Newbie needing help regarding the basics to planning a wedding in Hawaii! :)

[AZKimberly]

1. Name: Kimberly

 

2. Wedding date: 2011 (any tips on best months to marry in Hawaii??)

 

3. Wedding location: Hawaii (Any tips on which island is best to have a sand in the toes wedding?)

 

Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated! I have never been to Hawaii before, but I want to have a beautiful beach wedding so so badly! It is what I have always dreamed of and envisioned.

 

-Do you think I need a wedding planner to help since I have never been to Hawaii?

-What is a realistic budget to set for about 30 people for a beach wedding with a dinner afterwards?

-Is there ANYWHERE I can have chairs set up on the beach?!

 

Thanks ahead of time to everyone who helps in any way! I look forward to learning a lot!!! xoxo

[Stacy015]

Hello Kimberly --

 

I just returned yesterday from my Hawaii wedding!!!

I got married in Maui - it was wonderfull.

 

*I was VERY happy with my wedding planner! I used Deanne with Precious Maui Weddings. You will see lots of other posts on this forum with other Maui brides that were happy with her. She has very reasonable prices and she doesn't charge a percentage fee like most planners do for add-ons to packages. She also has more small package options than most planners do -- I had 40 people travel to Maui for my wedding, but I didn't want so many extra add ons that weren't necessary... so her packages fit my needs well!

 

*I had 40 people... My wedding planner took care of EVERYTHING for my ceremony. My ceremony came out to around $1600 (includes location/chairs) and my reception was a little under $2000. This only includes like 36 4x6 printed pictures -- we are buying the CD of pictures for $100 so we can print what we want at home...

 

*As far as I could tell - you cannot set up chairs on the beach anymore. They just changed this near the end of 2009. You can set up chairs in the grass next to the beach. I did this and it was great. We had a private location (Merimans Kapalua) where there was a grassy area overlooking the ocean right next to the beach so we could have beach pictures afterwards. This was also nice having a private location because there were 2 other weddings going on at the beach next to my location...

[AishaB]

Hi Kimberly, welcome to the forum. You can definitely visit the Hawaii thread and get lots of information. There are a lot of ladies (like Stacy) who are having their weddings in Hawaii. Good luck and happy planning!

[*kellis*]

Hi Kimberly. Good to see another Arizona girl on the forum:)

I've been to Maui many times and just got back from our honeymoon in Maui and Oahu so if you have any questions I'll try my best to help. West Maui is a great place for weddings, especially if you want a more laid back quiet feel. I haven't been on the other side much but I hear there are a lot of hotels and stuff going on. It's really what you're into. Either way, it's impossible to not be blown away by how beautiful it is no matter where you go in Hawaii.

 

What's your budget? That might help narrow down some areas to look at.

[karyan]

Hi Kimberly!

 

From my research I've discovered:

 

Pick an island that will have what you want out of your holiday. If you want to snorkel or surf, or have good beaches, vs adventure hiking vs nightlife, then some islands are have more or less of each of these things. I've never been to Hawaii, but from what I understand all the islands are great, so it boils down to what you want to do in the end.

 

Pick a time of year that will suit the budget. Summer and X-mas are the peak seasons, vs spring or fall which are off peak.

 

I've decided on a wedding planner because they are reasonably priced, and will save a lot of hassle considering I know nothing about Maui and I don't want to be running around in the lead up of the big day. I've decided on Lori from Tropical Maui weddings, but talked to Deanne from precious maui weddings and found her very helpful too. Saying that if you are super organized and relaxed, I'm sure you could do it yourself.

 

In the end, just go with your budget....there are a heap of options to suit every price/taste.

 

Good luck!

[fallfromgrace]

Hi Kimberly,

 

We are getting married this Feb in Maui and I am so amazingly excited to have found this forum!

 

I only recently found it and it is amazing!

 

So Maui is a beautiful island that has lots to offer but is less touristy than for example Oahu. In Oahu there is Honolulu and Waikiki which are known for their amazing nightlife. We chose Maui because we wanted a family oriented wedding. (some of my friends have very young children!)

 

Our travel agent was really awesome to get us some great rates, we used Flight Centre and they are awesome, they have set us up flights from Seattle, Vancouver, New York, Tampa, Montreal and LA. They got us the best rates. I told them that there are about 5 people from each city arriving and they were really great in accommodating us.

 

I didn't go with a wedding planner, because a lot of the times they have preferred vendors and I heard that it can get limiting.

