It's a slow day at the office, so I've finally got some time to get these reviews typed out! I've just included wedding-related stuff here, but could go on for days about our resort, restaurants, excursions, etc.
Precious Maui Weddings - Deanne was great to work with leading up to everything. She was quick with email replies and very sweet to talk to on the phone. I planned everything in a very short timeframe, but she didn't seem to mind the last-minute scrambling when I changed my mind on some things (including the location a week prior to the wedding!). Looking back, I could've done it without a coordinator and I think I probably overpaid for the services I did use her for, but everything was really perfect so I'm not stressing over it. The day of the wedding, she had a larger wedding she was doing right after mine and it was pretty clear when I met her that she was in a hurry to get to that one. No big deal since we were having a tiny ceremony, but I may have felt a little slighted otherwise.
Silver Stitch - At Brea's recommendatin, I had Vanessa steam my dress and a couple of shirts. She did a fabulous job and the cost was reasonable. We had a little trouble finding the place, but that was my own fault for thinking my GPS would suffice. I should've called her first.
Lori Davis (Wedding Hair Maui Style) - I hired Lori to do my hair and makeup after the person I originally hired backed out a couple of weeks prior. Lori was fun and sweet and did a fantastic job with very little direction from me. I had no idea what I wanted, but was really happy with the result.
Anna Kim Photography - We loved working with Anna. I was nervous, but she and her second-shooter made it all so fun. She wasn't one of the photographers that the coordinator had recommended, but I had done my own research and fell in love with her work. I'm so glad I did. She sent me about a dozen teaser pics just a few hours after the wedding, and even emailed me two high-res pics so we could print them the next day and mail them back to family and friends. The rest of our pics were posted yesterday, exactly two weeks after our wedding. I'm thrilled with the turnaround time, the professionalism, and the quality of our photos. Love love love. You can see them
HERE (password: Maicher).
Live Maui Webcasts - Because we didn't invite any family to join us (seriously, no regrets), we streamed the ceremony live. Stephan was the one who suggested we move the ceremony from Makena Cove to Po'olenalena because the reception was better and we'd have more space. I'm so glad he did - it was perfect. We had about 100 people watch it live, and it went off without a hitch. The video was posted online a few hours later, so we were able to watch it in our hotel room that night. The package we chose included a professionally-edited DVD, and that arrived in the mail yesterday (two weeks after the ceremony). A DVD wasn't all that important to me, but I am SO impressed with how it turned out. It's really professionally done and I'm so glad we have it. This was absolutely worth doing.
Adam Gomes and Paul Petersen - The coordinator set up the minister and musician for us, and we were really happy with both. Adam had no problem sharing the ceremony script with me ahead of time, and Paul had an impressive list of songs we could choose from. They were both really friendly and put us at ease as soon as we met them.
Maui Sunset Catering - Since it was just the two of us, we didn't have a reception, but I wanted something more private than a table in a restaurant on a Monday night. So I hired Ken Claphan at Maui Sunset Catering, and we had dinner at Wailea Knoll, overlooking the ocean. It was perfect. Ken worked with me on the menu and price, and everything was so, so good. We were able to customize everything so we had exactly what we wanted for dinner. He had everything set up when we got there. He was very friendly and happy to share some local insights with us, but still gave us space to enjoy our wedding dinner. The last two pictures in our professional set show the setting.
I'm probably forgetting something, but that's what's coming to mind right now. I hope it helps somebody! Neither of us had ever been to Maui, but we loved every single second of being there and the wedding was more perfect than I'd pictured in my head. We'd do it again in a heartbeat!