Hi ladies!
My hubby and I just returned from 10 days on Maui- and it wasn't enough. Thought I would write up some reviews to share. We had an amazing trip- the wedding day was absolutely perfect...the weather (no rain and the tradewinds some how stopped blowing), the vendors, just everything was spectacular. We had 37 guests and it was perfectly intimate. Also note- I did NOT do a scouting trip, everything was done via phone, email and Skype and within a 6 month time frame-- it can be done!
Wedding Coordinator- Cherise, The Perfect Wedding: Cherise was a pro. I am still amazed at how smoothly the day went. Working with Cherise was SO easy. She is extremely organized, sweet and calm. When I first hired her, I was pretty clear that I didn't need someone to plan for me, I mainly wanted help with coordination. Cherise was incredibly professional- she never pushed me to make a decision or tried to make me do things her way. She let me come to decisions on my own, but always gave me the information I needed to do so. She has really great vendors to choose from- in a range of prices. She is well liked and respected on the island- vendors really like working with her. We hired her 12 year old daughter for an hour to do our guest book- she was amazing too! She did such a good job taking photos (we did a Fuji Instax guest book.) One piece of advice in working with ANY wedding coordinator- they get really busy around an event, especially during the summer when it is the height of wedding season. Sometimes I got a little freaked out if she didn't get back to me right away- she wasn't being flakey or anything, she just had other priorities (weddings!) that
deserved her attention. When my date got closer, we were in constant contact. So practice patience brides, especially if you are several months out. I would hire Cherise in a heartbeat- she is well worth her rate, which I thought was very, very reasonable. Finally- I will always remember Cherise right before I walked down the aisle, reminding me to go slow and take it all in because it was going to go fast.
Caterer- Food For the Soul: FFTS was one of my favorite vendors. They did all of our food service, bar service, rentals, cake etc. It was awesome to have it all done by one person! Tina was just so great to work with. She is extremely patient and detail oriented. We spent many hours on the phone discussing the catering. Tina kindly explained and reexplained the pricing of things until I got it. She also really worked with me on our budget, she found ways to cut corners, without skimping. The food was fabulous- especially the coconut shrimp and ahi tartar poke. Our guests were raving about them well after the wedding. One of my friend's husband is a chef with the 4 Seasons Big Island and she said he would have been extremely impressed with the appetizers. The buffet was also delicious, the mahi mahi with lillikoi butter sauce was a big hit with our guests. We did our cake and cupcake tower with them too. The cake was just average, but the cupcakes were excellent, moist and really tasty! We really didn't care too much about our cake, so the cupcakes were perfect. The entire staff was so wonderful to work with- they are happy, fun people who really seem to enjoy what they do. They definitely added to our event. Some of you may have read that my cousin passed away 2 weeks before the wedding- Tina gave us a refund for the change in our guest count (just him.) She didn't have to do that, we didn't ask either- they treated us like family. I can't say enough good things about them. Finally- we had 2 signature drinks (Pina Colada and Coconut Lemon Sour) and bought all of our own alcohol. Just beware that it's a big job doing all the shopping and some of the ingredients (cream of coconut for instance) are VERY expensive on island- so do your homework. Luckily were were able to return a lot of stuff we didn't use, but our guests loved our drinks so it was worth it.
Florist- Dellables: Probably my all time favorite vendor (tied with the photographers.) They are pricey- yes, but you get what you pay for. I worked with Trish and she was so thorough and detailed, she truly understood my vision. We were in constant communication, I really feel like she became a friend- I was sad I didn't get to meet her on my wedding day. Della is a true artist- you have to trust her. A couple of other wonderful things about them- they found out about my cousin passing and gave us a Kukui nut lei to put with his picture and to pass on to my aunt and uncle to keep forever. I was so touched. Della was also able to get 5 coral peonies and she surprised me with them, one in my bouquet and the others as accents. I'm not sure how she knew that I loved them, but they were amazing. I also found an idea to use shepard hooks instead of a canopy- they had never done it, but Della was super excited to give it a try and it turned out amazing! My bouquet was so stunning, as were the centerpieces. I cannot say enough good things about them.
Photographer- Maui Creative Photography: My other favorite vendor. I will write a more complete review when we get all of the photos back, but based on our experience working with them and the previews we've gotten...I am SO impressed by them. They are young and new to the island. We had initially booked another photographer, but 2 months before the wedding, we really started to feel that maybe their style wasn't what we wanted anymore. Very, very stressful. My fiance found them on Craigslist, of all places. Long story short- we let their talent speak for themselves and we took a chance on them. Boy are we glad we did. Not only did we get an incredible package (eSession, unlimited time on wedding day, photo album) for an incredible price- they were just so fun and great to work with. Matthew and Madelynne are a couple living in Maui- they are beyond wedding photographers...they have a wide range of talents. Too much to write here. We loved working with them so much that we got together for lunch with them after the wedding. Check out their website at
www.mauicreativephotography.comI see great things happening for them.
