Kate Hudson posts Hawaii throwbacks from friend's wedding — and explains why she's still not planning her own

Kate Hudson spent a weekend on the island of Lanai celebrating the wedding of friend Jennifer Meyer to billionaire Geoff Ogunlesi — then came home and posted the photos with a caption that said everything: 'Mentally still here.' The Instagram carousel, shared October 16, showed the 47-year-old actress in a red bandeau bikini on the beach alongside fiancé Danny Fujikawa, doing sit-ups on a towel by the ocean, posing on a private jet in a leopard-print dress, and finally dressed in a shimmering gold gown for the evening reception. What it did not show was any sign that Hudson is any closer to planning a wedding of her own — something she has been engaged to do, literally, since September 2021.

Fujikawa, who accompanied Hudson to the ceremony in a classic black tuxedo, has been her fiancé for four years. The couple began dating in 2016 after knowing each other through mutual friends, and welcomed their daughter Rani Rose in October 2018. Hudson is also mother to son Ryder Robinson, 22, with ex-husband Chris Robinson, and son Bingham Bellamy, 15, with former fiancé Matt Bellamy — a family configuration that, she says, is precisely the problem.

I still am not married. I'm just engaged, and I keep thinking about wedding, like what are we gonna do. And then every time we start thinking about who we have to invite, Danny's like, 'I just want a small wedding.' I'm like, 'Our family alone is like 50 people.'— Kate Hudson, actress

Hudson made the remarks on the September 8 episode of her podcast 'Sibling Revelry,' which she co-hosts with her brother Oliver Hudson. The guests were actresses Joey and Hunter King. The conversation turned to the scale and expense of modern weddings, and Hudson was characteristically blunt about where that leaves her.

That's part of why I don't want to get married — it's too expensive. I just want hors d'oeuvres. I wanna do, like, chips and salsa.— Kate Hudson, actress

Back on Lanai, the pre-wedding festivities were rather more elaborate. Hudson's Instagram video included a clip of her doing sit-ups on her beach towel in the red bikini — a moment E! Online noted was a workout that required considerably more than 10 days to produce, a nod to her 2003 film 'How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.' Fan comments on the post were warm, with one follower writing that women Hudson's age are 'absolutely glowing in their 40s-50s era' and describing her as 'a ray of sunshine.'

What a time! To love, to laughter, and to never leaving Hawaii. Congrats to the stunning bride and groom.— Kate Hudson, Instagram caption

Despite the wedding planning paralysis, Hudson has been consistent about her feelings for Fujikawa. In a 2019 interview with Women's Health, she described him as the partner she had been looking for.

I've got the best man. It's the first time I feel like I have a real teammate in this.— Kate Hudson, actress

For now, the couple appears content to celebrate other people's milestones while their own remains on hold — somewhere between a guest list that won't shrink and a budget that won't stretch.

Why it matters — Hudson's candid remarks about the cost and logistics of wedding planning — made while attending someone else's lavish ceremony — offer an unusually frank celebrity window into why long engagements happen even when the relationship is solid.

Reported by foxnews.com, lifezette.com, nytimespost.com, instyle.com, eonline.com