Romance is in the air, just about everyday on Maui. As one of the leading destinations to get married, we get to see happy bride and grooms year round. This issue we have two different kinds of one weddings, one local bride and how she planned her day, and one visiting couple who combined family, ceremony, and honeymoon in one trip. We also highlight where to stay for your dream honeymoon vacation, and our own handy guide to finding vendors for your wedding. Planning a wedding on Maui was never better, or easier.
Randy Chauvin and Starla Cosme
October 2014
Location: Maui Dragon Fruit Farm, Launiuopoko
Menu: CJ’s Deli and Diner
Flowers: Talia Marie Floral Design
Photographer: Sean Hower Photo
Coordinator: Opihi Love
Hair by Ivy Campbell owner of Art + Soul hair design
Dress: Cache, Wailea
The romance started at Captain Jacks
We met on a perfect Lahaina Halloween night in 2012. Randy was dressed up as Where’s Waldo and I was in costume as a “Lucky Cat,” the kind you see at the entrances of Chinese restaurants. Randy was in Maui with some of his friends for a golfing trip. Since it was Halloween he decided to get a costume and hit up Front Street, and ended up at a bar called Captain Jacks. As Randy was getting a drink from the bar, he says a panda caught his attention, he ended up buying her a drink and getting her number. The panda turned out to be the Lucky Cat! The next night we went on our first date at Japengo in the Hyatt Regency in Kaanapali. Since then we have had a wonderful time together.
A midnight Makena beach proposal
New Year’s Eve, right after the midnight fireworks, Randy proposed to me on Makena beach. He couldn’t think of a better way to start 2014. We set a date for our wedding in October of 2014 since we met on Halloween.
The location
We decided to have our wedding at a venue where we could have both the ceremony and reception. We also wanted it to be out in the open to take advantage of Maui’s beautiful weather and awesome sunsets. So we decided to have it up at the Maui Dragon Fruit Farm on the westside slopes of Launiupoko hillside on a full moon night. We started the wedding a few hours before sunset so our guests could enjoy the sunset and lawn games during the cocktail hour before the reception.
The flowers
I wore a haku lei and had a bouquet in the theme colors of light green with pops of white and purple. They were created by April from Talia Marie Floral Design. It smelt so good. Even now, months after I dried them they still smell fantastic.
The menu
CJ’s Deli and Diner in Ka‘anapali catered. Chef CJ did his absolute best to make our day perfect. His fees also included servers during both pupus and dinner which was very nice. He was able to stick to our budget without cutting back on quality. I decided to cover all the beverages myself with the help of friend and family. My friend Gail was the bartender. We wanted a little bit of everything so that our guest had plenty of options for dinner to pick from. The ribs were super yummy and so were the Hana Bars.
Pupus
Kalua pork quesadillas, Thai chicken Satay skewers and coconut prawns with mango chilli
Dinner
Kula greens with crispy vegetables and miso vinaigrette, potato mac salad, fresh taro rolls with lilikoi butter, mango ribs, kalua pork, huli teriyaki chicken with grilled pineapple, mahi mahi with lemon caper sauce, pineapple fried rice/wok vegetables, Molokai sweet potatoes
Dessert Bar
Haupia cake, fresh fruit, Hana bars, home baked Suzie Cookies plus tons of candy in various clear glass vases
Beverages
Hand crafted lilikoi margaritas, champagne, red and white wine and keg of Kona Brewing Company Castaway IPA from Tamura’s
The wedding cake
We didn’t want to go over the top with the cake since we had such a large selection of sweets at the Dessert Bar. It was a simple small cake–three layers of chocolate and vanilla with white butter cream and served about 50. Joanie Hunt of Lahaina made the cake. The topper was so cute, basically hitting back on the Halloween theme of the lucky cat with a vail and Where’s Waldo? in a tux.
The coordinator
I worked with Opihi Love for wedding coordination. They helped with many pre-wedding activities like setting up the rentals for the tent, tables, chairs and linings. They also designed the layout which worked perfectly for taking advantage of the open air style I wanted. They specialize in super cool unique vintage pieces for rent, like the drift wood gazebo and little details that really add a special touch to the evening. During the wedding they helped coordinate the ceremony, dinner and speeches to keep us on time.
The entertainment
In addition to the lawn games we had as activities, we also had a selfie station with props and hashtag signs. Hashtagging your wedding for share posts is a great way to see the photos shared after. For music we decided to hire and DJ and went with KCK Entertainment in Lahaina. DJ Serna was awesome. We added song request line to our wedding invite RSVP and formed a list of songs our guests wanted to hear. One of the best parts is he arranged live music by Marvin Tevaga for our ceremony which added such a nice touch!
