Just returned from our planning trip

bbakerrd

I was disappointed in Turtle Bay until Joanne became out catering coordinator. Joanne has her act together.  The food was great, they were very flexible with the bar and are working well with our other vendors.

Deborah Hemingway is doing our flowers and table linens.  She's a little on the " high end" but her work is excellent and I 'm exctied to see what she's putting together for us.

My big concern is our "flakey" priest.  He didn't show up for our initial appt. We finally met with him and planned everything.  Well, he called llast week and wanted to plan our wedding and asked if we wanted a rehearsal.  The guy completely forgot that he met with us 2 weeks ago.  I hope he shows up for the wedding....he's kinda crucial.

Do any of you Knotties have any last minute planning advice for me?..especially those of you who are getting married at Turtle Bay?

Mahalo!

marriedonmaui

I honestly wouldn't worry too much about your officiant doing that. Our catering manager for our AHR sent me an email three days before we met her saying it was SO nice to meet me today, and she can see that Mark and I are a beautiful couple.

I emailed her back saying we had an appointment on Wednesday, my fiance's name was Steve and I was looking forward to meeting her. She apologized and said I must have been on her mind! Whoops! Haha. All was well, and honestly she ended up being one of my favorite vendors

I wouldn't worry too much about it! Everything else sounds great though:) Just confirm, confirm, confirm if you have any concerns. But know, that these people do this ALL the time, and they will show up

jtoly

Glad you had a nice trip! I agree just confirm everything, I'm sure he won't forget. How did you like turtle bay? I'm gonna be on Waikiki and was wondering if it's worth the trip to go see.

AKWinterBride

Jtoly- If anything take the drive up North, it's pretty up there and you can find big old turtles laying on some of the beaches right along the road.  Definitely worth seeing, but I wouldn't stay up there again. 

And - you drive through a bunch of pineapple fields on the way up.  Just something different!

sparklegirl84

Who is your priest? If you decide to change officiants, Kahu Bruce was awesome- his info is in my bio link below.

jtoly

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_hawaii_just-returned-from-our-planning-trip?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local Wedding BoardsForum:73Discussion:6b4b932c-d210-490a-beb4-8a30ed156e70Post:17990289-1f51-40da-b5e4-6864feef9bb8">Re: Just returned from our planning trip</a>:
[QUOTE]Jtoly- If anything take the drive up North, it's pretty up there and you can find big old turtles laying on some of the beaches right along the road.  Definitely worth seeing, but I wouldn't stay up there again.  And - you drive through a bunch of pineapple fields on the way up.  Just something different!
Posted by AKWinterBride[/QUOTE]



That's awesome, I love turtles and FI loves pineapples!

bbakerrd

Our wedding is April 21st and we met Joann on Feb 10th.  She wasn't involved at all until we met her.  We were originally assigned to Sherri until she was promoted.  She was good at dodging emails and phone calls.

I  really wanted to get married on Maui but due to cost, we chose Oahu.  I chose the north shore because it's more similar to Maui than the Waikiki area.  I hope it's nice...crossing my fingers.

sparklegirl84

Laniakea beach on the north shore is full of turtles! http://www.turtles.org/laniakea.htm We got lots of photos there. We even saw a tour bus stop and let people out to view them.

noreenchiu

I had the same experience with Sheri, so I'm relieved that she got her promotion and moved on!

I'm sure your wedding will be beautiful!  We vacationed at Turtle Bay a couple years ago and it was a gorgeous place.  

You mentioned that the food was good.  We don't have a planning trip planned, but we will be arriving in Oahu a few days before the wedding and I'm sure we'll set up a meeting with Joann then.  Would you recommend that we set up a tasting for the menu?  Is that something that you have to pay for?

bbakerrd

Tasting food is free so definitely do it.  You can choose 3 entrees to try.

Cake tasting is $40.  We're glad we did it because it completely changed what we wanted to order for our wedding. All the cakes are good...especially the almond.  The strawberry and ganache fillings are excellent.