Aloha!! Well, we have been married for about a month now and decided that now would be a good time to post our vendor reviews. Plus, we got our pictures back, so we can recap too! I'm hoping this information will be helpful to other brides planning their event! Sorry for the lengthy post.
Venue: Olowalu Plantaion House - A+
We knew when we saw the venue the year before that it was special. The house is amazing, and the porch is perfect to sit out and have breakfast on the morning of your wedding. It was also nice to have the house all day! A couple caveats, though! It can get warm in the summer months because there is no AC, so just beware. Also, there are no private beaches in Maui. So quite often during the day of our wedding there were people in the ocean, and campers right next to the property. Everyone was gone by our ceremony, though. Lastly, we never saw the property manager and had a hard time figuring out how to get inside. But that is no reflection on the gorgeousness of the location!
Day of Coordination/Styling + Florals + Rentals (tables, lounge furniture, vignettes): Melissa at Opihi Love - A++++++++++++++++++++++
What can I say about Melissa? She was an absolute God send and dream to work with. We spent endless hours on the phone, sending e-mails, and texts. She really listened to us, and helped execute and make our dream a reality. Melissa has so many amazing ideas and is just so creative! She worked her butt off on the actual day and brought a few assistants with her as well! One of her assistants was Barbara from Miss B Calligraphy who made our awesome sign. Melissa and I keep in touch, and I am so happy to have her as a lifelong friend!
Catering: Aloha Events - A
Michelle at Aloha Events was easy to work with, quick to respond, and affordable. Their appetizers and service was absolutely amazing!! I dream of those coconut shrimp. They even brought my husband and I a tray of appetizers to our head table since we didn't get a chance to really eat much at cocktail hour. We didn't really eat much of our dinner, either...the filet was excellent though! My main concern was that when we did a tasting over a year before the event there was a different chef. They had a chef and menu change, but I wasn't aware of it until I went to make my final meal selections. It would have been nice to know things were changing in advance.
Bar: Garnish Events - A++++
Steph at Garnish is a genius, really. Her bar set ups are completely stunning...with so many amazing details that they fine tune to fit in with YOUR wedding theme. They use fresh squeezed juices, and homemade syrups which make their drinks SO good and fresh. Her bar service was one of my favorite parts of our wedding. She was a little hard to contact months before our wedding, but I think she is just busy! When the wedding came closer, she was super, super easy to work with.
Photographer: Mirelle Carmichael Photograph - A++++++++++++++++++
Mirelle is AMAZING and super talented!!! We found her here in California and flew her out to shoot our wedding! She was always quick to respond, on time, affordable, and so so sweet. During the wedding she took charge when need be, and we really appreciated it. She even brought her husband with her to help. Our pictures are stunning!!!
DJ: Music Makes You Move - A+++++++++++++
Ryan is a personal friend of ours who we brought to Maui to DJ. He is amazing!! He found all the songs we requested, was so friendly/outgoing, and kept the atmosphere great all night long! We had a BLAST thanks to him. He rented all the equipment needed from DJ Del Sol (on Maui). DJ Del Sol was so great and stayed the whole night to just help out!
Ceremony Music: Barefoot Minded - A++++++++++
I love these guys!! Junior and Oren really brought a great vibe to our ceremony...similar to Jack Johnson. They know a ton of songs and will even learn a few for you free of charge. SO many people came up to me to gush about how great they were.
Hair/Makeup: Ry-n Shimabuku - A++++++++++++++++
Ry-n made me and my girls look gorgeous! He is amazing at what he does and is very friendly. You always hear horror stories about the hair/makeup artist being late...but he was there before I was! He listened, and was VERY efficient. We were all ready before we even needed to be.
Cake/Gluten free cupcakes: Maui Sweet Cakes - A++++++
Heidi is great! She met with us THREE days before the wedding to do a tasting. How great is that? Cake was VERY good (and we did MANY bad tastings in Maui) and cute. I heard you couldn't tell the GF cupcakes were even GF.
Lighting/Chairs: Island Rents - B+
They were very easy to work with and quick to respond. However, they brought the complete wrong chairs! We had to call and get them to come back and bring the right ones. Oy.