The photos
Sean Hower was by far was the best money spent at the wedding. He and his assistant Megan Baker made both Randy and I feel so comfortable. I had put together literally over 30-plus request list of different shots I was hoping to capture and they got them all, plus more! His suggestions of placement and poses resulted in literally hundreds of shots that made me feel and look like a model! We did many pre-wedding shots the day of the wedding before the ceremony, which was one of the best choices we made because it allowed us to really enjoy our wedding and guests while capturing many personalized pictures.
I highly suggest it for those that are not scared to break the “he can’t see me before the wedding” tradition. It’s a huge time saver. Everything happens so quickly wedding day and he captured every detail, looking through the photos allowed me to re-live the evening and all the beautiful details. No joke, I cried once I was able to see all his pictures of our wedding online. The evening went by so quickly. Sean was able to stop time with his camera so I could enjoy it in slow motion and share it with all our family and friends.
Maui Destination Wedding
Scott Moore and Sara Walters
Location, Menu and Cake: Gannon’s
Flowers: Bella Bloom
Photographer: Bellaeva Photography
Coordinator: Laura, Gannon’s
A spark of shy romance
We met at Starbuck’s where I was working. Scott would come in multiple times during my shifts just to see me, and I would be so excited every time that he did. A mutual friend that he would come in with finally told me that Scott was interested in me because both of us were too shy to tell the other one.
The going-to-Maui proposal
There’s not much of a story. Our son was almost a year old and I was pregnant with our daughter at the time. The night before we were leaving to Maui for our first time, we were having dinner. I remember being completely exhausted when our son actually pulled out a ring box (his dad had planned it) and Scott asked if I would marry him. Of course, I said yes.
We decided to get married in Maui because we had gone there two years previously for my best friend’s beach wedding and absolutely fell in love with it! We love its beauty and laid back feeling. Also, we had a lot of friends and family who had never been there and wanted to give them a reason to go!
We specifically chose Gannon’s as our location. We didn’t want the traditional beach wedding but thought it would be nice to have a view of the ocean. I had contacted a few different wedding planners but Laura’s (from Gannon’s) outgoing, friendly personality drew us in.
The wedding theme
Our theme was simple yet classy. I wanted bright Hawaiian colors–mainly pinks and oranges. So I sent my planner a few sample photos and she got exactly what I wanted.
The menu
Gannon’s provided a wonderful meal at our wedding consisting of beef ribs, macadamia crusted fish and fresh vegetables.
The cake
The wedding cake was a delicious single-tier chocolate cake with Tahitian vanilla filling and buttercream frosting made by Gannon’s. It was decorated with fresh Hawaiian flowers.
Entertainment
Ours was a smaller wedding, so we used a Bose system to play a playlist I had made that included songs unique to us. Our first date was a music festival that had UB40, so they were on our list.
The bride’s style
I wanted side-swept “beachy curls” and natural looking make-up and that’s exactly what I got. The mother of my very best friend happens to be a hair stylist who graciously did my hair for me. My wonderful sister-in-law did my make-up. They both turned out fabulous!
The Dress
My wedding dress was a low-back chiffon dress with ruffled straps that flowed down into a ruffled train. The front was a simple v-neck with a ruched bodice. My dress came from an online boutique. One day my co-worker and I were looking at dresses online when she came across this one–the back was so beautiful and exactly what I wanted so I ordered it and had it altered by a local seamstress.
The rings
Our rings came from a local jewelry store. My ring is a split band with a princess cut diamond and small diamonds circling the band. Scott has a white gold band that has brushing in the center that looks like a stripe circling the bad. My ring was custom made for me; I wanted something a little bit different than anything I saw and it had to be modified for the cut of diamond I wanted.
The ceremony
We could see whales jumping in the background. The sunset was beautiful for our beach photoshoot and we had a wonderful full moon at the reception. It was truly phenomenal especially because it was storming the day before. It was so great to have 40 close friends and family with us on Maui to celebrate with us.
The honeymoon
We stayed on Maui for our honeymoon. We were there for two weeks, including the wedding. We spent our two weeks relaxing at the beach, spending time with family and friends and adventuring. Highlights including surfing, zip lining and whale watching.
These two examples of the best Maui weddings can give you an idea of how to plan your wedding. The tips and tricks these brides share and they vendors they use can be a guide map to your Maui wedding. If you are planning a wedding and would like to be featured in an upcoming wedding issue, leave a comment with your contact information.
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