Hey everyone! We just got married and are back from Hawaii and I just wanted to put in my 2 cents here since your reviews helped me find some pretty good vendors along the way. I loved most of them
Please feel free to ask any questions!
This is super LONG but I always think reviews are always good information for brides. Happy planning!
Another bride on theknot.com posted his link after booking him as her videographer. I saw his work and loved it immediately. His highlight reels are always upbeat and peppy, which basically describes mine and my husbands personality. We can't say anything bad about this guy. First of all, Philip is extremely personable. We absolutely loved him! He was telling us all about his vision for our video and was so enthusiastic. We seriously felt like he could be one of our best friends! Second, he is all about the quality of his work. He is one of those artsy fartsy people who love what they do and give each project their 100%. You can definitely tell. We had a package worked out with him with just a partial day coverage but Philip decided to come out the whole day just because he thought it would make the video that much better. He kept going above and beyond and just kept doing things for us just because he thought it would make the video that much better --- like attending the pre-wedding luau and doing a post-wedding trash the dress shoot with our photographer. He also added an extra shooter and camera just so he can get more creative in his angles. I mean, this guy has so much energy and enthusiasm about his work that I don't think he would ever make a bad video. I'll post a link when he gets the highlight reel out. However, if there is one person you should invest in, I would definitely recommend Philip. I can't give him enough plus signs after that A.
She is really the best. She is one of the vendors who doesn't run on "Hawaii Time". This means, she answers emails, phone calls, texts promptly. I heard about Shannon via another website review. I checked out her photos and loved her creativity and her style. Anyway, when she was shooting our pics I could already tell how creative she was. I can't wait to see all of our photos! Her second shooter, Aaron Mizushima was also excellent. I would call him a stealth surf ninja. I wasn't expecting a lot from him since he was the second shooter and I thought he was just there for back up... but WOW! his pictures were as amazing as Shannon's pictures (I peeked in their cameras). We also did some water photos that he shot underwater. I'm glad Shannon brought him along. I will share a link when I get the pictures. Shannon is highly recommended.
Loved it. She worked perfectly on my skin type. I had a hair trial before my welcome party/luau and despite the crazy winds that day, my hair was perfect outside all night! Make-up was flawless. She was very professional. I highly recommend her.
Wedding Planner -- A
Carrie Lance-Kunrow
She is absolutely amazing. We definitely had some differences at the beginning and I thought she was just being stubborn...but really she was just right and an experienced wedding planner. I am glad I did listen to her. She helped me put everything together, had great suggestions, kept me in check with the budget, and coordinated things rather well! It was literally the wedding of my dreams. I highly recommend her. She made the day perfect and non-stressful (even with the minor glitches)...and a non-stressful day is basically what brides need. The only reason I can't give her an A+ is because some of the vendors she recommended had minor issues. They weren't issues that couldn't be fixed... and it was definitely not her fault. I will elaborate more later. See below for the other reviews. In conclusion thought... I love Carrie!
Caterers -- A
Kahai Street Kitchen
Delicious. I can't think of anything else to say because I am too busy salivating. You know when you go to weddings and the food is really dry since it was mass produced? Or something is undercooked or overcooked? Or you didn't have enough food to serve everyone? I didn't have any issues with this company. Their food was amazing. The catering staff did a lot of extras for us and they were super friendly to everyone! I thought they were kind of pricey because the cost of catering does not include any rental equipment but their food was well worth it.
Bartender -- A
Shaun, Aloha on the Rocks
Shaun is great. Very professional. He helped us come up with a menu unique to our wedding. I never felt like there was a line backing-up to the bar at any given moment. His services are also very affordable. I very much enjoyed working with him.
Venue -- A
Lanikuhonua
I have to give this place an A because it is absolutely gorgeous. Palm trees. Lush landscaping. Ocean overlook. Private beach. Sunset. It's the perfect place for a wedding. I couldn't give it an A+ because communication with the place was sort of sketchy at first. However, I heard they switched management companies so the communication might be better!
She is one of the vendors I booked through the wedding planner. I don't have any contact info for her but man, she was amazing. I couldn't see her when I was walking down the aisle... because you know... you can't really think clearly when your walking down the aisle. But the music was beautiful and the guests loved it.
Myra's Leis & Flowers -- A-
Her centerpieces were beautiful. My toss bouquet was perfect. The leis were amazing. The flowers for the hairs were perfect. And just think about walking down the aisle lined with with flower petals. Myra was great! The only reason for the A minus was becuase I had sent a picture of my mom's wedding flowers and I wanted mine to look similar. She did her own version of a cascading flower and it didn't look at all what I had wanted or sent. She did a quick fix to somewhat resemble it, which was still nice... but still didn't get that little detail I had wanted to do for my mom.
DJ -- B+
The first song came out muted... which was unfortunate because it was our first dance song. It was some sort of technical difficulty. The rest of the night he was good. He knew what songs to play to get the crowd dancing.
Rentals -- C
Accel
So the wedding turned out beautiful. Everything I wanted was perfect. The chivari chairs were gorgeous. The clear top tent was nice. The bamboo arch was lovely. Everything was set-up when we got to the ceremony and it was perfect. Why do they deserve a C? I litterly had a chimpsy dance floor. That's kind of a big deal when you have a choreographed dance planned. My contact person was a nice lady named Heather. She had sent me diagrams of the the layout, including the tables with a dance floor smack dab in the middle. She even asked me for the size of the dance floor and we discussed that I wanted a 12 x 12 foot dance floor.
You can imagine how surprised I was when the wedding planner called me a few hours before the wedding and said Heather never ordered a dance floor. I know we had discussed it on the phone. I looked through my emails and the diagrams she sent me and that dance floor request was there. However, since it wasn't in my invoice it was never processed. They were able to put together a REALLY REALLY SMALL DANCE FLOOR last minute. I felt like I was kicking my guests when I spinned itwasthatclose.
They are affordable which is the plus. But that was my only plus. At first I thought he was just a little late so it was not a complete disaster. He did arrive 15 minutes late due to traffic which I know he can't control traffic... but when I have an important appointment (like a wedding) I would hope someone would put in a little extra effort and account for traffic/accidents just to make sure they arrived on time. Anyway, we had some down time, so he asked if he could go on a lunch break, which was okay with us. However, he came back late again -- which I found out after the wedding. He picked-up the parents before the groomsmen, which isn't a big deal except the groomsmen were supposed to arrive first so they could sort of guide the guests on where they should and shouldn't go. Also, he couldn't pull into the driveway of where we were staying because his limo didn't fit. We asked him to back in so he wouldn't have to go around the circle but at least be closer. He flat out said no without even trying. We had to walk down the lobby, across the driveway, and load up into the street. Lovely.