Olowalu Planation House is simply beautiful. I had seen photos of it from other weddings and also on their website, and it was just as picturesque in person.
I had hesitations about an independent venue because of the necessity of bringing in your own caterer and rentals (tables, chairs, lighting, etc.), which adds to the cost of the wedding. Apart from this issue, Olowalu was almost perfect. Luckily, we didn't have enough guests to necessitate renting portable toilets or having shuttles, which would have cost even more.
We booked Olowalu through our day-of coordinator, so we didn't have much contact with the property manager. I did email the property manager a couple of times to schedule a rehearsal time, and she was prompt in responding.
One thing I would like to see improved is air conditioning in the house! At least in the wedding party getting ready rooms. I was sweating like crazy, and my hair flowers wilted in the 90 degree summer heat even before our ceremony started. We had fans going, but it was just too hot. Be sure to bring lots of blotting papers.
Another thing that I would have liked changed was that there was a dumpster and a small Caterpillar piece of equipment toward the ocean side of the parking lot. It was quite noticeable, and there was not much we could do about it. The venue said they could move the Caterpillar behind the dumpster on our wedding day, but that was it. I don't recall what it looked like on the wedding day because I was too busy. I'm not sure how long these things will be out in plain view, but hopefully not for much longer.
Something that is not advertised (at least on their website) is that you can rent a dance floor from the venue. The cost is $500, but I forget the size--it might have been around 12' x 15', but you should check with them. It was a good size for my ~80 guests. We originally wanted to use the concrete slab as the dance floor, but the venue had made changes to the area by putting in gravel next to the concrete slab. We didn't think the setup was ideal, so we opted for the dance floor. There is no subfloor, but the dance floor was not wobbly at all, and I don't think the subfloor is necessary.
All in all, Olowalu is a beautiful venue, and I'm glad we had our wedding there. It wasn't quite perfect for the above reasons, but I don't think we could have found a better venue on Maui.