da.shmoopies

I ran out of Cardstock for our invites (we ended up inviting more than we had originally planned) and was reordering, so I wanted to pass on the news... Cards & Pockets is having a Spring sale on on their paper products. SALE! Yay! Sales!

Thank you for the heads-up!! I'm having an orange wedding, and these will be perfect OOT bags for my maid of honor and the best-chick. I've already place my order!

Hey! We are getting married in Mau October 14th, 2009! Only three days away from each other. Nice. Orginally, we wanted a public beach, but now they have an ordinance where some beaches have restrictions on the number of people that can converge. We found a private estate called Kalaeokai'a which is a private estate on West Maui. The fee was $1000 for using the grounds. Our wedding coordinator, Lori (Scott) Lawrence with Tropical Maui Weddings, said that renting out part of their estate helps the family keep their ocean front land. It looks beautiful. You can find pictures of the estate here: http://tmaui.info/ The other private estates near Kihei were way out of our price range for a small wedding of 25 people ($2500 to $5000), so we were extremely happy with our find. Now, we can have a private beach for our photos, and we will be able to bring our own champagne for the guest, since it is not considered a private beach. It is a 45 minute drive North of Kihei, but the drive was worth it to us!

This is a good thread to read. My fiance and I had a big blow out about this same topic about a month ago. lol I didn't even want a wedding in the first place... I was fine with keeping it simple and sweet and just do the Justice of the Peace, but he wanted to have a wedding for his family and friends. One day I brought up something and he flipped and said he was not interested in hearing abut wedding planning at all. So I basically said "Fine!" and called it all off, since I was doing all the work by myself. Well, long story short and after a very long night, the next day he was very apologetic and we sat down and discussed what kind of support I needed from him. Now he just brings up things we should do for the big day out of the blue, and he tries to tentively listen (or pretends to listen ) when I ping him on an idea. I'm okay with doing the work, but I just needed his support... and his credit card... now and then. I think all couples go through this at some point. Of course, I think I'd wish he weren't so involved if he had TOO many opinions. lol

I personally went with a slightly more expensive bag than what was at cheaptotes.com. I order a few from them as samples, which are now my farmer's market shopping bags. I figured that, since my guests were coming to our DW at their expense, I could shell out a bit more for their OOTs. I was lucky too. I found the canvas beach bags for half the price that were listed on Amazon. They were very large, thick canvas beach totes. I was extremely happy with the decision.

Thanks, Nicole! That's the assurance I needed I was looking at pictures of the Maui swap meet and they seem to have some cool looking items. I may opt for sarongs instead of pashminas for nice gift for the girls.

I guess it is suppose to be the equivalent of the swap meet at Oahu's Aloha Stadium... though not as big. From what I can see it used to be at the Kahului Post Office, but I read that it moved to the Maui Community College. 7am to 1pm every Saturday. MAUI SWAP MEET I've been to the shopping areas in Kihei, but supposedly the swap meets carry the same stuff just cheaper. Plus, it's suppose to have produce.

Hi Maui Brides! Have any of you gone to the Maui Swap Meet? I've been to the one on Oahu, which was HUGE. It was a great place for knick knacks, and arts and crafts. If the Maui swap meet has the same kind of stuff, I figure it would be a great place to stop to get some items for our OOT bags we are planning.

I used/borrowed Raychel's (aka Nolaroy724) brochure. It uses power point so it's easy to navigate. Check out her forum and you can get the template: http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t24302 The Travel Brochure should include items like: 1. Intro/welcome/thanks for coming 2. Travel Plans and Welcome Meeting 3. Important what to brings 4. Things to look forward to 5. Tentative wedding day itinerary 6. important reception info If you check out the Wedding Journal Forum you'll find lots of ideas to put in your brochure. Hope this helps some. Have fun creating!

That's fantastic! Thank you for sharing your idea. I can't wait to see how your DIY koozies turn out!

