Hawaii — The Knot Community

Hair & Makeup Recs - Kauai

ktabin — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 00:03:04 +0000

Hi ladies!

I'm looking for recommendations/reviews for hair and makeup on Kauai. It would be so convenient if we could work with the spa at our hotel (Anara), but I haven't been able to find any reviews specifically on hair/makeup so if anyone has experience with them I would love to hear about it.

Any other recommendations?

Thank you!

Just Maui'd Parasol pro pic teaser

breaness — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 10:15:19 +0000

I just wanted to throw this up there so new brides can see what this parasol looks like and see if they'd like to request it:

Church Attire for the Groom

share122 — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 19:14:06 +0000

My fiance and I are going at it regarding whether or not he and his groomsmen should wear a suit for our destination wedding next year. I say yes! But he has a point that Hawaii can get really hot & humid. Not something we're used to here in So. San Francisco.

Any suggestions? He wants to wear a white linen shirt with khaki pants. Is that even appropriate?

Coverage Liability Insurance for Weddings

[Deleted User] — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 19:58:00 +0000

Hi all,

Hopefully you might be able to shed some light on this for me. I'm planning to have a beach wedding and when I was looking at how to apply for a permit with the State of Hawaii, they asked that there be coverage for ilabilty listed out to the state of hawaii. I contacted my insurance company and he said that if you have home and personal insurance then you are covered but they cant put the State of Hawaii on the policy.

Does anyone know where I can get this insurance and whether or not what my insurance guy is telling me is correct.

Thanks!

Reception questions

roxybsktbll — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 20:29:29 +0000

Hey Ladies,

I have a couple more questions:

How far in advance did you send your invitations for your reception back home if you are having it right after your return?

Also, does anyone have any good ideas on wording? We are wanting it to be very laid back and are just doing hamburgers and hotdogs.. more like a party than a reception.

Thanks for all of the input.

Non-Wedding news!!

WinstonsGirl — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 22:34:08 +0000

So, we finally had our electrical meter installed today on the house. It's been finished since mid-August, but we have been waiting for gas and electric hook-up and meters, and the last one went on today, whih offically gives us our 2 weeks notice!! No more living in my parent's basement!! Yay!!

Tanq

breaness — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 11:28:49 +0000

Where have you been? We miss you! :)

Gannon's

hgundy — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 02:06:14 +0000

Has anyone married on Molokini Lookout at Gannon's that has any advice or pros/cons??? I am second guessing the wedding knoll area at Gannon's as I didn't realize the road was right there!!! I would like a bit more privacy than a road leading to the restaurant with cars driving right by! Anyone? Thanks so much!

Teaser pic!!

breaness — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 16:49:33 +0000

From our awesome photographer, Jennifer Smutek.

Parasol Picture from Lanikuhonua

prlady — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 21:49:29 +0000

Here is the parasol picture I took at Lanikuhonua 9 days ago!

SUCH an amazing experience ladies :)

Mahalo-

Margo aka Mrs Ivester :)

spiroffnatasha

prlady — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 21:48:04 +0000

Hi-

I am desperately trying to get in touch with you regarding the parasol. PLEASE email me your information to ship it to you immediately!

Hope your wedding planning is going well...

Margo aka Mrs Ivester :)

Hi....and Oaho planned elopment help

rosetobe — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 15:55:48 +0000

Hello! I am not new to the knot but new to this board. My fiance and I were planning a big wedding, but called it off and have decided to do a planned elopment instead. We are getting married on Oahu where we fell in love.

It will just be the two of us and my two boys. We are staying at the Moana Surfrider and now need to plan the ceremony. We don't have a lot of time.

I have been looking through some of your bios and they are very helpful, but I haven't seen a lot of ceremony only weddings. I am looking for something beautiful, classy but affordable. I would love to get married in front of the Surfrider, but it is out of our price range.

Can anyone recommend a ceremony package - officiant, flowers, music and photography that they used and loved?

I would also love recommendations for beach locations that are beautiful and not crowded.

TIA!

Olowalu Plantation House Budget

[Deleted User] — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 18:54:04 +0000

Hi everyone!

