Maui wedding coordinator and photographer

joyw1088 · July 2011

Hello! I'm new to this site and noticed everyone is really helpful. I am getting married at Gannons and contacted their WC, Nicole, she seems very nice and attentive. I was wondering if anyone has used her before. I also looked into Marrymemaui.com, I love the options and was wondering if anyone has used them? I am also hoping to find a photographer for 5-6 hours that isn't too pricey and does great work. My wedding will be July 28th 2012

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!!

Joy

breaness · July 2011

I had originally looked into marrymemaui and talked with them a great deal, but the more I looked at their photographer's work, the more nitpicky I got and realized that they weren't for me. He's a great photographer, don't get me wrong, but I am also a photographer, and I am VERY picky about how I want my wedding photos to turn out because of it. I noticed that most of his photos are very over processed, which is why some of them have an unnatural "glow." A good photographer should be able to do subtle but significant editing that the untrained eye doesn't see. Anyway, point is, I'm not a fan of his photography.

That being said, he is good, he's just not the best on the island. I would look into photographershawaii.com (Gordon Nash is especially fabulous), Anna Kim, Joanna Tano, etc. These are all tried and true photographers that are loved on this board.

If Joe from marrymemaui is the best in your budget, he's still good, but I feel that the others will be better.

As for the coordinating end, his wife is the one who does the coordinating for marrymemaui so if you're bringing your own photographer you'll likely want to choose another coordinator. I went with mauidforever.com and I'm working with Bill Armstrong. He's been incredibly helpful getting everything organized and has helped us with every step along the way including accommodations, restaurants, discounted activities booking, etc.

There are quite a few (ETA: whoops!) Gannons brides on here who should be able to give you more info on the Gannons coordinators.

Tanq&Tonic · July 2011

Welcome Joy!! No experience with Nicole or MMM but wanted to welcome you to the board. I definitely can't say I'm a fan of the photos from MMM -- they rely too heavily on "effects" in their photos. Would you mind sharing your budget so we can recommend some other suggestions? Brea has listed some good options & forum favorites above.

FSForever · July 2011

Wecome!, I am also having my reception at Gannon's next June, and we are using Lisa from EnchantedMauiWeddings. I talked to quiet a few WC including Nicole during our booking process. Search some of the reviews on this site and read what each bride has to say about their WC and then call them and do a phone interview. The reason I suggest this is because each of us is different and we each may have the DW in HI in common but we stil have our likes/dislikes and what we are looking for and only you know who you will be comfortable with.

We picked Lisa because this is a second wedding for both of us and we wanted the wedding to be very relaxing and somewhat stress free. Also I love DIY and FI enjoys helping me so she is willing to assist in anyway she can but doesn't have a problem if I want to do something myself. To be honest I think the hardest part of planning so far was picking our WC. It just seemed to be one of the things that past brides have said can make or break your day.

Oh and the nice thing about Gannon's is they will pretty much let you do your own thing, with the exception of your food/cake. Good luck and let us know who you go with.

joyw1088 · July 2011

Thanks! That is great advice. I really like Gordon Nash!

We are paying for our wedding ourselves so we have a limited budget, I feel overwhelmed that the average cost is 25k for a wedding?!! We only have 8k to work with and that includes airfare and honeymoon. I am afraid we wont be able to have a nice wedding and reception with that much money.

Tanq&Tonic · July 2011

You can pull off a gorgeous wedding for $8k, no worries. You're doing the right things, like hosting it at a restaurant so you don't have to pay for an expensive venue rental fee, tent, rentals, silverware, etc.

How many guests do you have? And, can you honeymoon on island after the wedding to eliminate the need for another set of flights?

Also, cut corners where you can. IMHO flowers are one of the most optional parts of a wedding in Hawaii. The venue & scenery is decoration enough. Lately I've been loving pinwheel and balloon embellishments for the bridal party, and fruit centerpieces. We also had my best friend ordained to officiate -- we wanted it because it made things that much more personal, but the side benefit was not having to pay hundreds of dollars for an officiant

kaesha · July 2011

Welcome to the boards! I used Joanna Tano for my photography, but I know her prices have gone up since I used her, so I don't know that she'd fit into your budget. I LOVED her though - she's so professional and unobtrusive and the photographs were gorgeous. We're using her again this summer for our totally narcissistic anniversary shoot.

