Best Time to Get Married in Hawaii: Weather, Cost and Crowds by Island

Which month is best on each island?

May works on all four main islands, although it tops no single measure except rain at Hilo. Nearly all the driest, quietest and cheapest months below fall inside hurricane season, and May does not.

Source: our ranking of the NOAA, DBEDT and hotel report data in the tables below. Hotel rates for Maui are Maui County.

If you would rather take a cheaper month and carry the storm risk, September is the alternative. It had the lowest hotel rate on every island in 2025. On Kauai, October and November came within a dollar of it.

What are Hawaii's weather, crowds and hotel rates month by month?

Normal rain at Honolulu falls by about four-fifths between March and June, while highs move only from 81°F to 87°F. Visitors peak in June, July and December, and hotel rates peak in December. Climate normals are 30-year averages, not a forecast.

Source: rain, rain days (0.10 in or more) and temperatures from NOAA NCEI 1991–2020 normals, Honolulu Intl AP. Sunset from the U.S. Naval Observatory for the 15th of each month, 2027. Visitors per day from DBEDT 2025 average daily census, air arrivals, rounded to 1,000. Hotel rate is the statewide 2025 average daily rate from the monthly Hawaii Hotel Performance Reports. Whales from NOAA, hurricane season from NWS.

The gap between a normal and a real year can be wide. The October 2025 to April 2026 wet season left 25.67 inches at Honolulu Airport, the second wettest in 30 years according to NWS Honolulu. The 1991–2020 monthly normals for those seven months add up to 12.85 inches, so that season brought about double.

The coming winter points the other way. NOAA's Climate Prediction Center said on October 15, 2026 that below-normal rain is "increasingly likely for all of Hawaii" from November through the April–June 2027 season, as El Niño strengthens. Check the newest outlook before you rely on it, since it is reissued every month.

How much does rain change from coast to coast?

The coast matters more than the month. In a normal year Hilo gets 120 inches and Kona 10 inches on the same island, so a dry month on the wet side can still be wetter than the rainiest month on the dry side.

The table pairs a leeward station (sheltered from the trade winds) with a windward or north-shore station for each island.

Source: NOAA NCEI 1991–2020 monthly normals, inches. Year is our sum of the 12 months. Pairs: Oahu Honolulu and Waimanalo, Maui Kihei and Hana, Hawaii Island Kona (Ke-ahole airport) and Hilo, Kauai Barking Sands and Princeville. Hana, Barking Sands and Kona rest on shorter records of 12–21 years, and NOAA flags Hana's as estimated.

Rain can also change within a few miles. The Waikiki gauge, the closest of our stations to the Magic Island lagoon in Ala Moana, averages 20.65 inches a year. The Waialae-Kahala gauge, the closest to Waialae Beach Park, averages 24.42 inches. Honolulu Airport gets 16.41 inches and Waimanalo, on the windward side, gets 42.43 inches.

When is Hawaii wedding season?

Hawaii wedding season peaks in May, September and October, according to state marriage records. Visitors peak at different times. December and July are full of tourists but have few weddings, while September is the quietest month for visitors and one of the busiest for marriages.

Source: Hawaii Department of Health, marriages where both partners are non-residents, by county of occurrence. 2025 table as of October 7, 2026; 2024 as of July 6, 2026; 2023 as of October 1, 2024. Honolulu is the county that covers all of Oahu.

The table leaves out local couples and couples with one Hawaii resident, so it is a measure of destination weddings. It also shows what "off season" really means for a wedding. January had the fewest marriages in each of the three years, with November and December also low. A quiet visitor month such as May or October is the opposite for officiants and photographers, so we suggest booking them first in those months. Vendor availability itself is not published anywhere we could find.

How much can you save by choosing the right month?

Moving a wedding from December to May cuts average hotel rates by about a quarter statewide, from $449 to $339. In 2025 the gap between the cheapest and dearest island ran from $165 in September to $358 in December, while the swing across the year was $265 on Maui County, $242 on Hawaii Island, $106 on Kauai and $72 on Oahu. So the island often matters more than the month, except on Maui and Hawaii Island, where the month can matter as much. The table shows both, along with how many visitors were on each island on an average day.

Source: rates are 2025 average daily rates as first published in each monthly Hawaii Hotel Performance Report (STR data for hotels with 20 or more rooms; vacation rentals and timeshares excluded). Visitors are DBEDT 2025 average daily census, air arrivals, rounded to 100. Maui rates are Maui County, which DBEDT reported as still affected by the August 8, 2023 wildfires. Maui visitors are the island of Maui.

Monthly averages also hide single weeks that fill a town. The Merrie Monarch Festival, the week-long hula festival in Hilo, runs March 28 to April 3, 2027, which Hawaii News Now notes is two weeks earlier than usual. As early as April 2026, KHON2 reported that "many accommodations for the 2027 festival are already fully booked," so a Hilo wedding that week leaves little room for guests. December is a monthly figure too: its average, the highest in the table, includes the Christmas and New Year weeks, and the state reports publish no weekly rates, so what those two weeks alone cost is not on record.

A worked example shows the size of the gap. Take a block of 10 rooms for 4 nights, or 40 room-nights, at the average rates above. These are arithmetic on averages, not quotes.