I know that this question has probably been brought up time and time again, but I wanted to get some budget estimates for those having a wedding ceremony and reception at Olowalu in the upcoming year. I plan on having a max of 50 guests, and would like to keep it under $20,000...is this reasonable for a nice, not-bare bones, wedding? I only ask because my fiance is leaning more towards having it at a hotel (specifically the Ritz, which will be over my desired budget), so I'm trying to crunch some numbers to show him that we can get more bang for our buck at Olowalu. Any feedback, advice, etc, would be appreciated! THANKS!!

m233

jessj336 — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 15:23:26 +0000

You have a PM

Who's the steamer on Maui?

kimmykupcakes — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 21:52:57 +0000

Having Brea posting on FB about the wedding it remind me I need to ask, who's the person who does the wedding dress steaming on Maui that everyone likes?

I'm back...sorry for being sooo MIA :-(

maui2011 — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 06:34:41 +0000

What an awesome and amazing day!!! Olowalu is hands down the BEST venue! My only issue...they really need AC at least in the bridal suites. All my vendors were absolutely awesome...would not change a thing. Dan and Jess were probably my faves ...they both do such amazing work...i'll post reviews shortly. Before leaving the bridal suite i looked at myself in the mirror and started to tear up...i could no believe that was me in the reflection...my dad could not believe how great my make-up was. I just hope that it shows in our pro photos as i had no time to freshen up or reapply my lipstick. I have photos from just one guest right now so i can only share a couple with you at the moment...i should get more this week...there is a problem with the url i created to post our group photos. Also we are in the planning stages of making our return to Maui for our first year anniversary. My hubby and I had the best day of our lives and danced our butts off. I did not realize how true it is when past brides would say the day goes by really really fast...that is beyond true. I will also give you ladies my what i wish i would have done or not done differently as well.

The bridal party table

Not the best photo but now everyone knows what we finally look like..lol

*I removed the next to get lei'd banner from my siggy but it still shows for me so if anyone sees it as well please disregard.*

OMG...what a fantastic surprise!!!

maui2011 — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 07:52:17 +0000

I really should be in bed...need to get ready for work in less than 3 hours...but i just found this gallery that our photo booth vendor took...she is also a pro photog so i guess in her down time she took some pics...this is really great as i can finally see some of the detail shots.

http://smu.gs/ndx4fN

">http://smu.gs/ndx4fN

password: aloha

J. :-)

Fireworks or not on Maui???

kimmykupcakes — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 20:17:54 +0000

I'm confused, are fireworks allowed on Maui or not? Really I just want sparklers. Anyone know for sure?

:::maui2011:::

kimmykupcakes — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 20:21:08 +0000

You have a PM. :)

Best time to get married on Waikiki Beach?

jtoly — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 00:56:41 +0000

My wedding is in May and I have it set for 12:00 pm on Waikiki Beach. I am now thinking that might be a bad time of the day because the beach might be too crowded. I set that time so me and FI could get breakfast in the morning then I could get my hair done and get ready without rushing. Does anyone have any expierence with weddings on this beach? Its going to be on the beach in front of the Hale Koa because we are staying there. Thanks!!!

**japonesa1*

AKWinterBride — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 21:40:29 +0000

You have a PM!

Vendor Reviews from Maui Planning Trip

jessj336 — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 00:24:05 +0000

We had a great week in Maui meeting vendors and doing tastings for our wedding. It is always so hard to leave the island but we felt better knowing we will be back there in less than 6 months!

Aloha Events Catering - this was our first meeting on the island on saturday evening. We went directly from the Airport to the tasting. Michelle was out of town but was extremely helpful via email to coordinate the tasting with Chef Lee. Oh my! The tasting was incredible. Chef Lee had prepared the following menu below for us and everything was delicious...beyond expectations! Being foodies, we absolutely fell in love with Lee, her food and her adorable personality. She answered all of our questions regarding the menu, their service staff and we had an amazing conversation with her as well.

Chef Lee uses lots of local ingredients such Kula Strawberries, Maui onions, and goat cheese from the Surfing Goat Dairy. She uses organic grass fed beef and makes everything from scratch.

The appetizers/pupus were delicious. The goat cheese in the zucchini rolls was slightly spicy which added great flavor to the veggies. The onion & goat cheese tartlets were amazing especially if you love the goat cheese/carmelized onion combo :-) and the Chicken Satay was delicious as well.

I am a total veggie girl so the salads were one of my favorite parts of the meal. Lee's homemade vinaigrettes were very flavorful and the 2nd salad with the watercress, papaya, mango & jicama with the cilantro was out of this world...so flavorful!! It was so tasty we forgot to take pictures!!