I totally agree with Tanq - flowers and decor (especially if you're hosting it in a restaurant) aren't important, IMHO. As long as you've got good food and drink, it's a party!

joyw1088 · July 2011

We plan on 20 guests for our wedding. We will have our honeymoon in Maui, that should save us some money! Is it a bad idea to pick all the vendors myself and figure it all out? I don't want to pay an extra 20% on every vendor is I don't need to.

FSForever · July 2011

Joy, Can I ask how many guests you are expecting? We are having roughly 22 and will have budgeted 15K for everything, including taking our kids (6 of them) for the four days before the wedding and staying (alone) for 9 days afterward for our honeymoon. I would love to island hop and maybe we can afford it when the time comes but right we are happy with our plans.. I still really wanted some of the extras and will DIY for a lot of them. I agree with Tanq that the scenery is enough if you don't have the means to add. We aren't big on flowers and they can add so much to your budget so we are only getting leis for each of our guests and buying them through Costco.

Tanq&Tonic · July 2011

It depends on the coordinator you choose. Some charge 20%. Others charge you the same as the list price if you were to book on your own, but what they pay is less (eg, wholesale prices). If you do your research, you don't always have to pay the extra.

With that said, absolutely no, it's not crazy that you can pick all the vendors yourself and figure it all out. We picked most of our own vendors, and honestly the ones our coordinator picked were the worst of the bunch -- cake which looked gluey and the dancefloor of cardboard. UGH!

FSForever · July 2011

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_hawaii_maui-wedding-coordinator-photographer?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:73Discussion:ccf4841b-8639-4d1c-93d2-aeb02a06ac50Post:c033b951-8a9c-41a6-ae10-a25c2d739e6c">Re: Maui wedding coordinator and photographer</a>:
[QUOTE]We plan on 20 guests for our wedding. We will have our honeymoon in Maui, that should save us some money! Is it a bad idea to pick all the vendors myself and figure it all out? I don't want to pay an extra 20% on every vendor is I don't need to.
Posted by joyw1088[/QUOTE]<div>
</div><div>Sorry was posting at the same time. You should easily be able to do your wedding for your budget and expected guests. I have picked our own vendors so it is possible. </div><div>Also if you haven't booked Gannon's you might want to pay your site fee to lock in this year. We also added 15% to our food, lighting and music budget to plan for next years increase. If they don't increase or not that much at least we have it planned for. </div><div>
</div><div>I should say that while we were deciding on Gannon's Nicole was emailing me every couple of days with ideas and referrences, but once I decided to use someone else and emailed Susan the contact info it was no big deal. I was a little worried that if I didn't use one of their WC it would be akward. Not at all. In fact the complete opposite when I told them I was using Lisa. </div><div>
</div>

fabutan · July 2011

Ditto what everyone else has already said... I also want to add that you've made a great choice selecting Gannon's for starters...it's a beautiful location and I think will give you the best bang for your buck. We originally considered Gannon's exactly for that reason - very friendly on the wallet without skimping on service, food, and other luxuries (we changed our minds for other reasons, but we still had our farewell brunch there). Ppl often get stuck with venue and catering decisions, so it's great that you have both of those checked off already!

For your group size, I'd suggest going with the Lower Knoll for ceremony and Upper Pond for the reception area. The Upper Pond costs less than the Lower Lawn and it's still beautiful at night.

Photography: If budget is an issue, I would try hunting for a young and recently-established photog...there's some amazing talent out there and can save you a bundle. Of course, take note of their portfolios and styles. More established photogs tend to charge more because of demand. You could always contact an established photog and tell them that they're out of your budget, but ask them to recommend a junior photog or photog assistant for you to consider.... Just an idea... If you're in love with a photog who's out of your budget, you could always go with fewer hours and still get quality and capture the "most important moments"...

For a coordinator, you could hire a coordinator for just the ceremony portion and setting up dinner tables, but NOT have her stay until the end of the reception (cuts down working hours). Gannon's is used to handling weddings and all the serving staff will take care of dinner and your guests. Also, look for a coordinator that charges a flat fee (no 20% service charges) or else book all the vendors yourself.

