he kill it as our photographer, but he also gave us ideas on how to spend some of our time during the honeymoon and even invited us to get drinks at the bar he worked at. We went everywhere he told us to go and had the best time. Also, the cocktails he made us at his bar put Oklahoma cocktails to shame!

2) Taking our wedding attire. That sounds insane, but it’s worth it. Your wedding day flies by super fast. You will look back and ADORE every moment, but you’ll wish it could have lasted longer. Taking our wedding attire allowed us to be bride and groom one more time before we became a boring married couple (I kid, I kid)!!! I’ll never forget how sweet it was to get the big wedding we always wanted, but also getting the intimate elopement vibes on our honeymoon. Who knew we could have both??

3) The views. We came to Hawaii knowing nothing about Hawaii. Getting to do a photoshoot gave us access to locations and views we would have never known about otherwise. We got private access to the most beautiful beach we saw on our trip and gorgeous sunrise sights from a climbable cliff. We paid for our photos obviously, but the location is free! We went back again a few days later and got to relax in a way that would not have been possible had we spent all of our time at the more touristy beaches. It doesn’t get much better than that!

HONEYMOON TIPS:

1) TAKE A HONEYMOON! Cole and I made every excuse in the world not to go, but I am so glad we didn’t let them stop us. When else will you get actual uninterrupted time with your new spouse? No one expects to hear from you at all, you have an excuse to forget responsibilities completely, and when you tell hotels and restaurants you’re on a honeymoon often times perks are involved (heyyo)!! If you are worried about the stress of leaving right after your wedding, don’t! Wait a month like we did. Getting some time to BREATHE after we got married made our honeymoon way more enjoyable. We had the energy and desire to do things we wouldn’t have done had we left right after the craziness of a wedding week. Don’t talk yourself out of taking a honeymoon. Do what you and your spouse need to do make it happen. Trust me. You won’t trade that uninterrupted time for the world!

2) Don’t fall into the tourist traps. We were on Kaua’i on a BUDGET! We couldn’t afford to book every excursion on the planet, nor would we have wanted to spend our money that way. Hawaii has so much to offer. There are PLENTY of things to do that won’t break the bank. Bradyhouse Photographers have a travel guide for all of Kaua’i. I kid you not, we clung to that thing. Almost everything we did came from that travel guide and there wasn’t a recommendation we didn’t enjoy! They had beach, restaurant, shop, hotel and hiking ideas among other things. We are BIG hikers, so that was our favorite part of the guide! No one asked me to promote the travel guide. It seriously made our trip so much more incredible having fun, local perspectives on the island’s happenings!

3) Take a NaPali Coast boat tour. As I try to convince you not to fall into tourist traps, I recommend a touristy activity (lol, oops). This one is worth it! The views are unlike anything I have ever seen. Plus, our tour provided drinks and food the whole day. There are TONS of boat tour options, so I know it will be easy to find something that fits your specifications. We honestly weren’t sure what to choose at first because there were soooo many cool options when it came to boat tours!

Perhaps our favorite aspect of the honeymoon to Kauai specifically was the people. Everywhere you go, you make the best of friends. We felt less like we were tourists and more like we were part of Kauai’s big family for a week! We loved saying, “See you later” to our community of new pals. We can’t wait to go back to what we honestly consider a second home!

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