Anyone used Oahu Wedding Company

[destinationbridehawaii]

My fiance and I are planning on getting married in Oahu and were thinking of using Oahu Wedding Company to help plan our ceremony. I was wondering if anyone had used this company or heard anything about them? Thanks!

[princessina]

OMG is that Martina Cacciaroni at Hawaii Wedding Planners - Oahu Wedding - Weddings in Honolulu - Get Married in Waikiki with Tailored Wedding Planning I've been so busy since I've been back from my wedding but let me warn you now...DO NOT USE HER! My story is long but I'm going to cover the relevant topics.

 

I meet her and some other colleagues a year and a half before my wedding date. She's very personable and her website is great but this reflects nothing to her knowledge of wedding planning abilities. She's a great person and is very sweet but bottom line is she has not clue about what it takes to plan a wedding. I'd give her organizational skills a D-.

 

I was so furious after my wedding that when I came home I did some research on her to find out that she was in college while she was helping me plan my wedding. Which means she's a part time coordinator and explains why she wasn't fully tracking with me. I found her myspace, facebook and some references on her college website that helped me to determine that she was a full time student during my year and a half of planning and that she graduated the same month that I had my wedding.

 

There were so many details that we had discussed that she did not do at my wedding. I'm not sure if she thought I wouldn't of noticed or if she just solely forgot. Every vendor she recommended me to was horrible to work with.

 

The day of the wedding she showed up with basically a bunch of friends (all about 25 yrs old or so) and they were her setup and break down crew. They didn't do a mic check before the wedding and the pastor couldn't even say my name right (which she was suppose to go over with him). It seemed like a bunch of college kids who go to college in Hawaii and decided that they're going to do a wedding planning company for people who do destination weddings. After all, how hard can it be right? I imagine that your able to get away with it so long as the party doesn't exceed 30 people but after that the flaws truly start to come out.

 

Supposedly when I met her a year and a half before my wedding day there was another older lady who was suppose to be mentoring her but for unknown reasons the lady left. Martina is the only wedding planner I believe and there's another guy his name is Nathan Bingham or something similar, but he's just the boyfriend now turned fiance. I did some research on him and it looks like he runs some type of moped rental company on the island as well so they might just be in the business to make money but I assure you that she/they have no idea what they are doing.

 

Even more fishy...when I paid my balance I got an emailed receipt that said it was from Oahu Wedding but the email address was [email protected] I checked that website Hawaiian Style Rentals - Honolulu's Moped, Motorcycle and Bicycle Rentals Specialists on Oahu, Hawaii. and sure enough it looks like the payment system is tied to his business.

 

It doesn't pay to try and scam people especially with the world wide web. I read she got into a college in some state on the east coast so I'm sure she'll just move her business over there or still continue to give the illusion that she can operate out of Hawaii since she still has friend there. Whatever it is...I believe it will all come back to you eventually.

 

I wasn't going to post my review of her initially after my wedding because I thought it would be spitefully of me to do that but if I can save just one person from telling my story than that's one person that can go on and have the wedding of her dreams since it's too late for me. My one day has come and gone but I still have the man of my dreams and that's what essentially counts.

 

Your wedding day is only one day in a lifetime...don't gamble with someone your unsure about. I say to find someone who you can get good raves on from people who are neutral and have nothing to gain or lose from telling you their personal experience.

[princessina]

Double post... Sorry.

[destinationbridehawaii]

thanks for the info, definitely useful information to know.

[yoeshi]

I went with Oahu Wedding Company and I was glad. I have to agree that I had a few mishaps when I first called because Martina was handling my case, but I believe she's gone now and the company is under better management. Wow, once Diana took over my wedding, it was like night and day. She did such a wonderful job and everyone at my wedding mentioned that it was the best wedding they've been to! I can say she really put my wishes and budget as a priority.

 

Even though most of the work was done over e-mail, it felt like we were friends by the time we met. She did a wonderful job and I'm so glad I hired her because a remote wedding is very difficult to handle on your own!

[princessina]

Great! Yoeshi...I'm glad it worked out for you. I definitely believe a WC is the essential piece to your destination wedding. My wedding was definitely not memorable and we even refer to it as the party we funded and not our wedding day.

 

I advise anyone and everyone to definitely do your homework when it comes to WC and don't ever be scared to walk away because you feel you have so much invested. A bad WC is something that you'll never get over.

 

I'm glad it worked out for you but it somehow would not surprise me if it's just some other young college student that took Martina's place...I mean why not start your own company instead of inheriting someone else's image?

 

To everyone else...take heed to all the advise you get around here and make an informed decision or else you'll regret it...

[amott]

Quick question -- is that Diana Caro-Salvador with oahuwedding.com?  Thanks!

[yoeshi]

yup!  She's awesome. You can see her facebook page for many many other happy couples.