Source: our calculation from the hotel rates in the table above.

So May costs more than September, by $8 to $71 a room-night depending on the island. For many couples that is a modest price for a date outside hurricane season.

Hotel class matters more than the month. In the 2025 reports as first published, Luxury Class properties averaged $748 in May and Midscale & Economy properties $211, a gap of $537, while December added $473 at Luxury (to $1,221) and $44 at Midscale & Economy (to $255). DBEDT's 2026 reports restate May 2025 to $607 and $216, a gap of $391, and no restated December exists yet, so the two sets do not compare directly. The monthly pattern held in 2026: through September, statewide rates were lowest in September ($325) and May ($345).

Should you avoid hurricane season?

No, but you should plan for it. The Central Pacific hurricane season runs June 1 to November 30, and an average season brings 4 to 5 tropical cyclones to the whole basin, according to NWS Honolulu. That basin runs from 140°W to the International Date Line, so the count says little about Hawaii itself.

Two facts justify a plan. The National Hurricane Center says "Storms that do not make landfall in Hawaii can still cause considerable damage, mostly from winds and surf." It also says moderate to strong El Niño years "are correlated with increased tropical cyclone activity in the Central Pacific and the occurrence of late season storms."

The 2026 season shows what a bad year looks like. NWS forecast 5 to 13 tropical cyclones and a 70% chance of an above-normal season, while noting the outlook "is not a landfall forecast." Tropical Cyclone Lala brought "intense flooding and strong winds" in August. Hurricane Lowell then passed close to the islands on September 6–8, and DBEDT reported extensive damage, "especially on Kaua‘i," along with flight cancellations. On Kauai that month:

• Visitors on an average day fell 45% from September 2025, from 21,000 to 11,500.
• Hotel occupancy fell from 74.2% to 47.2%.
• Marriages of non-resident couples fell from 165 to 87, on preliminary DOH figures that may still rise.

That is one severe year on one island, not a typical September. It is the reason our first choice is May and not the cheaper month. NWS Honolulu says a return to neutral conditions is favored by the end of spring 2027, so read NOAA's next hurricane outlook when it appears. The 2026 one came out in May.

When is surf big and when can you see whales?

Surf is largest on north and west shores from November through April and on south shores from May through October, according to the Hawaii Department of Health's ocean safety site. Humpback whale season "generally runs from November through May," with the usual peak from January through March, according to NOAA's sanctuary.

Surf matters most if you plan to stand on the sand. The state splits the year this way:

Source: Hawaii Ocean Safety, Hawaii's Surf Seasons, Hawaii Department of Health.

The same page says "Summer typically means calmer waters on all beaches," and it adds that south shores can still see larger swells. May is the first month of the state's summer season, so a May date falls in south-shore swell season, when "Large swells can arrive frequently." Magic Island and Waialae Beach Park are both on Oahu's south shore, but the state page is general and says "Wave conditions are localized," so check the forecast for your beach in the week of the ceremony.

Humpback whales are a winter bonus. In NOAA's words, "The usual peak in humpback abundance occurs from January through March." A wedding in those three months has the best odds of whales, in exchange for wetter normals and higher rates.

What time is sunset for a ceremony?

Sunset in Honolulu runs from 5:48 pm in late November to 7:18 pm in early July, according to U.S. Naval Observatory data for 2027. Hawaii does not observe daylight saving time, so the time moves gradually with no jump in spring or fall. Civil twilight ends 22 to 25 minutes after sunset in the mid-month figures.

Source: U.S. Naval Observatory, sunset at each town's coordinates, Hawaii Standard Time.

How do you choose your date?

Start with what matters most to you, then work through the paperwork around that month.

1. Pick the coast before the date. Use the rain table: the coast changes your odds more than the month does.
2. Book vendors first in peak wedding months. May, September and October are the months when the state records the most non-resident marriages.
3. Fit the license to your dates. You meet the agent no more than 30 days before the ceremony, and the 30 days count the issue date. The state's holidays also shut the DOH main office, including Memorial Day on May 31, 2027, so check how your arrival lines up with the office calendar if you are coming from abroad.
4. Write a weather plan. Ask each vendor what happens if a storm closes a road or cancels flights. If you hold a Wiki Permit for state beach land, DLNR's FAQ, dated January 2016 and the newest we found, says "no changes or refunds are possible" once you buy it. Two sites on DLNR's list, dated May 9, 2025, also carry seasonal notes. Lumahai Beach on Kauai is "Permit only between Memorial Day and Labor Day," so with Memorial Day on May 31, 2027, a Lumahai Wiki Permit is not available for nearly all of May. China Walls on Oahu has a "seasonal restriction from April 1 to Sept. 30 each year." The list and the FAQ do not explain it, so ask DLNR before you choose that site. Keep a covered backup site in mind, and remember that parks and other land have different permit rules.

What other guides get wrong

Several common claims about Hawaii's seasons fail against official data, and the biggest trap is treating quiet tourist months as quiet wedding months. We checked these claims on competing pages on November 6, 2026.

Source: NWS Honolulu, DBEDT and Hawaii Hotel Performance Reports, NOAA NCEI and Hawaii Department of Health, as cited above.