I wanted to write vendor reviews since reading them on this
site really helped me choose all of our vendors. I hope this helps someone in the future. All of our vendors were great and I would
definitely recommend all of them for anyone planning a wedding. We also did our wedding on budget and felt
like we had everything we wanted and still were able to save money. Our photographer was from Oregon, so if you
need a photographer in Oregon, I would definitely recommend Ray Hall; Ray Hall
Photography. I haven’t seen the pictures
yet, but he did a great job making us feel at ease and taking a lot of
pictures. He told me he took 1300
pictures at our wedding! I can’t wait to
see them! We also placed an order with
Leoda’s Kitchen and Pie Shop for lunch the day of the wedding. We placed it the day before and they had it
all ready for us to pick up the day of the wedding. The food was great and perfect to keep us all
fed before the ceremony.
Location: Olowalu Plantation House
This location is absolutely stunning. The house is available for the wedding party
to get ready in. We all got ready on the
lanai facing the ocean and it was so peaceful and relaxing. This location is
not visible from the road so it feels very private. When all the lights, chairs, archway, etc
were all set up, it truly transformed into a magical place where we were
getting married. Guests all commented on
how it was the most beautiful wedding they had been to. The sunset made it even that much
better. I am so happy we chose this
location. We did book over a year in
advance as I think it fills up fast.
Wedding
Planner: Tina Digman; Food For The Soul
I had read many reviews on Tina’s services through the
knot and decided to contact her to see if she could help plan our wedding. From the moment I talked to her on the phone,
she was very kind and I felt very comfortable with her. Throughout the planning process Tina was very
attentive and would respond to any emails promptly. The day of the wedding everything was
seamless and Tina was there with her assistant Suzanne making the whole day
flow perfectly. I am glad I hired a
wedding planner as we are from Oregon. I
am a planner myself, but the details of the wedding day and vendor coordination
were great to not have to stress about. Tina
also coordinated the cake so I did not have to worry about contacting someone
for this which helped out great. The
cake turned out amazing too. I think it
was from Cake Fanatics.
Caterer: Food For the Soul
Amazing food. All
of our guests talked about how great the food was. Some of my friends said it was the best curry
they had ever had. We had some light
appetizers and my favorite was the baked brie.
For dinner we had prime rib, herb roasted chicken, and vegetable curry
as our main dishes. Everyone commented
on how great all three were. My husband
loved the wasabi mashed potatoes. As for
drinks, Tina gave us a list to buy at Costco.
We saved a lot of money by being able to bring in our own alcohol. This worked out great.
Hair and Makeup: Cherie; Bridal Hair on Maui
Cherie was such a pleasure to work with. I had a trial done with Cherie a few days
before my wedding. She made me feel so
comfortable and at ease when I met her.
Cherie listened to what I wanted and I felt beautiful. Cherie arrived at Olowalu before 10am and was
ready to start on my mom’s hair and makeup.
My mom never wears makeup and Cherie did a great job of making her look
natural and beautiful. Cherie also did
my MOH hair and makeup and it looked perfect too. I was so happy that I hired Cherie. She was so easy to work with and we all felt
beautiful for the day!
Flowers: Valerie Spalding; Maui Wedding Flowers
Val was easy to work with and the flowers were
beautiful. She also worked with my
budget and made some beautiful arrangements for a great price. I made last minute changes to the bridesmaid bouquets
and Val handled it with ease. We had
flowers for our hair and orchids for all the napkins which just made a nice
touch to the tables. We also did a lei
exchange and she had beautiful leis for us that we have kept and took home with
us to have forever (dried now).
Officiant: Pia Aluli
Pia was a pleasure to work with. He met us a few days before our wedding and
we were able to get to know him and have him get to know us. We went over the ceremony and he went over
what he would say and other details we needed to know. Pia arrived to the venue on time and performed
a memorable and special ceremony. He did
a Hawaiian chant for us to open up our ceremony as well as blowing the conch
shell before I walked to my future husband.
Our guests commented to us saying that he did a great job and was a
great choice.
DJ: DJ Dan Viola
Dan was such a great DJ.
He provided us music for our ceremony as well as the reception. Dan was very prompt to respond to emails and
any questions I had along the way. The
music for the ceremony was perfect. We
gave him the music choices, but he made it flow perfectly. For the reception we gave him a list of songs
that were must plays and he played those along with playing great music to keep
us all dancing. Dan did a great job
being MC throughout the night too. Great
choice going with DJ Dan.