 

We are getting married in Wailea, and we have planned some excursions for everybody, we are going to do some snorkeling that we set up through the Maui Dive Shop. Also, we were able to set up services (an extra room at the hotel - for the kids to play in during the day or to nap in or to hang out in with a "grown" up, or someone from the family, and there will always be snacks and such with some DVD's going for the kidlets)

 

The boys are going to have a TEE time booked at the Emerald Course the day before the wedding.

 

Our photographer is amazing. www.norasphotos.com. She really loves what she does and her work is AMAZING. The best part about her is that when we contacted her we had different things that we wanted to have done (we wanted portraits of all the families - just them, and we also wanted a Trash The Dress with all of our wedding party!) She worked out the most amazing package deal.

 

The things like the table settings, menu and wedding cake are taken care of the hotel where we are having our reception. The one thing that was important to us was having an open bar. We are having a buffet style menu, and we are flying the greasy meat for Philly Steak Sandwiches (because they are my fiance's favorites!) for the midnight snack.

 

This was my start, I hope that this helps you with some ideas at least!

 

Gracie

[bridetov]

Hi Kimberly!

 

I was just married in Maui 3 months ago. It was my 10th trip to the island (been going there since I was little) but even still, it was challenging to plan a wedding from so far away.

 

Instead of doing the hotel/all inclusive thing, I decided to go a different route. I had an intimate wedding (30 people) at a private estate in Lahaina (Maui) right on the beach. I found a wedding coordinator that didn't limit me to which vendors I selected and also didn't take a huge commission. Actually- I couldn't have done it without her!!

 

Throughout planning, I was pretty active on another wedding site called Project Wedding. Here is a link to my planning bio which might help you. At the bottom are all my vendors and honestly... I felt like I had the Maui-Wedding-Dream-Team working for me!! Every single one of those people went over and above to make our day amazing. And of course, there is all the other fun detail stuff If you have any questions- please feel free to ask. I'm happy to help anyway I can. I think I'm going through wedding planning withdrawals

 

Here is the link to my planning site: Tovaqt's biography - Project Wedding

[fallfromgrace]

Tovaqt, I would love to know the coordinator and some information on her/him? Most of the wedding planners that I found were VERY limiting in vendors.

[bridetov]

Sure!! I found Cherise by accident (when I was searching for a venue) and... I think it was meant to be. I think she charges a flat rate of $700 (or $750, I can't remember) for FULL COORDINATION SERVICES for a year up until the wedding, and including the wedding day!!! (holy smokes!!). She also let me select my own photographer, hair, & makeup (I just did the correspondence and payments myself on those). She only restricts you to her list of caterers as she's had some awful experiences with a few caterers on the island. The caterers I chose ROCKED though!!

 

She's also on top of her game. I was living on the East Coast when I was planning and there was never a single time that she didn't get back to my emails (always with a ton of questions) within 24 hours. Some of you who have already experienced Maui's "island time" know how rare this is. She's also a doll with an amazing personality and my wedding wouldn't have been 1/2 as spectacular without her. I didn't have to worry about a single thing on my wedding day- and Cherise made sure there wasn't a single mishap. Obviously- I love this woman. I'm also happy to tell you anything else you need to know about her. I have yet to write up my formal vendor review, but when the time comes, I have a feeling that it will be 10 pages long

 

Her name is Cherise and her company name is The Perfect Wedding. Website is: The Perfect Wedding A Beautiful Maui Experience *Don't let her hokey website fool you- this woman is totally up-to-date and AMAZING!!!

 

If you contact her- tell her Tami sent you. I told her that I was going to make her the most famous Maui wedding coordinator out there.

[fallfromgrace]

Awesome!!! SO amazing, she sounds like my photographer who I am completely enamoured with because she is so amazing. I have to say working with my photographer who is the sweetest woman in the world makes it really easy. She also helped direct me to different resources like this forum. And what is more amazing is that if a couple can't afford her prices, she will review them and make a package for you that better suits your needs, she says she would rather have someone have really great photographic memories of their wedding than really bad cheap pictures. And if you want more services she will make a package that suits you, and her pictures are so AMAZING. www.norasphotos.com

 

 

So I can't wait to talk to Cherise. My exprience with planning my wedding has been so positive, that I am kind of worried it will be a jinx.

 

But I am also really grateful to have found some lovely ladies in this forum to help me along.

 

Tovaqt, I love the underwater picture that you have in your profile also!

 

Gracie