Hawaii

Waikiki Wedding Reviews - Long **UPDATED!!** Now with photos!! :)

OK, I have no photos yet, but here's my reviews of teh wedding, which was absolutely perfect.  

Ceremony/Reception Venue: Outrigger Reef Hotel, Voyager Deck

Cara was our contact there, and she was amazing.  She always answered questions quickly and they were totally willing to accomodate changes where w wanted them.  We went with one of their packages, so it included flowers, Hawaiian guitarist, Groom's lei, etc.  We also added on a clear top tent and entertainment.  

The food was amazing.  Everything, including the plates were hot when served.  Everything was cooked perfectly and still hot.  Everyone also said teh apps. were great though we didn't get to try them.  We did a seated meal with dessert buffet.  The waiters also took drink orders diuring dinner if guests wanted, then came around with coffee/tea.  

Everything that we needed put out on tables was done, we just handed everything to Cara before hand.  The bamboo trellis was set up with gauzy fabric and flowers, and we had petals lining the aisle, then tiki torches along the back.  I always figured there would be some glitch or something to go wrong (nothing big), but everything ran like clockwork and the team at the Reef was amazing.  Best decision we made, going with them.

Arch where we had the ceremony:


Centerpieces (flowers done through the hotel, I don't know who the vendor was):


Reception, same place as the ceremony, but at the back:


"Head table":

Officiant - Kahu Bruce

What can I say.  All the previous reviews about him were bang on.  We met at the Dept. of Health and he helped with the license, then took us through the ceremony.  He lead everyone through the ceremony, directed guests, parents, us.  It was all taken care of and we didn't need to think.  Everyone was amazed at the ceremony he did.  I would suggest him in a heartbeat.  The Hawaiian touches on the ceremony were exactly what we wanted.  

Cake - Kristen at A Cake Life

I think we had the best tasting cake ever.  The buttercream frosting was amazing, yet it looked like fondant.  She did exactly what we had wanted, and it looked so amazing that I didn't want to cut into it!!  It was super tasty, adn she was great about working with us on a bit of a last minute timeline after we couldn't book our original choice.  
 
Our awesome cake:


Entertainment - Malu Productions

We hired them through our package - they were an add-on.  They put on a 40 min journey through the Polynesian Islands of dance, drumming, songs and fire knife dancing.  They even got FI up on stage with myself (an amazing feat to get him up there) to dance, after some other guests, so I suppose that was our first dance together.  It was just the right length and it was an amazing show.  Guests have now decided against a luau, and other who have been in the past said this was a better show.  We even got stopped after by hotel guests whose rooms over look the deck.  They say the stage, figured it out and ran out for sushi and wine which they then enjoyed from their lanai.  

Photographers - Shandro Photos

We brought our photographers down with us, but I already knew they were amazing, as they did my Brother's wedding.  I can wait to see the photos.  I saw some on the digital screens which looked amazing.  We have our second shoot tonight.  Yay!!


The only shot they will give us so far:
 


After Party - Shorebird Restaurant

We're not huge fans of dinner here, but the after party was great.  We had to move from the deck at 9pm due to noise so we moved downstairs to the restaurant.  They do karaoke from 9:30 on.  They took our reservation easily and immediatly set up everyone on seperate tabs as we were not hosting this portion.  It was great fun, especially when some of our teenagers got up to sing Grease. It was a great place to end it.

Video - Wedit.com

We weren't planning on doing a video, then wavered, so we went with wedit.  They sent us 5 HD video recorders (flip cameras??) adn a charger in a little case.  We ahve been using these all week, at out WP day, planned activities, etc., so we've got lots of god footage so far.  They will send us a copy of all the footage on DVD, will host it online for 1 year and if we're interested, we can pay them to edit a video for us too.  So far, they've been great and lots of fun to have around.

Hair/Make-up - Leslie Gallagher

I feel that I had some communication issues at the beginnng, such as not having a time when we were going to meet until I e-mailed to ask, but once she got there, the work was amazing.  Make-up looked great.  Both myself and my MOH arent' big make-up/hair people, and she was able to take our vague descriptions and gie us exactly what we were thinking.  I got a light smokey eye.  She does airbrush and old school makeup.  

Hair was amazing.  She went based on our photos then added flowers.  She had this much more thought out than I did as she placed all of the flowers on the right /beck of my head (I was thinking left before, but never told her this).  She then said since I'd be on the left side of the  aisle, everyone would see the flowers all ceremony.  She also laced them all individually so it was almost like a bit of art.  It stayed all night and looked great.  