We tried 2 preparations of fish since all of our guests are either fish or beef eaters plus we couldn't decide which sounded better. I loved both of them. The Ti leaf preparation comes all wrapped up like a pretty little present and then they cut the leaf to reveal this beautiful piece of fish. The fish we had was Monchong which is a dense flavorful white fish that doesn't dry out like Ono does so the fish was juicy and delicious. The flavors of ginger and the vegetables with it were so yummy. The 2nd piece of fish was the Mac Nut crusted which I think was the best Mac Nut crusted filet I have ever eaten. Chef Lee prepares the crust by using only Mac Nuts instead of the usual panko and mac nuts. This allowed the fish to still shine through as the star of the dish and wasn't as heavy as most preparations of this fish might be. The balsamic citrus glaze she serves it with was so delicious and complemented the rest of the dish perfectly.

The Filet Mignon was cooked perfectly and the Onion Red Wine reduction was delicious...so delicious that I ate it on its own (i am not a red meat eater) FI loved it and even asked for a doggy bag of it to take home....lol

Both of the desserts were incredible. The Pannacotta had amazing flavors and it was prepared to perfection and the lava lava cake was gooey and chocolatey and delicious. I wasn't thinking of having a dessert course in addition to Wedding cake but thanks to Chef Lee I am highly considering it now!!!

Tasting Menu

Appetizers

Zucchini Rolls - Hawaiian herbed goat cheese, roasted red pepper
Sweet & Sour caramelized Maui onion and goat cheese tartlet
Chicken Satay ~ peanut sauce

Salads

Butter lettuce & greens with citrus vinaigrette, toasted almonds and shaved parmesan-reggiano
Mixed Kula greens, Watercress, papaya, mango, jicama with cilantro vinaigrette

Entrees
Filet Mignon Maui onion-red wine reduction
Macadamia nut crusted fresh catch with balsamic citrus glaze
Ti leaf wrapped & steamed fresh catch with ginger, scallions, and fresh vegetables

Desserts
Lava Lava cake, Tahitian vanilla creme anglaise
Green Tea Pannacotta, white chocolate sauce and Kula strawberries

On Sunday afternoon we met with Marie Ghiselani of Ghiselani Designer Cakes for our cake tasting experience. What an experience it was!!! Marie greeted us at her door with Champagne and then she had 12 different types of cake and 64 different flavors of frosting for us to choose from and taste. We tasted each flavor of cake & frosting separately and then in combination to help us decide on our flavors. Throughout the process she answered all of our questions and fed us cheese & crackers, wine and other yummy snacks. Once we decided on our flavors she got the cake pans out so we could see what the actual size of our cake would be.

We choose pineapple cake with champagne buttercream frosting with a layer of pineapple and 2 layers of fresh strawberries for our top tier and a white cake with champagne buttercream frosting and fresh raspberry puree for our bottom tier.

On Tuesday, we met with Lori Lawrence, our WC, and her husband Jaime Lawrence for our tasting with Stella Blues in Kihei. Lori & Jaime are both incredible people. They greeted us with a hug and answered any wedding related questions during our tasting or any Maui related questions for that matter. Lori was wonderful and checked in with me throughout the entire time we were there to answer questions and see how the vendor meetings were going. She said "Contact me if you need anything wedding related or not wedding related...that is what we are here for !!"

The Stella Blues tasting went well. Their food was good but not as good as Aloha Events and I must say I wasn't terribly impressed with the service staff we met.
We tried a goat cheese stuffed Hibiscus blossom, tomato-fennel soup shooter, cilantro scallop lettuce cup and a chicken wonton cup for Pupus and all was delicious but not terribly impressive. Our entrees were the Mac Nut Crusted Mahi mahi which was okay but you could barely taste the Mac Nuts in the crust and then Filet Mignon with a red wine reduction which FI said was really tough.
The salad had too much dressing and wasn't really memorable.

After our tasting with Stella Blues we went to Tommy Bahama's to hear Jaime Lawrence play. Jaime is amazing!! He is even better in person than on his CDs and we are so excited that he will be singing at our Wedding.

