Hawai'i wedding planners — who have seen the number of nonresident marriages dip by more than one-fifth in recent months — wonder about the potential impact of the state's plan to enforce an existing requirement for permits for all commercial beach weddings.

Sue Kanoho, the Kaua'i Visitor Bureau's executive director, said she thinks some wedding businesses will struggle with the idea of doing paperwork for the permits although many already get the permits. And most understand the value of protecting Hawai'i's natural resources. "We're known for romance and beauty," she said.

She said most wedding businesses seem to manage a shared use of public beaches in catering to an important segment of the visitor industry. "You have to do what's right for an island and for the state, and not just what's right for tourism," she said. But she said the state also needs to educate people about the rules. Starting next month, the state will require permits for commercial beach weddings on state beaches.

Recent state Health Department statistics show a drop in the number of weddings — down about 1,270 since last year — where both the bride and the groom are nonresidents. Records show a total of 5,773 of these nonresident marriages for the first five months of this year, compared with 7,043 for the same period last year.

Jill Kosen, of Wedding In Paradise on Kaua'i, said she's seen ups and downs in the wedding business over nearly two decades. So far, the couples are still coming and her business has remained steady.

"2004 was a very big year. Everybody was busy," Kosen said. "2005 leveled off, 2006 went down and 2007, we did a lot of last-minute weddings."

But she sees smaller numbers of people flying in for weddings, sometimes with half as many as in the wedding guest party than in years past.

Kosen thinks the impact will come with the smaller "mom and pop" wedding businesses that haven't been aware that permitting has been required.

She worries that a small operation will have a wedding stopped midway.

"All it takes is that one bride having a bad experience," Kosen said, then sharing the story on the Web via YouTube, theknot .com and other places to hurt the state's reputation for being a wedding haven.

If that happens, "we'll get this horrible name," she said. "Kaua'i doesn't know what they're doing."

Morris Atta, the DLNR Land Division administrator, said the state is aware of those fears and is not planning wedding crackdowns. "We're trying to accommodate all the needs of the industry," Atta said. "We don't want to disrupt it if at all possible." Even though the permits have been in place since 2002, he said, there was initial panic months ago when the topic went out to public meetings.

"There was a lot of misunderstanding," Atta said. "Why are you trying to regulate us out of business?" they asked. But he said most permits only cost about $20.

Kaua'i resident and community advocate Maka'ala Ka'aumoana said some enforcement is needed.

"Residents on the North Shore of Kaua'i have been impacted by unregulated commercial uses of our beaches and nearshore marine areas for many years," she said.

She praised the state for recognizing the problem. "I hope these new rules requiring permits for commercial weddings will be followed very soon with rules for other commercial impacts, such as surf schools, catered beach dinners, wind surfing and kite boarding rentals and the like."

Ka'aumoana said she is concerned that the state has not consulted the community about areas that are important for fishing or other cultural practices.

And her family has had some personal experience with wedding folks encroaching on other beachgoers. "My husband has been told to 'move down the beach please' as he was fishing for our dinner," she said. "Apparently he was 'in the shot' for the wedding pictures with Makana Mountain in the background."

Susan O'Donnell, of Aloha Wedding Planners, is founding president of the O'ahu Wedding Association. She says the permitting will work if the public is educated about the rules.

But she said the increased vigilance comes at a time when the industry is feeling the effects of a declining economy, fewer air seats to the Islands and more expensive airfares.

She said O'ahu saw a decline in "destination weddings" beginning in January when the calls started slowing down. Normally, she said, many couples plan weddings three to six months or a year out. After the March-April shutdown of Aloha and ATA airlines, she said even fewer couples called to get married here.

"Most of the advertising imagery of Hawai'i is come to Hawai'i and have a romantic wedding on the beach," O'Donnell said. But she said it's important for people who work in tourism to preserve the special nature of the Islands.

O'Donnell, 48, grew up in 'Aina Haina, a granddaughter of Rudy Tongg — founder of Trans-Pacific Airways, the predecessor to Aloha Airlines.

"When I bought my company back in the early '90s, I wanted to share what I know of O'ahu when I was growing up here. Life was a slower pace; it wasn't so harried," she said.

"There is that sensitivity for what is culturally appropriate," she said.

Back on Kaua'i, Kanoho said the permits may help show where more limits are needed.

"What if 15 wedding planners put in for 15 weddings in one day at Shipwrecks Beach?" she asked. "What will they approve and what will they deny? Will there be limits?"

Atta said his state agency's goals are to protect the resources, then protect them for recreational purposes and lastly to allow for reasonable commercial use.

Atta said specific limits won't come right away. "We know that ultimately we will need to regulate the number of weddings," he said, but are willing to see if the industry initially manages self-regulation.

"If there is a problem we will step in," Atta said.