Maui Wedding Advice

forournewlife

My fiance and I want to get married in Maui December 2012. We have a 12k budget and are planning a small, simple beach ceremony(Only about 6-10 ppl) with the Old Lahaina Luau afterwards. I am thinking about staying at the Westin Maui Hotel. Anyone have any advice about wedding planners? When should I contact them to start planning? I'm nervous about all this planning...it's pretty overwhelming and I don't know where to start.

breaness

First, Congratulations! Your idea of the perfect wedding sounds a lot like what we're doing We are having a simple beach wedding in Makena and then having dinner afterwards. We're also only having 6-7 people attend (his brother is still a maybe).

As for wedding planners, I went with mauidforever.com. So far Bill has been incredibly helpful. I know the ladies on here have other great recommendations for wedding coordinators as well. When I was searching Bill had the best price and simplest package-- and we were all about simple. 

We had the whole wedding part planned, booked and paid for within 4 weeks including travel and hotels. 

It's never too early to start planning things, but I would suggest waiting until at least a year out to start contacting planners in case plans change.

Good luck and welcome to the board!

ninja500

Congratulations.  I was in your shoes and didn't know where to start. I called a few wedding coordinators in Maui and a few did not want to help without me paying them first.  I'd call a few coordinators and talk with them and see who you like.  I am working with Kelly Miller at A Perfect Paradise wedding.  She's given me some great ideas that I never would have thought of to make the ceremony extra special.  We're having 5 guests (Fiance's family are FLAKES!!! - my only vent) so it's going to be really simple.  I found talking with Kelly and hearing options helped with feeling overwhelmed.

madstaylor

Congratulations!  We are having a bigger wedding out there, approx. 40 people. I called/emailed a few wedding planned before choosing Deanne of Precious Maui Weddings. We have been engaged for 2 years and Ive been planning the whole time   Deanne has been helping me for over a year now and just this week we have finalized the contract. She has had my date and time reserved and very willing to help without getting the money right away. She offers a lot of packages and will let you customize anything. Good luck, let us know if you have any questions!

cryssv

Congrats! I'm also doing the very simple beach wedding with about 15 people. I wanted to do the luau afterwards but we ended up chosing a sunset wedding (or at least timed for the sunset pictures) which rules out the luau option because of timing..... just something to keep in mind for you.
I am also using Deanne with Precious Maui Weddings and 100% agree with Madstaylor above - I've been working with her for the last year and she's been great!! She is definitely someone you could drop an email or give a call with any questions you have and she never once pressured me to sign with her or committ.

carrieoz_76

We had a beach wedding in south Maui, and we used Lori Lawrence and Jackie Tanaka at Tropical Maui Weddings, and I strongly recommend them.  They were fantastic the whole way through, no matter what came up.  More info in my bio under reviews.

Other thoughts - we went to the Westin Maui (which I think is actually in Ka'anapali) because our sunset sail at Gemini Charters departed from the beach in front of that report, and we thought it was really crowded - lots of people and tons of kids running around.  We prefer something a little more relaxing.  Something to think about.

Also, the beaches on south Maui are small, intimate, beautiful, and plentiful.  I understand there are fewer options in west Maui.  If you've got your heart set on west Maui for the ceremony then staying there makes sense, but you might want to consider south Maui for the ceremony and accomodations.

forournewlife

Thanks for the advice so far everyone! I did look at the beaches in South Maui for the ceremony, I guess we could have it there then drive to the Old Lahaina Luau after since it's going to be very small...thanks for the idea!

My fiances' family are also a couple of flakes so they won't be going either. I'm going to keep all of your suggestions for vendors in mind for when I start actually calling them. There's so much to think about, and I'm sure I will be have more questions as planning gets underway. So far all I have is the dress, barefoot sandals, and a cake topper lol. It's a start at least. 

keltons

My wedding was on Maui a month ago. Ours was much larger, 70 people, but I liked our coordinator and I think she is more experienced with smaller parties. Her name is Shelly with Island Sunset Weddings. I think $12K will go a long way for such a small party. Enjoy! 

PS- My favorite part was my gorgeous flowers- Flowers by Cora in Kihei!