On Wednesday, we spent the morning meeting Della of Dellables. Della is even better in person than I expected. She was full of enthusiasm to meet us and had so many great ideas for our wedding flowers. We can't wait to see what she designs for the wedding! After meeting with Della, we went to tour O'o Farm and have lunch. I highly recommend this to anyone. The farm is on the slopes of Haleakala and you get tour the farm, pick fresh organic veggies and then have an amazingly delicious lunch with an incredible view of the island.

Wednesday night we had our engagement shoot with Anna Kim (pictures coming soon!) I had my hair/makeup done by Andrea Duarte of A pampered maui bride for the shoot and she was super nice and did a great job. Anna Kim is incredible! She is super funny and we got along very well with her and had a fabulous time with her.

Thursday we went to the Kapalua Resort Spa for a seaside couples massage which was amazing.

We also did a tasting with Maui wedding cakes but we just picked up the cake from them. The cake was very moist and yummy.

All of the vendors were amazing! Everyone greeted us with hugs and enthusiasm! We are so glad we made the trip to Maui and are so excited to work with the vendors we choose: Aloha Events, Ghiselani Designer Cakes, Dellables, Anna Kim.

Need Oahu wedding venue and coordinator recommendations

lilyndavid — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 03:33:20 +0000

We are looking for a nice beach house or hotel/resort to host our wedding ceremony and reception at next fall. North Shore is a bit too far and Wikiki is too crowded. Checked out Ko'olina (love the area) but don't have many options there. Running out of places to look and our next Hawaii trip is in 1 week. Any venue recommendation would be greatly appreciated.

Also, looking for a good wedding coordinator in Oahu as well. Please help if you have any good info to share.

Thanks!

lily

Haiku Mill

hgundy — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 03:50:08 +0000

Anyone have any reviews on the Haiku Mill? Looks amazing but a little out in the middle of nowhere it seems. Also have seen some reviews that it is a beautiful place but that the owners are not as professional and business minded. Any advice would be great! Thanks!

Already got the wedding blues

misslisaleo — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 03:08:29 +0000

I've been engaged for a whopping 3 weeks and I've already got the blues. I sat down this weekend to start some basic planning only to realize that my life is full of aquaintences but no real true best friends. :( Who am I gonna ask to stand by my side on my special day? My 2 sisters have been my bestest friends for so long and now that we've grown apart, my life is devoid of supportive, true friends. I'm sorry for the "downer" of post. I just needed to get it off my chest as it's been weighing heavily on my mind the past few days.

Hoping my ticker and badges finally show up.....

Lisa

Maui Wedding Review

syllysmylz — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 21:26:58 +0000

Dear Knotties,

We just had our destination wedding on October 11, 2011 in Maui and all the knotties have been so helpful on this board that I want to share some of our insights and vendors so hopefully it will be helpful for you!

Wedding Planner: Cheryl Shoemaker

She currently lives in Kona, but she was amazing to work with. We live in Canada so we mainly corresponded through email but she was always responsive usually right away and very easy going. She let you plan as much or as little of individual things as you like and is very meticulous. Our wedding would not have been so spectacular without her. We met her when we arrived in Maui a few days for our wedding and she was always calm, collected, and professional yet super friendly and helpful. Love her!

Venue: Olowalu Plantation House

It's true - the venue speaks for itself. It is just completely gorgeous. That's all I can say.

Photographer: Jana Morgan (2nd shooter Matthew Alvarado)

Loved working with them... we will see what the photos look like! Jana shot in film and digital. She's super talented so we are quite confident! Too bad Jana moved to California...I'm so happy I booked her while she still lived in Maui!

Videographer: Erik Anderson (2nd videog Cedric Yu) from Love Story Media (Vancouver, BC, Canada)

It was difficult to find videographers in Hawaii because most of them hang out on Oahu... but Erik shot my friends from Vancouver at their weddings and I absolutely loved their work. They were also super fun to work with and we'll see if they can make us look good! ;)

Catering: Aloha Events

They are absolutely amazing, professional, and the service is spectacular. The food was delicious. Michelle is also super responsive and helpful to cater to your needs and wishes. Need I say more? We were also allowed to purchase our own alcohol and drinks and they provided bartenders to serve it who were also amazing!

Rentals: Island Rents

Kara is probably wedding planner #2 when it came to making sure we had everything we needed at OPH for the wedding. She was amazing. Everythig was perfect. We did end up getting a tent from Maui Rents because I was paranoid about rain. Of course it didn't rain.