Entertainment can be a huge cost. You could go with an iPod for dancing or skip the dancefloor altogether (Upper Pond doesn't have room for one anyways). Or hire a guitarist for some musical entertainment.

For saving $$$ on flowers, the most economical choice would be to DIY. You can get flowers from Safeway or local flower farms and make the arrangements yourselves. Hiring a florist would take a huge chunk of your budget. Hope this helps!!

sparklegirl84 · July 2011

Im a budget bride and i think we're right around 8k with flights and our stay. Were bringing our own photographer & its saving us a lot. We are just paying for his flight & stay ($700) in exchange for photos. We also aren't hiring a WC...sorta uncommon on the knot. We will have about 30 guests and are going simple on the flowers (costco diy boquet) and ipod music.

joyw1088 · July 2011

You all have such great suggestions, I appreciate it so much!

FSforever and Sparklegirl84: Can I ask who you booked your flights and lodging through? The cheapest I have found for airfare plus 9 days is $1600 per person

way too high!!!

sparklegirl84 · July 2011

Prices should go down by the time your wedding rolls around. You can get group discount rates through hawaiian air and alaska for your flights. We ended up finding ours cheaper through hawaiian on orbitz. (We're marrying in oahu then honeymooning in maui). We didn't do any bundle deal, booked our flights/car/lodging seperately. We're renting a house in oahu and having the wedding there then we're staying at a condo in maui. The condo isn't super fancy but it's Right on the water so we can swim every morning and hear the waves at night. You may find deals through costco if your a member.

http://www.alohacondos.com/maui

carrieoz_76 · July 2011

Ways we brought our costs down:

- DIY floral centerpieces. I wanted flowers on the table, so we ordered ours wholesale through Maui Floral, which is the on-island company that Costco works with. You get the flowers for Costco prices at Costco, but make the order with Maui Floral. I ordered mason jars on ebay for vases and had them delivered directly to the island (our WC accepted delivery).

- DIY BM bouquets. We again ordered the cymbidium orchids from Maui Floral/Costco. I watched a video on youtube on how to make the bouquets by hand, practiced at home with slik flowers, and shipped the supplies we'd need beforehand to Maui.

- Held a separate afterparty. We held a party after our reception dinner with cake and alchohol at the inn where we were staying, which allowed us to avoid cake-cutting fees, and limited the cost of beverages at a restaurant (which is high!). We served our cake, along with a signature alcoholic drink (pineappke punch) and beer at the party for much less than we could have at a restaurant.

Our biggest expense (besides travel and lodging), was food for our guests. Any decent place where you'll hold a reception dinner ends up costing quite a bit per person, plus drinks. Even trying to stay affordable, we ended up spending about $90 per person, and we were not extravagant in our food choices. So just keep that in mind, and work around it with your other budget items.

As always, pics and additional info in bio.

morris1h · July 2011

I used Erica Chan for our photography. We paid around $2700 for 7 hours but I think she may have increased prices since then!

Good luck with the planning! Enjoy it!

cleyco · July 2011

I am getting married next June and I have decided to go with Shawn Starr. He is based in Oahu, but his costs are quite comparable even with his travel fees included. I did some research and his rates end up being the same, if not even cheaper than the popular Maui photogs. He has been great so far with replying to emails/phone calls.

christinaheaston · August 2011

Hi Joy! I am a wedding photographer and trying to expand my destination wedding portfolio. I would love to work something out within your budget. To see some of my work, check out my website christinaheaston.com.

One wedding I shot is in the new Charlotte wedding magazine you can view here:
http://www.christinaheaston.com/christina-heaston-photography-in-charlotte-wedding/

Also, here is a link to some photos from my recent trip to Hawaii. It was Oahu not Maui, but it can give you a feel for what I can do in a tropical setting.
http://www.christinaheaston.com/aloha/

Look forward to hearing from you!
Christina Heaston
christinaheaston@gmail.com
facebook.com/christinaheastonphotography

Maui wedding coordinator and photographer

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