Venue- Olowalu Plantation House: Stunning, absolutely breath taking. Worth every single penny. Private, lush and gorgeous ocean front setting.
Officiant- Ernest Puua: We wanted Laki, but he was booked. Ernest was awesome! People could not stop talking about our ceremony afterwards. He really made it personal and included our guests. He kept it light and made us laugh a lot. I would highly recommend him. We decided to write our own vows in addition to the traditional ones. Ernest read them for us because we were too nervous to do it on our own. He did a great job- it was a really nice way to make the ceremony our own.
DJ/Musician- Wilmont: I have really mixed feelings about Wilmont. Overally, I loved what he did for us at the wedding. He played live music before/during the ceremony as well as during the cocktail hour. This is all included in his DJ fee and it's an incredible deal. I LOVED the live music. He has such a nice beautiful voice. He and Ernest even sang together during parts- without us even asking. Having the live music during the ceremony was such a lovely touch. He did a good job with the dancing and reading the crowd. He really did what he could to get a small group out on the dance floor (we had about half of the group that never danced!) He also did a lovely little aloha ceremony during the dinner that was really sweet and special. He is just a truly nice guy- very much the aloha spirit. The downsides to Wilmont: he was terrible with communication! He initially sent me an email introducing himself, but that was it. I sent him at least 3 or 4 more emails and they all went unanswered- my coordinator said that's just how he was. He also didn't play the one song I had chosen for the processional, what he did play sounded beautiful, so that's okay...but still, I had chosen the song for a reason! He was a little slow as an emcee. In the end, I was happy with him and would still use him again- mainly because you get the live music included and it's such a nice touch.
Hair and Makeup- Karine Cummings: Karine and her assistant, Cherie, did hair and make up for 6 of us. They were really fun to work with. I was really happy with how all of our hair turned out. I wasn't quite as happy with the makeup, I got airbrush and it was great. Cherie ended up doing my makeup instead of Karine, because she did such a perfect job with my sister- maybe I should have had Karine do it. When she finished, I just was not happy and I didn't really know how to tell her to fix it. She was really patient and worked with me, but it was the only time of the day I started to lose it. I will say that they both worked really fast, so I wasn't really able to articulate what I wanted as well as I should have. There's so much going on too, it's hard to keep it all straight. I ended up touching up my makeup when I got dressed at Olowalu and then I was happy with it. My eye shadow really started to crease even before the ceremony- I asked her to use primer on my eyes, she said she did but it didn't work for me. I would definitely use them again though--- just be clear in what you want, it's not their fault I couldn't articulate what I wanted (I even forgot to show them all the pins I had on my iPad, even though it was in hand!) My advice would be to get a trial if you can! I just didn't have the time.
Accommodations- Kahana Sunset: Our entire family stayed at this resort. It was perfect for a group. A nice small, private beach and a pool. Small enough to find everyone easily. Prices were very good. We used a travel agent to book. The staff there was so nice and friendly, they all knew we were getting married and made us feel special. We also used part of the property for our rehearsal dinner. It's a large patio overlooking the ocean that you can rent for $200. It was an AWESOME place to have our welcome dinner at. Seats 32, but can hold more than that. We had it catered, but you could also BBQ there. Very afforable way to do a welcome dinner.
Leis- MaryAnn Batemann at Ha'awina Farms: I found Mary Ann here and she was amazing. The leis were beautiful and so cheap! She also included my ring bearer and flower girl leis for free as well as a box of flowers for us to release into the ocean in honor of my cousin. Mary Ann is so sweet and helpful, my only regret was that I didn't get to meet her in person. I would highly recommend her in a heartbeat. She is just the nicest lady.
Dress Pressing- Elly's Formal Wear in Kihei: Cherise recommended them and they were FABULOUS! So thorough and professional. My dress was perfect, as were all the other garments we brought it. We brought everything in straight from the airport and picked them up after the rehearsal. Worth the drive to Kihei from Kahana. You need to make an appointment for drop off though.
I think that's all. Getting married on Maui was the best decision we could have ever made! I'm attaching a few pics.
The first is a pro shot from our photogaphers.
Centerpieces and table settings
Ceremony
Cupcake tower
