The Insider’s Guide to a La Pietra Wedding: Italian Elegance on Oahu

January 27, 2026

La Pietra is a unique hidden gem of a wedding venue on Oahu. It is a historic and currently active school for girls. Housed in what was once the Tuscan-villa inspired family home of Walter Dillingham, La Pietra treasures the balance of old-world Classicism and the natural, vibrant beauty of our island that coalesce on our campus.

La Pietra, the original name of the villa our campus was designed after, translates to “the stone.” On the weekends, La Pietra opens it doors to weddings for couples with an elevated and sophisticated taste. This venue is the only of its kind in Hawaii, that will wow your guests as they step into an Italian villa, in Hawaii. The architecture has many classical arches and hallways, ideal for striking portraits of the bride and groom.

It offers 3 areas where you can have your wedding ceremony. These include the Great Lawn, Fountain Courtyard, Julia Brown Courtyard. Whichever venue you choose, they’ll have that quaint Tuscan villa vibe.

The Best Time of Day

As a Hawaii photographer, my judgement on venues heavily depends on it’s strategic layout and how it offers the best lighting for photos. Key factors that affect lighting: Buildings or trees that block sunlight, whether the venue is west or east facing, your ceremony time and where on property it takes place. La Pietra’s 3 spots has a better time of day for your wedding.

Fountain Courtyard: It is surrounded by walls on all 4 sides with an open roof. Light pours in from above instead of from the sides. With this in mind, the best time of day is anytime after 2pm or 3pm. Why? Because the only potential issue is that at noon or 1pm, the sunlight will cast a very harsh shadow from the building wall, dividing the courtyard into 2 areas: the shadow area and the light area. This is problematic because you don’t want half of your ceremony dark and half in the light. Instead, plan the ceremony when the courtyard is completely in shadow (essentially, evening out the light). This ensures, even light across your full wedding ceremony.

Great Lawn: It is completely outdoors with the main building on the south end, the tennis courts on the east, the cityscape and ocean on the south west. With this layout, there is a direct sunset view or rather the sunset rays will pour in from the cityscape end which is on the right side. Once again, the best time of day for a ceremony is 2-3pm. The best angle to face if you were to have a ceremony is with the main building as your backdrop for the ceremony. If your backdrop is the main pink building, then the light will come from the right side (cityscape side). This angled light is beautiful. Plus, there are trees along the right side, so the light will be diffused thru the trees.

Julia Brown Courtyard: At this spot, your ceremony background will be the south facade of the main building. Unlike The Great Lawn, the Julia Brown Courtyard is directly exposed to the south sun. So the light will be coming in from in front and to the left of your ceremony site. As opposed the Great Lawn which has light coming in from the right and slightly behind. This is the harshest light of all 3 options.

Vendor Recs for Italian Villa Aesthetic

Florals will make or break your La Pietra wedding. When having a wedding here your florals should encompass an effortless, highly artistic, style with a certain level of European charm. To me this means florals that are soft, loose, feminine, but highly confident in style. Bold yet elegant. Here are my recommendations for Oahu florists that have this style: Debbie Hemmingway https://designsbyhemingway.com/, Earths Laugh https://earthslaugh.com/, Belle De Jour https://www.belledejourfloral.com/, Annie Lee https://www.annieleefloral.com/

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes 9pm all music must end. Since this is in a residential area, the neighbors will certainly hear your wedding music. It is country rules that music is to end at 9pm.

Yes but it cannot accommodate 50+ cars. Remember, your vendors must park at the venue, which takes up parking stalls. Your guests should be shuttled in and out.

Before 11pm as gates will close promptly at 11pm. All vendors must exit and the venue must be returned to it’s pre event condition.

Yes, this is a clearly stated requirement on the La Pietra website. This office will ensure that no unauthorized persons will enter your wedding, also that no unruly guests will venture into the residential homes that surround the venue.

Yes, it is technically within Waikiki, though the main Waikiki strip is a 8 min drive. It is in the high end luxury community of Diamond Head on the outskirts of Waikiki.

No. While it is close to Waikiki, there are no beaches in Waikiki that are worth loosing time over. All beaches in Waikiki are surrounded by buildings and hundreds of people…it’s not worth it. Instead, focus on doing photos on property with that beautiful Italian Villa vibes.

Yes, it is required to have a wedding planner.

Yes. many couples do their ceremony and dinner at separate spots. Penelope and Max had their ceremony in the Fountain Courtyard and their reception in the Great Lawn.

A min of 30 minutes will be enough time to do portraits around the property. I have 3 areas that I love to photograph portraits at: The Great Lawn, The Fountain Courtyard and the upper level garden.