First of all, I'm so excited because our photographers put together some pictures of our wedding day in a slideshow and said the rest of the pictures will be ready this week! So quick! Here is the link if you want to check it out:
http://www.ilovevisionari.com/abena_omar/
For my wedding vendors, overall I was very pleased and happy with the way everything came together and I would use all the same vendors if I had to do it all over again. Sorry this is so long!
Venue: Sugarman Estate, A+, highly recommend
There is no denying how absolutely breathtaking this venue is. Its HUGE and you can get so creative with defining the space. There is plenty of room to have your ceremony, cocktail reception (there is a gazebo on the property which is the perfect set up for the bar) and wedding reception. We even had an area for lounge furniture which was awesome. There is also a 3BR/3BA house on the property where I took some of my pictures while waiting for guests to arrive. All of my guests loved the venue and it was the perfect location in South Maui!!
WC: Events by Evonne, A+, highly recommend
LOVE her!! I found Evonne on The Knot last year when I was doing some research on destination weddings and this was the best decision I made. I hired her for full-time coordination and it was so worth it. I was able to meet with her last year before delving into planning and I ended up doing most of the planning with her via email. I’m sure we exchanged close to 1000 emails and she would always have a response for me that same day, sometimes within minutes (I’m on the East Coast and there is a 5 or 6 hour time difference between us depending on daylight savings). She was also able to help arrange for me to have cake samples sent to me and to do a mock up of my whole tablescape with the floral designer and linen designer. It was just great to not have to get on the phone with several vendors to book stuff or have to spend countless hours doing research. After the wedding was over she stayed behind probably until close to midnight to make sure that everything was taken care of. I could go on and on but if you are looking for a full time coordinator, you will have an amazing wedding with her by your side.
Caterer: Soup to Nuts, A+, highly recommend
After Evonne, I talked to Soup to Nuts the most both via phone and email. I cannot tell you how incredibly nice these guys are!!! I really was blown away. They have a bunch of set menus but we totally customized our own extensive buffet menu for dinner and also had them do pupus for cocktail hour and a dessert bar. In addition, we did a French fry station during our cocktail hour which was a hit! They were very accommodating and had no issues with any of our requests. We even asked them to make a dish that both of our families usually have at our gatherings and they were able to do it. They also dealt with getting all of the alcohol for me and getting it delivered to Sugarman which was a big deal since it was sort of a pain to deal with the liquor store. I also did not have to hire a separate bartender which was great. Best of all, the food was AMAZING!! We considered Café O’Lei and Aloha Events Catering but hands down Soup to Nuts was the best for the wedding day!
Décor: Pacific Events Group, A+, highly recommend
I used Pacific Events Group and was sooooo happy with the décor! I was able to get a great deal when I booked her early on and the owner is so sweet! She provided the two tents, chairs, linens, chair ties, lounge furniture, plates, glasses, silverware, etc. We talked via email and phone a lot during the beginning of my planning and she mailed me several different swatches of different fabrics and colors so I could decide what I wanted. She also was able to do the mockup tablescape for me which was great so that I could visualize everything. I am mostly in love with those tents that she has – they are very unique and amazing and I knew that I did not want a plain white tent or a clear top. Everything just came together beautifully and I was so happy with her work!
Florals: Bella Bloom, A+, highly recommend
I loved all the flowers at my wedding. Funny enough, this was the one part that I didn’t put a whole lot of energy into. I am not particular about flowers and am more concerned that the final product looks great. I sent Evonne a few pictures of what I wanted the bouquets to look like and my ideas for the centerpieces. Bella Bloom executed that perfectly both with the mockup tablescape and even moreso on the wedding day. And the bouquets came out perfectly! For the flower girls, I wanted something different and asked her to tie cymbidium orchids on palm fans for the girls. They looked simple yet beautiful!
Cake: Cakes by JoAnn, A+, highly recommend
The fact that JoAnn was able to Fedex me samples of the cake for a tasting blew me away! She sent me 6 different combos of flavors and I chose 3 for my 3-layer cake. Let me tell you - - the cake was SOOO good on the wedding day and people are still talking about it! The bottom layer was yellow cake with strawberries and cream filling, middle was lemon cake with raspberry mouse filling and the top was chocolate cake with vanilla custard filling. It was so moist and just perfect! I sent Evonne a pic of what I wanted the cake to look like – going off the Manzanita branch theme – and it came out perfectly!
Photography: Visionari, A+, highly recommend
Their work speaks for themselves – amazing!! I think they were one of the first vendors I booked since photography was very important to us. Even though they are based on Oahu, they do weddings all over. The three photographers that came were Ryan, Lisa and Ryan and they were all so nice and I loooove the photos that I’ve gotten so far. They sent me a slideshow of pictures about 3 weeks after and the rest should be ready either this week so they are super quick (which could also just be because this isn’t a super busy wedding season)!! Would hire again in a second!
Videographer: Studio Red, highly recommend
I was torn on getting video but now that the wedding is over I’m so happy that I did since the day just flies by. I can’t give them a grade rating since I haven’t seen their work yet but the communication I had with them in the time leading up to the wedding and the wedding day was great and extremely thorough! I found them based on recommendations on TK – I really like their style and it was no problem having them come over from Oahu. Kristy and Joel are super nice and they came to our wedding rehearsal to meet us and check out the grounds. They completely blended into the crowd during the wedding – I’m really looking forward to seeing the video!
DJ: Ron Tolbert, A-, recommend
DJ Ron did a great job during the wedding reception and had everyone jamming on the dance floor. The reason I gave him an A- is because we had sent him a CD of some special songs we wanted played and he forgot to bring it with him. He went back to his place to get it (in Lahaina!) during the ceremony but this caused our reception to start later than planned so ultimately we didn’t have as much dancing as we would have liked and he didn’t get through all the songs we wanted to get played. We are sure that most of our guests had no idea this but it still bothered us as that extra time having fun with our guests was important.
Violinist/Guitarist: Cambria Moss & Vance Koenig, A+, highly recommend
We thought this added a really nice touch to our ceremony and cocktail hour. The music was beautiful and she was able to learn a couple of songs for us that weren’t on her repertoire for our processional and recessional which was awesome.
Other wedding stuff:
Waialua Soda Works: Went to their website and contacted the owners telling them I wanted to order some soda to use as my escort cards. I needed a lot so it was easier to get it straight from them rather than try to find it in a store. Loved the way it came out and the sodas were really good!
Café O’Lei at the Dunes at Maui Lani: This is a Café O’Lei restaurant at a golf course in Kahului and we held our welcome dinner here. The price was great and the spread was fantastic. It was Thanksgiving so they put together a Thanksgiving buffet for us in their banquet room. They were great to coordinate with and I can recommend it if you are looking for a place to host a welcome dinner or your rehearsal dinner.
Four Seasons: We stayed here for our wedding night and also had our Mahalo Brunch there. The Four Seasons is gorgeous and the buffet was such a wonderful thing to have the day after the wedding. They set up the food in this foyer that had a beautiful view of the resort and the brunch was in one of their banquet rooms. Great food! Also after the wedding, we had an impromptu after party at the Four Seasons and hung out at their bar for a few hours. We also ran into Tom Arnold there who also got married in that day, haha!
Old Lahaina Luau: Even though this was my 3rd trip to Hawaii, it was my first time going to Luau. About 30 of us went and we all got great seats together. It was really fun! No fire dancers at this one but it was authentic and gave a great history of Hawaii. The location is beautiful and the food was surprisingly good!