Flowers: Della from Dellables

BEAUTIFUL

Hair: Dan Sanchez

He's such a sweet guy...I told him I would re-name him Dan the hair machine. Him and his assistent were amazing. My mothers were happy. My girls were happy. I was thrilled with my updo. Stylish, chic, and trendy and super fun!

Make up: Jessica Waite

You have to pick her - she's amazing. I think I learned more about Maui then I ever could have in the few hours she spent with us. She's just an artistic woman with amazing talent and enjoys what she does. She's so great, I wish we were friends!

DJ: Jay Langworthy (DJ Boomshot)

Our wedding planner suggested him to us, and he did not disappoint. We got so many raving good comments about how good our DJ was...we had so much fun and the dancing was amazing at our wedding. Let's just say...when you can get ALL 70 people on the dancefloor jumping the night away...you gotta be good.

I hope I didn't forget a vendor...but the wedding was just perfect.

Vendors are one half, but our guests..friends and family definitely made our wedding the best it could ever be. That part is hard to guarantee ;) Good luck with all you future brides who are planning away. It's an amazing process, super fun, and I miss it already. Happy to answer any specific questions if you ever have any! Sometimes I get busy and don't check in all the time, but send me a message or drop me a line anytime!

Thank you knotties who helped with great advice along the way!

Maui DJ Review - DJ Del Sol and DJ Decka

himaui — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 20:03:30 +0000

To preface this review, I got married earlier this month at Olowalu, and everything went awesomely! I was mostly a lurker on this forum before the wedding, and I found everyone's vendor reviews to be super helpful. I want to help other people out by posting my reviews. I'm using the format of reviews on weddingwire.com (and copying my review from there). More vendors to come soon!

Quality - 5/5 stars

Responsiveness - 4/5 stars

Professionalism - 5/5 stars

Value - 5/5 stars

Flexibility - 5/5 stars

We had Del Sol's partner Evan (DJ Decka) DJ our wedding a few weeks ago at Olowalu Plantation House.

Evan was amazing. He came early to set up and I believe he even started playing a bit earlier than agreed upon when the musician took off early. He played a good mix before and during dinner, and kept the dance floor full the entire night, with both young and older guests. I believe he played most of the songs on our request list, and he was very open to taking requests that day.

Evan contacted us a few days before the wedding to see if we could meet in person. This meeting was really helpful, as we got to know his style, and he got to know us better as well. We gave him our list of requested songs, and he had some suggestions for our first dance song, one of which we ended up choosing. We also told him about the demographics of our guests, and he played a perfect mix for everyone.

The only minor complaint I have about Del Sol is that he double booked us. We had told him our date and were in the stage of sending the contract back when we found out had already booked someone else on our date. It turned out OK, though, because we got Evan, who rocked.

To his credit, I had contacted Del Sol many months ago to inquire about his services, and he did follow up very closely with me for a long while, asking if I had any further questions, even as I continued to say "no, we're still thinking about it." In addition, he made sure we weren't left high and dry by setting us up with Evan.

Regarding price, we paid $750 for 4 hours.

So, overall, Evan was fabulous, and I had just one minor issue with Del Sol. I would definitely book Evan again.

LATE! Sorry! I'm Back!

[Deleted User] — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 18:02:44 +0000

Hi Everyone!

I'm so sorry! I've been distracted and haven't sent anything about the wedding. We're married now! It was such an amazing two weeks and a beautiful day! I hope I remember these moments forever! I loved every minute. I few mishaps that are now funny. But in the end everything turned out just wonderful!

Here are some things I wish I had done.

Look up! So many times friends caught a beautiful picture and I'm looking down trying not to trip or for whatever reason.

Also, keep your powder and lipstick by your side! I didn't and looking back at some of the later photos you can tell. Ick!

Here are some photos!

Christie Pham's preview shots:

From Friends and Family

Just Maui'd!!

breaness — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 09:00:28 +0000

Everything went beautifully and I have nothing but wonderful things to say about all of our vendors! I'll be back when we get home with full reviews :) There are a few pictures up on Facebook so if you want to find me on there just pm me your email :)

Honolulu Florists

share122 — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 18:18:37 +0000

I need help finding an affordable florist. Su-V isnt available on my wedding date. Any recommendations?