Hi ladies! Sorry it has taken me so long to post my vendor reviews. We sold our house while we were in Maui so once we got home we only had one week to pack everything up and move! Anyway, our wedding was great - everything we wanted it to be. You can see pictures on my photographers blog here:
www.erinwallis.com/blog we are a few posts down or you can just click weddings on the side of the page. Please feel free to contact me with any questions at all.
Location -
Luana Kai Resort, Kihei: A
This is where we stayed the whole three weeks we were in Maui and we love it here. It is right on the ocean, quiet and the pool area is great. It also has a huge grass lawn area with tennis courts and a beach in front. We decided to have our ceremony and reception here to make it easy for all of our guests and stick with our relaxed, laid back wedding theme. Everything worked out great except for a problem with the placement of our tent. Someone called to complain because it got set up on "county" property instead of the Luana Kai property so in the end we weren't able to use it. Not a big deal though because the weather was perfect and once the sun went down the temperature was great. I would recommend the Luana Kai to everyone and we will be staying there again in the future.
Wedding planner -
Lori Lawrence, Tropical Maui Weddings: B
I booked Lori based on the reviews from this site. I will say first that I really like her and she knows what she is doing. However I found her to be extremely slow when getting back to me. Sometimes I would wait 2-3 weeks to get an email back from her. I know she is super busy but an email only takes a few minutes to write. At times I felt that she was concentrating more on bigger, more expensive weddings than ours. I just never felt like I was much of a priority. I will say though that once we got to Maui she was great about coming to meet with us etc. I really think the tent problem could have been avoided if she had done some research and been in contact with the Luana Kai. My other problem with her was that she kept pushing me in the direction of certain vendors and just wanted to leave it at that. By doing my own research I found great vendors for a lot less money. I pretty much booked everyone myself so I am still not really sure what I paid her to do. That being said, I did really like her and I can see how she might do a great job for some people.
Caterer -
Food For The Soul: A+
I am so glad I found Tina and her husband at Food for the Soul. She was a dream to work with from day one. I loved working with her and her prices were great (they include table and chair rentals!). We customized our own menu and everyone raved about the food. She took care of set up of all tables, chairs, place settings...eveything....and packed it all up when the party was over. She packaged up all the leftovers and put them in our fridge which was awesome. Her wait staff was also great. I couldn't have asked for better food or better service. I highly recommend Food for the Soul.
Makeup -
Jessica Waite: A+
Jessica was amazing. She is so laid back and super nice. She made me look and feel so beautiful. I thought she did a great job at making me look natural instead of too overdone because I don't wear much makeup usually. I would highly recommend Jessica.
Hair -
Dan Sanchez: A+
I can see why Dan and Jessica like to work together - they are both amazing. Dan was so friendly and had a great sense of humor. I met him at his studio for a trial and he gave me three great looks to choose from. I couldn't decide so he was totally fine with me deciding the day of the wedding based on how windy it was that day. In the end my hair was perfect, exactly how I wanted it and I got a lot of compliments on it. He even squeezed my mom in at the last minute and she loved him too.
Mani/Pedi -
Stranz Salon, Kihei: A
A great little place to go for a mani and pedi before the wedding. My sister and I went and the ladies there were super friendly and did a really good job. The prices are awesome and my nails looked great for the wedding and for quite a while afterwards.
Flowers -
Bella Grace Flowers: A
Mandy with Bella Grace Flowers was great to work with. I gave her my budget and she was able to create beautiful flowers well within my price range. The quotes I had received from other florists were almost double what she quoted me. The flowers were unique and beautiful and she let us keep the vases with the arrangements in them for the remainder of our stay. Highly recommended.
Photographer -
Erin Wallis Photography: A+
The pictures pretty much speak for themselves. We are truly blessed that our good friend Erin was able to come to Maui to take our photos. She is amazing and unbelievably talented. If you are ever in the Vancouver, BC, Canada area she is the absolute best!
Cake -
Cakes by JoAnn: A
It took her awhile to get back to me a few times but other than that our experience with her was great. We met up with her for a tasting a week before the wedding and she had prepared these delicious cupcakes with the different flavor combinations that we had wanted to try. In the end we had a chocolate tier with raspberry filling and a vanilla tier with strawberries and cream filling. The cake was soooo good and it looked great.
Ceremony and Cocktail Hour Music -
Jamie Lawrence: A+
Jamie was amazing. All of the guests couldn't stop raving about him and how beautiful his voice was. I am so glad we paid the extra for him to stay an extra hour and perform for the cocktail hour and our first dance. I am also glad we opted for the sound system. He is such a nice, laid back guy and he even sang a few extra songs for us. We ended up going to Tommy Bahamas to see him perform again and bought all three of his Cd's (I am actually listening to his xmas one right now!) I would highly recommend Jamie.
Bartender -
Stacy from Bars Are Us: A+
Stacy was awesome. She worked with me to get costs within our budget and was so nice and friendly to all of our guests at the wedding. She was very organized and was always there waiting to get me another drink whenever I finished one. She was also always very quick to respond to my emails leading up to the wedding. Highly recommended.
Pastor -
Pastor Vance Rosete: A+
Pastor Vance was so great, everyone loved him. He was so friendly and outgoing and had a great sense of humor. He was very passionate and delivered such a meaningful ceremony. We couldn't have asked for a better pastor.
Honeymoon -
Wailea Marriott Resort and Spa: A
We spent a night at the Wailea Marriott a few days after the wedding once most of our guests had gone home to have a kind of "one night honeymoon." We have a ten month old baby so for us it was perfect. The adults only infinity pool is amazing and there are two great beaches adjacent to the property. We enjoyed a great meal at Mala and some massages at the spa. Overall it was a really great experience.
Sorry for the novel! I hope I haven't forgot anything. We had such an amazing time on Maui and such a fabulous wedding. I hope the same for all of you!