Back of the hair:

Dress steaming - Kathy Porter from Aloha Wedidngs

She did FI suit and my dress.  She did a fantastic job on both and also come right to the hotel room to do it.  Totally recommend her.  

I'm feeling like I've missed someone for sure.  I can't have imanganed the day going any better.  It was amazing and I'm so glad we chose to go away to get married.  Even Fi (wait, DH now?? ) who wanted to elope (but was ok with the wedding) thanked me after for not letting us elope.  My parents also said they're glad my brother got married first, cos it would be tough to follow that one.  :)  I promise I'll post photos as soon as I can, as those will helo with reviews too.  

Here's some of my favorite photos so far:


Me and MOH arriving:








Re: Waikiki Wedding Reviews - Long **UPDATED!!** Now with photos!! :)

  • jtolyjtoly member
    First Comment
    Kendra I'm so happy things went great for you. Sounds like a beautiful setting for your ceremony! I can't wait to see pics! Did you have to book Kathy ahead of time? My seamstress said I shouldn't need anyone to steam my dress but if it does get wrinkled I'd like to know I can call her to come do my dress. How are her prices? Also, by any chance did you get a groupon for the Pearl Harbor tour. There is one going on for $65 for 2 tix. Just wanted to see if that was a good deal.
    ~jenn~ Photobucket Anniversary
  • Hey Jenn, I booked Kathy ahead of time.  I'd recommend it.  I don't think my dress really needed it, but it was worth it.  It was $105 for my dress and DH suit .  Totally worth it for the time and care she put into it.  

    Didn't do Pearl Harbour.  I don't know if it's a good deal or not.  Sorry

  • jtolyjtoly member
    First Comment
    Ok, thanks. Maybe I will give her a call to see if I can call her if I need it done. My seamstress said I can just iron the satin part on low and the tulle that goes over it should de-wrinkle in the shower. She thought a steamer, if to hot, would do something to the dress. After she presses mine I will ask her what she thinks.
    ~jenn~ Photobucket Anniversary
  • I posted already on the DW board but I can't wait to see the rest of your pro pics! Everything sounds like it was perfect! Congratulations :)
  • You look SO BEAUTIFUL!!  WOW!  And your cake -- might be one of my favorite cakes I've seen on this board.  Looks like an absolutely lovely day.  Can't wait until you have more pro photos to share!  Congrats again!
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  • Wow! Your cake is adorable! I absolutely love it!

    And what a tease with just that one shot. Love silhouette shots, though! :)
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  • WinstonsGirlWinstonsGirl member
    First Anniversary First Answer First Comment 5 Love Its
    edited March 2012
    Thanks ladies.  I can't wait for the pro pics.  They're flying home today, so hopefully they'll get started quick

  • edited March 2012
    Looks like an amazing wedding - congrats!!  Thanks for the reviews, I was just about to post on here to see if there were recommendations for dress steaming in Oahu.  Do you have the contact information for Kathy Porter?
  • Yay congrats! You looked great, love your dress! Glad you liked Kahu Bruce as much as we did!
  • Thank you for the amazing review! Looks and sounds like you had an amazing wedding. Just to clarify, did you have Malu productions perform at your wedding reception? If so, do you mind me asking how much they cost and how many entertainers you hired. We are having our wedding at the JW Marriott Koolina and will have about 80 guests. We are having a cocktail hour and dinner buffet outside. 
  • Beautiful wedding! Congrats!!
    I would love to know what you think of wedit, if people were willing to film etc and what you think of your edited video.  I would love a viedeographer but it is just way out of my budget so wedit is definitely an option! 
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  • I'm really happy we did Wedit.  We had the cameras at the hotel when we arrived and are taking them back now, so we had them for our planned activities as well as the wedding itself.  There were several of our guests who are creative/photo happy type people who held on to them fr most of the night.  We downleaded all the footage to teh computer last night, but we haven't watched a lot yet.  All the cameras were at least hlaf full, so there's a lot of footage.  But we did watch a bit of the ceremony and I'm so glad we have that.  Several people taped the whole thing.  We don't have any edited video yet, but I'll post it if we decide to do it with them.  They were a lot of fun.  If you want a video but can't afford a videographer, I say go for it cos at the very least you'll have something.  

  • YAY Congratulations!!! So glad everything worked out for you and love what u did for your video!! I wish I had known about that before our wedding, what a great idea!!!!
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  • This sounds like it went really great.  I'm looking at Outrigger Reef for our wedding too, just concerned about the budget.  Can I ask about how much did it cost in all for your ceremony and reception at Outrigger?
  • Does anyone have a video of the deck? I am trying to gage how far the walk is... thanks
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