Ahh!! 3 months to plan my entire wedding!

brianatappin

So it's a long story, but within the last 24 hours I went from being a June 2012 Oregon knottie to a November 2011 Maui knottie and I'm freaking out just a little bit!

We're going for a small ceremony followed by a nice (but not extravagant) dinner reception with about 10-15 guests total I would imagine.  I need to find a dress asap, a coordinator, ceremony and reception locations, hair, makeup, EVERYTHING, and I'm feeling a wee bit overwhelmed...not to mention any excursions and events we want to do while there!

Basically all we do have at this point is our flights booked and condo picked.  We are going to stay in Maalaea Bay in an oceanfront, groundfloor condo at Milowai.  Anyone stayed there?  The room we got looks fantastic - really modern with great views and it sounds like there is an awesome restaurant on site as well.

Any suggestions ya'll have for me is greatly appreciated.  Oh! and I almost forgot to mention that this will be my first trip to Maui!

Thanks Ladies!

[Deleted User]

Good luck to you on the planning and congratulations! The wedding will be fantastic. Try not to stress. Find yourself a good coordinator and you have us knotties for ideas and suggestions Creating a good budget and a timeline is key. Try not to think about everything at once. Unfortunately I'm not much help with vendors because I'm getting married in Oahu but plenty of ladies here are getting married in Maui. They are pretty fantastic! I actually feel like the past 4 - 5 months I haven't really had lots of big things to do so I think you'll be fine if you have a coord you trust. 

bellathebride

Eeeks! You might have to buy a dress right off the rack, so maybe you can start with that after you book a location. Get a good coordinator to help you since it's so soon and since it's a destination.....you can do it! Lots of helpful ladies here if you ever have questions.

breaness

I would definitely get a good coordinator. Your wedding sounds just like ours so if you need any help I'll be happy to let you know all that we're doing.

If you want to book excursions, I would go with Tom's Barefoot Adventures. We worked with Andreas and he was really wonderful. We got huge discounts on all of the excursions we booked which was really helpful, and when I booked our luau, he allowed me to have everyone call in with their payment info separately.

A coordinator is going to be a big help... our first trip to Hawaii is going to be our wedding day as well

Good luck!

FSForever

You can do it. I agree with the other brides, find a good WC and get your dress first. 

Our wedding is also similar so if you have questions please PM or post.  A lot of the brides here are very helpful. Good luck and let us know your progress. 

Tanq&Tonic

Welcome and congrats! As the other ladies said, 3 months should be no problem. Definitely work on the dress. Some designers may not be able to get one here on time, but check David's Bridal, Alfred Angelo, Nordstrom, JCrew, White House/Black Market, etc for ones that are ready or can be turned around quickly. As for locations, a few ladies her have used the following: - Mama's Fish House (up toward the airport, on the road to Hana) - Five Palms (Kihei) - Gannon's (Wailea) Are you looking to have your ceremony and reception at the same place? One other idea, one of the catering companies has a private estate in Maalea, so you could have your ceremony and reception there, and have them cater it. If you let us know a little more about what you want, we can help!

brianatappin

Thanks everyone!  Definitely will be looking for a dress this weekend along with researching coordinators!

Currently I don't have a preference if the ceremony and reception are at the same place, but if they were I imagine that could make things a bit easier for overall coordination.  On the other hand, we don't have a huge budget either so being creative with ceremony and reception locations may be able to save us some money.

Tanq - I'd be interested in looking into that catering company with the estate in Maalaea since that would be close to where we are staying. Do you know what they're called? 

I'll be sure to keep you all posted with how this goes and if I have any Qs!

breaness

We're having our ceremony on a public beach and then doing the reception at a restaurant. You have a small group like us so maybe that's a way to cut costs. Sarah (sld0618) just got back from maui a few weeks ago and her and her hubby did the same thing we're doing. Her pictures are beautiful!

Tanq&Tonic

Yep - the catering company is called Aloha Events (they catered our wedding).  Their coordinator's name is Michelle -- she knows her stuff and executed flawlessly.  They hold all of their tasting dinners at that house, so we got to see it.  It was just a little small for a group of our size, but plenty of room for a group your size.  I believe they include tables & linens in their catering costs which helps you save, but their per person price can be fairly high.

A number of ladies held their weddings on public beaches which lowers your venue costs, and then had their reception dinner at a local restaurant, including some of the ones mentioned above.

jackcody

We used Aloha Events, and we loved them! Their food and service was superb.  That site is also amazing.  My husband & I couldn't get over the view!  It's a beautiful wood interior, beautiful bar and small lawn and surrounding the waterfront property.  If they still have that location, I'd definitely recommend it!

kimmykupcakes

I'm getting married at Mama's Fish House.  The whole thing has been really easy.  I don't even have a WC. I've done is all myself. If you have your wedding and reception there, they do not charge you a fee to have you wedding ceremony.  If you keep your reception at 21 ppl or less, they don't charge you a fee to have your reception there either.  All we had to do to book our day was pay a $200 deposit which is applies to our final bill on the day of. They are making our cake, as well. Seriously, it's all been really easy. If you want to see pictures of the location, food or cake, it's all in the planning bio.