I ordered samples of canvas totes from a few different places but they were all pretty thin material. These canvas totes are very thick and good sized. They are a tad bit more $$, but since my guests are paying their own way to go to Hawaii to see us get hitched, I didn't mind splurging just a tad. Two places had the the cheapest prices: BuywholesaleTshirts.com sunloversportswear.com

While looking for the boarding pass template, I found Alyee's blog page. She has instructions, templates, and which tools she suggests for use. (Plus, she has other DIY projects.) Aylee blog: Aylee bits » DIY: Boarding Pass Invitation / Save The Date I still don't know which rotary trimmer to purchase myself. I've been researching, and I'm not sure which way to go. Anyone out there have good/bad experiences to share regarding the rotary trimmers used?

I'm having a small-ish ceremony a year from now, in October, but I've already purchased enough Canvas beach bags if every person/couple attends (20 bags purchased total). I found an excellent deal on some very well-made, cute looking beach totes, and I didn't want to take the chance of them not being available in next year. Also, I am trying to taking advantage of end of season sales, and pre-xmas sales, as much as I can. Since it will be a beach wedding in Maui, and our wedding is in the Fall, I don't want to take the chance of not finding items here in California. At first, my fiance was thinkin' I'm crazy for purchasing items now, but, when I show him the deals I'm getting, he's learning to go with the flow. FYI, Pier 1 has a sale on soaps ($0.98 to $1.98 ) and candles right now.

I've found a few other places, other than OTC and Blis Wedding, that sells them during my reasearch. Koyal Wholesale: Search Results : Wholesale Wedding Supplies, Discount Wedding Favors, Party Favors, and Bulk Event Supplies Asian Ideas: Natural Straw Fans (Set of 12) Good luck!

Hi Melinda, I actually came across Kalaeokai'a by accident during my researching. I didn't plan on having the reception there since our party is so small, but from the photos I've seen it can be done. I don't know how much of an expense it would be to have the reception there, unfortunately. I'm acutally using Tropical Maui Weddings, and so far my experience with Lori has been great. She's good at replying to emails, and making suggestions, and helping with what vendors to use. She has her own wedding photos posted on her website. Her husband, Jamie, is beautiful guitarist who will be playing at our wedding. He is going to learn an Elvis tune for us! Here is her website: Tropical Maui Weddings provides Maui Wedding Planning Services Here is her website showing a wedding on the Estate we booked: Event Location Ideas from Tropical Maui Weddings Good luck with planning! Deb

We had originally wanted to have our ceremony at a public beach, but a new ordinance this year kept us from using the beach we wanted. They won't allow a party of more than 12 people to use the beach. We found a private estate called Kalaeokai'a which is a private estate on West Maui. The fee was $1000 for using the grounds. Our wedding coordinator, Lori (Scott) Lawrence with Tropical Maui Weddings, said that renting out part of their estate helps the family keep their ocean front land. The other private estates near Kihei were way out of our price range for a small wedding of 25 people ($2500 to $5000), so we were extremely happy with our find. Now, we can have a private beach for our photos, and we will be able to bring our own champagne for the guest, since it is not considered a private beach. It's about a 45 minute drive back to Kihei (where we will be having our reception dinner at Sarrento's on the Beach), but it seems worth it. Plus, most of us are from the Bay Area in CA and we are use to the commute!

Hi Amanda. Thank you for the link. It's great. I'm sure I'll find plenty of inspiration there. Deb

Thank you! Thank you! I've been looking for the Tear of Joy tissue packet DIY. I saw this version on a knottie blog but couldn't find the instructions. They look great!

I'm so happy to see so many orange brides! I'm just starting out, but I knew from the start that we would want burnt orange and chocolate brown, with turquoise accents, for our color combination.

Thank you for all the Welcomes. I look forward to learning alot from all you ladies through this forum. Deb

I was having the same problem, since I felt the canvas beach tote I was getting for the OOT bags where too girly for the guys. I found some canvas backpacks that fit the same theme but would be a bit more manly. sunloversportswear.com I love the soft sided cooler idea though.

I came across your planning thread while doing a search on Newletter templates. I love your newsletter! I'm so going to "borrow" your idea. All your DIY projects are fantastic. Thank you for sharing!

Hello ladies, My name is Deb. I'm getting married October 14, 2009 in Maui. Yay! Deb