Hawaii

Maui Wedding Venues - Suggestions? Reviews? =)

Hi, everyone! First post on theknot, hurrah!

I am planning for a July wedding in Maui and am stuck on selecting a private estate venue. I want my ceremony and reception to be at the same location (minimize transport of +35 guests) and oceanfront - i.e. at the beach but not on it... ;) We also want something private, so I am shying away from Gannon's, Merriman's, etc. I've looked into Sugarman, Sugar Beach, Kukahiko, etc. (Olawalu being booked up already until October, apparently.)
Are there any other venues that you'd recommend? Or any experience having or attending weddings at the above? Would love to hear any stories, as the main things for me are great food and even better dancing. =) Food can be solved with an awesome caterer but I'd love to also hear opinions on indoor/outdoor dining at a private estate venue for the reception.

Thank you!

Re: Maui Wedding Venues - Suggestions? Reviews? =)

  • Hello and Congrats on your up coming wedding! We were married in 2013, at Sugarman (Honua Kai Lani) Estate, and it was BEAUTIFUL!! It was more than we could've dreamed of - the view is amazing.  It was even nicer in person, than the photos - my husband and I just looked at each other and smiled when we went on the property for the first time at our wedding rehearsal - we knew we picked right! We were steps from the water, but were not on a beach.  There were beautiful palm trees, and the yard was huge! We got ready in the house, ceremony by the water & our reception was there as well, just had an open tent for reception/dance.  We had a shuttle service to get all our guests to and from the location (we had about 40 people).  Our guests still talk about the venue, and how nice our wedding was.  If you do not have a coordinator yet, call Kara at Your Aloha Wedding Company - she is amazing!! We had Cafe O'Lei as our caterer, and everyone loved the food! I hope this helps! 
  • I'm getting married in July 2014 at Haiku Mill- it's absolutely gorgeous.  I'm not sure if you would run into the same problems as Olawalu though with it already being booked as they only do one event a week.  Good luck :-)
  • Thanks so much for your response! And a big congrats! :)

    We definitely did have Sugarman Estate on our list and the only reason we started to vote against it (and other private estate venues other than Sugar Beach) was tha the cost of renting the tables, chairs, tent, etc. seemed to add up and would be around the same price point as Sugar Beach ($5000 for up to 99 guests). Glad to hear your wedding was so beautiful! How did the shuttle service work out? If you don't mind, would you be able to message me with the cost and the company you used? It would be nice to have comfort over cleanliness and reliability for a shuttle service since Sugar Beach seems to be 30 minutes away from resort areas!

  • Thanks, racheogle! I haven't heard of that one and will look into it! Fingers crossed! :)

     

  • We used Executive Transportation - it was all arranged by our wedding coordinator.  Our venue was 1 hour from our accommodations, and pre-ceremony we used a limo and shuttle, and post ceremony used 2-shuttles.  We were very happy with them, and our guests were too.  They were right on time, and made it easy so our guests did not have to worry about finding the location.  Sorry, I do not remember the exact cost - if I come across it I will let you know.  
  • No worries - that is a ton of help! =) Thanks so much!
  • edited January 2014
    We recently visited Maui and looked at Merriman's, Sugar Beach, Sugarman, Makena Resort and Olowalu.  We ultimately choose Olowalu but really loved Sugar Beach.  It's brand new and Chef Lee is awesome - very laid back and easy to work with.  They offered a one-stop-shop in terms of venue, catering, wedding coordination.  I love that we could have the ceremony outside and dinner "inside" the open air plantation house.  The one drawback was that there were condos on each side so it's not as remote as Sugarman or Olowalu, but I'm sure at night there wouldn't be much noise or people walking the beach.  Sugarman was SUPER remote (you drive down a tiny one-lane road with the ocean waves crashing up onto the cars), but we just felt it was too large of a lawn area for our intimate event (40ish people).  Just personal preference.  Hope this helps!
  • Oh my goodness, itsmestacey123, thank you so much for your comment!

    We actually did end up booking with Sugar Beach (YAY!) and although it was our first choice (mostly because Olawalu is booked til November!!!), I was a little concerned that it would feel "too" big (we also have approx. 35 to 40 guests) and especially with it being so new, there were very little photos and reviews to go off of. However, reading your comment definitely puts me at ease - so thank you!

    Wish you all the best planning! =)
  • No problem at all and best of luck to you too!  Sugar Beach will definitely not be too big for your event - we were looking at the same size for our wedding.  Check out their Facebook page - Chef Lee does blogs about her events too that are fun to read.  They also have a video on YouTube of one of their first weddings at the estate that was awesome! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyU0GUOaqs0  Like I said, we did a lot of research and site visits and it was really hard for us to choose between Olowalu and Sugar Beach.
  • Hello all! Toaster rabbit, I hope you had a great wedding!

    I wanted to ask a somewhat obvious question about sugar beach but I figure I'll ask anyway. Do you have to utilize their catering services or can you get a different caterer? I'm assuming you're locked in to their catering services if you want to have your wedding there. I think the venue rental fee is reasonable considering what you get but I don't think I can do $73 a person for food not including drinks and dessert!

    Help if you can!
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