I'm by no means a good writer...so if this doesn't sound great forgive me.
Photographer - Kim/Aihara Visuals - A+++++ - Kim is super nice and easy to talk to and even calmed me down when I sent a frantic email about the weather report showing rain. She showed up early, brought Joanna (as her assistant) with her and got right to work. She kept us on schedule according to the time line I had sent her and I’m so thankful that she did so because not once did I look at a clock or know what was going on. She would say what time it was and what we should do next and we’d say okay and follow instructions. This is what I needed! Someone to just tell me what to do...she was great. Kim was just very calm, easy going, got excited for certain shots or when she saw different lighting....we just felt like we were in great hands and had no need to worry because Kim is so talented. The pictures turned out so beautiful and we feel that she was by far the best thing we did wedding wise (next to going to Maui). We have so many great shots to choose from that I’m agonizing over which ones to have printed....can I just wallpaper our house in her photos? Wedding Coordinator - Precious Maui Weddings - A+ - I thought Deanne was great to work with. She responded very quickly to my all my emails usually within a few hours. I wanted a coordinator that wasn’t going to give me issues about having already booked my photographer. I had talked to a few companies who wanted to know who my photographer was because there were certain ones they wouldn’t work with etc. Deanne asked if I needed one, I said I had already booked my photographer and she said great and we moved on. Easy! Deanne took care of the permit, setting up our license appointment, and all the floral. My bouquet (pink and yellow orchids) was perfect and exactly what I envisioned! I had a 3-strand crown flower lei and my husband had a ti leaf lei (although we were disappointed with how thin/small/blah it was). We also had pink and yellow hibiscus flower circle that turned out super cute. I don’t think a wedding coordinator is necessarily a must have when having such a small wedding but I was willing to pay for it so that I didn’t have to do it myself. Having no stress was worth the money.Minister Adam Gomes - B? - I have mixed feelings on the this review. He was super nice, funny, put us at ease and delivered a beautiful ceremony. My only issue was that he was 45 minutes late. We were supposed to meet at 5:45pm and have the ceremony start at 6:00pm...the ceremony didn’t start till 6:30pm. I’m not super picky about sticking to time tables but at the same time I felt that this totally went into our photo taking time after the ceremony. I also remember hearing/seeing that we could only be 15 minutes late otherwise the minister would leave because he had other weddings etc, I could be wrong but I definitely remember that at some point in the contract signing. 5 or 10 minutes late...no biggie, but 30-45 minutes late bothered me a great deal. I don’t know what they can do now but it pisses me off that another wedding who was late screwed up my wedding time line when we were completely on time with every thing and as a result we had less picture taking time because of it. I felt like the photo taking time after the ceremony was very rushed and wouldn’t have been had he been on time. Again, he was really very nice and great performing the ceremony...so it’s hard for me to say something negative about him but I feel it’s a big deal. Hair/Makeup - Maui Mira - A+++++ - I loved her! LOVED LOVED LOVED. Did I mention I loved her? I booked her based on what I could find on her, her website, and her prices. I will admit I was slightly worried because she didn’t require a contract or a deposit and I was unsure if she would show only because I’m paranoid.. Well Mira showed up on time, set up, looked at the inspiration photos and got right to work. I don’t have the words to express how much I loved my hair and makeup. I felt beautiful and that’s rare for me. My makeup lasted the entire night and it wasn’t even airbrushed! I have very oily skin so I was worried that it would slide off...that stuff lasted the entire night through the humidity and my sweat! Don’t even get me started on my lashes and eye makeup....I loved it! I hope I am getting across how happy I was with Mira because she really was awesome and I feel like there are hardly any reviews out there for her, and she so deserves great things to be said. Extra Lei - Elena Jones / Maui Shopping Network (808.283.7369) - A+++++ - Originally we were only expecting 3 guests and order a lei for each guest through our coordinator. I was surprised at the airport by my friend and her husband, so I needed two more but my coordinator wasn’t going to be able to provide them. I figured we’d stop at Foodland and pick up a few. Well Foodland sucked and so did the old Star Market just down the street (new name escapes my mind). So we drove down the main road and saw a sign that said “Fresh Leis”, pulled in to Nona Lani Cottages, walked back into their garden and a lady came out to great us. I walked in around 11am and she said no problem to making two lei’s for that day...in fact she said she’d make them, put them in the fridge for pick up all by 1pm. Her work was great and I only wish I had known about her and had her make all of the leis for our ceremony. Not to mention...$6 for a multi color plumeria lei and $6 for a plumeria ti leaf lei vs the $20 for each orchid lei I paid for in my wedding package. Dinner - Duo / Four Seasons - A++ - How can you go wrong with the Four Seasons? I know everybody goes to Spago but we’re ‘steak’ people and Duo called out to us. Beautiful atmosphere, great table, tasty drinks (can someone tell me how to make the Hana Hao martini?), delicious food and excellent service. It really was exactly what we wanted and I’m so glad we cancelled our original reservations at Five Palms. My husband and I had got up to use the restrooms and when we came back the manager approached us with two glasses of champagne (I wish I had asked what kind because it was one of the best I have had). Everyone we saw congratulated us or told me how beautiful I looked. They really made our night magical and I can’t wait to go back.Kamaaina Scooters/Scoot 4 Less - 808.874.8811 - These guys were awesome. The day of the wedding my husband set off to look for a scooter for our trash the dress shoot the next day. He told them what the scooter was for, how we’d only need it for an hour etc and they got so excited. Since my husband rides sport bikes they ended up using a scooter that they never rent out because it’s modified to be a lot faster then the other scooters...he even took it home that night and put a fresh coat of paint on it for us. Plus he rented it to us for cheap and said don’t worry if we’re an hour late or so. They were just super cool guys and I think everyone should rent from them if they’re looking for a scooter 