Sheraton Kauai Resort – F
Ceremony Site
I would HIGHLY SUGGEST that other brides NOT use the Sheraton’s event department for their wedding! Their communication was horrible, they broke promises in their contract, they were misleading with their description of the ceremony site, and their team added a great amount of stress and unnecessary extra work to my wedding planning. At one point, I had to send four emails and leave two voicemails for a month before I received a response to a simple question that my other vendors needed. Working with the Sheraton’s event department was a nightmare, and I would not suggest it to anyone. Another vendor that I worked with let me know that I am not alone. I was told that another bride had similar issues. The only thing I did love about the Sheraton is the beautiful view that we had during our wedding. The site is pretty and photographed very well. In the end, I sent a polite letter to the GM with details that I was unhappy about. He never apologized for any of the errors that occurred, which I found unprofessional. I would be happy to give specific details to anyone who would like more information. Ultimately, I would still pay more to send my business elsewhere unless major changes occur at the Sheraton.
Plantation Gardens – A+
Reception Site
I cannot say enough positive things about Plantation Gardens. Mona and the team at PG worked extremely hard to make my wedding reception a perfect evening, not only for me, but for all of my guests. After the wedding, many guests came up to me and raved not only about their food and cocktails, but especially how helpful the service staff at PG was. The food at PG was WONDERFUL! Guests kept talking about how amazing every dish was. I would also like to comment on how amazing Mona, the wedding coordinator, was. She spent lots of extra time shopping for unique items for my candy bar. Mona shopped online and all around the island until she found the items that we needed. This took a huge amount of stress off of my to-do list. She always communicated quickly with me, and she was very positive. I enjoyed working with Mona. I could go on for much longer about how beautiful the grounds were, how much I appreciated the upgraded design inside, and how I’m dying to go back. I would ABSOLUTELY suggest that other brides do their wedding with Plantation Gardens.
Martin Roberts Design – A+
Florist/Rentals/Design
I HIGHLY recommend the design team at Martin Roberts. I mainly worked with Raimey Burgess, who was a pleasure to work with. Raimey always listened to my ideas, offered suggestions, and worked with me on ways that I could cut my budget. The flowers were STUNNING, and many guests said that they loved the centerpieces. Although Martin Roberts does cost more than some other florists on island, working with them was WELL WORTH the cost. They did all of the setup for my entire reception, all of the furniture for the ceremony, and delivered bouquets and boutonnieres to two different sites. Throughout the planning, Raimey felt more like a friend offering assistance than a vendor. I would absolutely use Martin Roberts Design again, and I would suggest that others do as well.
Kaye Vea with Maile Weddings – B+
Wedding Coordinator
I really enjoyed working with Kaye through my wedding planning process. She referred me to multiple trustworthy vendors, followed through on everything I needed from her, and had great communication. She even let me ship over supplies to her early, which was a huge help for us. Kaye did not offer many design suggestions, but this wasn’t a problem for us as we were working with Martin Roberts on our design. I would have liked Kaye to stay for the whole event, but she left after dinner. We had an issue with my end-of-night transportation not arriving on time, and without my coordinator there, I had to deal with the stress myself. Because of this, I missed the last dance with my wedding guests. Other than that, I enjoyed working with Kaye, and her prices were very reasonable.
Kelvin Ho – A
Wedding Officiant
Kelvin had great communication, a wonderfully calming voice, and presented a beautiful ceremony for our wedding. We had MANY guests come up to us after the ceremony and say that it was one of the nicest ceremonies they had ever seen. It was nice that our guests enjoyed it as much as we did. In the end, I really appreciated his help planning our ceremony, and I was happy at how smoothly everything went. I would suggest using Kelvin Ho as an officiant!
Mia Moriguchi & Assistants – A+
Hair/Makeup
I was THRILLED at the job that Mia and her assistants did on the hair & makeup of the bridal party. Everyone looked amazing in photos, and they really listened well to what we wanted. Mia and her team came to our hotel room prepared with printed out photos, which saved us time. Her prices were much lower than the prices at L.A.B. salon, and I was very happy with the end result. I would recommend using Mia Moriguchi for hair/makeup.
Ali’I Strings Kauai – B-
Although I didn’t personally hear them perform pre-ceremony or at cocktail hour, our guests said their music seemed to be nice. I appreciated that Ali’I Strings learned a new song for my walk down the aisle, and their communication was wonderful. My main disappointment was about the wedding rehearsal. Prior to signing the contract, they said that they would attend the wedding rehearsal so that we could work on the timing of the music for walking down the aisle. A couple of days prior to the rehearsal, they said that they could not attend. Then the day of the wedding, when I was already busy, I got a call from my coordinator that they needed to know what music to play for the bridesmaids walk. I wish they had attended the rehearsal so we could have discussed this prior to the wedding day. In the end, they did play the song that I wanted them to play, but only the first part, as I would have liked them to start it earlier. They did a nice job; I just wish they had planned the music timing with me earlier, as they initially had said they would do.
E.T. Sounds/Lighting – B-
Sound/Lighting Rental/MC for the reception
E.T. Sounds did a wonderful job of setting up all of the required lighting and sound for our reception. Everything worked correctly, and there didn’t appear to be any issues. The technician had also arranged with us earlier to serve as an MC during the reception. We provided an ipod with dance songs already set, we just needed someone to introduce us, and cue up the special songs (first dance, father-daughter dance, etc.) E.T. sounds did a great job of starting all of those songs. During the reception dancing, he began to control the order of the dance songs on his own, which was disruptive to dancing. A few songs were switched in the middle of the song, so guests would be dancing and then the song would end. Also, he played the same artist back to back a couple of times. If the ipod had just been left alone, this wouldn’t have happened. My brother-in-law, who is also a DJ, went over and requested a list of about 7 songs to be played without interruption. Once this happened, the dance party went into full swing. The technician from E.T. sounds was a great MC, but I wish he hadn’t switched the music so much in the beginning, as it was somewhat disruptive. Ultimately, we hired E.T. service for rentals. They did a GREAT job with that. I think the issues I had were due to my unique situation.
Aloha Shuttle with Doug – B
Transportation from Reception to our resort
The shuttle was late picking us up. Since the music had already ended due to strict sound rules, there was a 5- to 10-minute window where we had to kill time. If the shuttle had been on time, our departure would have gone more smoothly. After the shuttle arrived, Doug apologized and said that the gas gauge had been broken on the shuttle, and he had run out of gas. We completely understood and enjoyed our ride home! The Aloha shuttle is adorable. It’s an old People Mover from Disneyland that has been transformed into a Hawaiian shuttle. We LOVED getting pictures in the shuttle leaving the reception. It was a nice end to our evening.