Kilauea Volcano can really heat up a Hawaii destination wedding
If you’re convinced you’ve found a man who is, as Elvis once proclaimed himself to be, “a hunk, a hunk of burning love,” why not have your destination wedding on the heights of Kilauea, one of the world’s most active volcanoes?
That just got easier with the reopening, after three years of renovations, of the Volcano House Hotel, a 33-room lodge (along with ten refurbished cabins in a nearby campground), that is the only accommodation within the boundaries of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, on the Big Island of Hawaii.
The historic hotel, originally built in 1846, does not mention weddings on their website. But their public relations reps say they would welcome the opportunity to host them. Additionally, the National Park Service says that with a permit, small weddings are allowed almost everywhere in the park, the main exceptions being on the edge of the still-erupting Halemaumau Crater, which the lodge sits beside, and the hula platform near the Kilauea Visitor Center.
The recently re-opened Volcano House is the only hotel within the boundaries of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
You can find the complete rules and an application for a wedding permit at this National Park Service site, but essentially the conditions are that the ceremonies should be private affairs held away from high visitor use areas. The Park says most couples chose overlooks with a view into the Kilauea Caldera or Kilauea Iki Crater, or forested areas such as Kipukapuaulu.
The Volcano House has hosted many historic figures, including FDR, during what was the first visit to Hawaii by a U.S. president, and Mark Twain, who said, in the way that only he could, “The surprise of finding a good hotel at such an outlandish spot startled me, considerably more than the volcano did.”
The night glow of Kilauea to make a destination wedding dinner at the Volcano House especially memorable.
And while the steaming and sputtering the volcano produces is certainly done on its own schedule, visitors to the lodge, especially in the refurbished dining room or the guest rooms facing the crater, might find themselves considerably more startled than Twain was. For an update on volcanic activity throughout the park, check here.
A number of local companies can help arrange a wedding overlooking Kilauea, including Weddings at Ali’i Gardens, located in Volcano Village, just outside the park.
By Bob Payne
NPS Photos
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