Hawaii here we come...

[Mara]

Hi all-- are headed off to Hawaii tomorrow for a week for our combo vacation/wedding scouting trip. YAY..we are so incredibly excited, Greg even told his work that he wasn''t bringing his laptop...first time in 3 years he has been unplugged. We have spent all weekend relaxing and getting ready for MORE relaxing next week.

I have all of my proposals from vendors and about 5 meetings setup with the ones we know we want to use. We have 2 cake tastings, we have catering to taste and sign, I am getting my hair and makeup done..the list goes on. I figure we will use the first 3 days or so to really relax and do our own thing without worrying about hassles. So I have scheduled all the appts for the last 2-3 days on the island when we will be more interested in floating around and visiting anyway. I will take many many pictures for the family and friends here, esp of the place we are staying at so that they can see real pix of the property and cottages. Keeping fingers crossed that we like everything we see and we love the venue so that nothing goes wrong!

So anyway, we''ll be back in about a week....have fun without me and I will think fondly of the board as I drink small girlie umbrella drinks by the oceanfront pool. YAAAAAH!

Mara

 

[Iceman]

Have fun tell us how it goes

(lucky dog)

 

[Mara]

Well someone reminded me I have been very remiss in not posting about our trip to Hawaii since I have obviously returned!

Boy coming back is REALLY HARD.

In a nutshell, we had a fantastic time. The island is very lush, beautiful, all the good things you have ever heard about Kauai were true!

The first few days we really were just trying to relax and unwind, we did alot of nothing. We upgraded our cottage to oceanfront so that we could see the ocean and the view from our patio out towards the ocean was really amazing. We could hear the surf crashing all day and night long, we had a hammock strung between two trees near the ocean from our back patio...it was a whole lot of rest and relaxation!

We met with our vendors starting about 4 days into the vacation--and were really happy with all of them. For those of you who are considering Kauai and/or WPC (Carrie!), I'll list them out below with info on what we thought etc. But the bottom line is that we feel totally comfortable with everyone we met and we really feel like we are in the hands of professionals that throw much larger parties and receptions than ours will be!

We did some fun things like ATV riding (a BLAST), and went to the customary luau. We are also going to be setting up some fun things like this for the wedding group next year, the ATV riding will go over big with people, a luau and possibly a sail around the island.

The island is small but it takes about an hour and a half to drive from Waimea (where we were) on the very west side of the island, over to Hanalei on the absolute other side of the island. We liked Hanalei just fine, but after spending most of our vacation over in Waimea, we were more used that look and we liked Waimea much better. It's smaller, more sleepy...with less tourists and less obvious about the vacation and resort thing. We had Poipu about 30 minutes drive from Waimea, went there for dinner alot...and Koloa is a cute small town about 20 minutes, on the way to Poipu, where our florist is and also a great pizza place called Pizzetta!

We saw some a waterfall and alot of lush greenery, the taro fields in Hanaeli, tasted the classic Hawaiian food poi, ate some Hawaiian kalua pig (yum), and generally just had a great time. We can't wait til next year and DID NOT WANT TO COME HOME this time around. Next year we are going to try to go out for a week and a half in Hawaii before leaving for Bora Bora on our honeymoon. As much time as possible and as much as we can afford to do...we will. We hadn't had a real vacation like this for almost 2 years (visiting family in the East Coast does NOT count) so it was a total shock to our systems and we are finding it really hard to come home and be productive and get up for work again. Bah.

Anyhow--that's pretty much it!! I've posted a picture of a beautiful sunset from our black sand beach right in front of our cottage at WPC...and will post a few more pix for your viewing pleasure. Feel free to post any questions or email me about Kauai or WPC if you are considering it for your wedding or even honeymoon. We HIGHLY recommend it.

Yay!

 

[Mara]

This is a shot from Kipu Ranch near Lihue...this was a privately owned ranch by a Hawaiian Princess many moons ago and now was bequeathed to her best friend under the condition that it will never be developed land. There is some cattle ranching on the island, here is one of the places, the steaks there are so fresh and AMAZINGLY good.

They have filmed some popular movies here on this ranch and this area in particular has been seen in movies such as Jurassic Park, Raiders of the Lost Ark...etc.

We saw this on our ATV ride.

 

[Mara]

Here is our cottage (G Cottage) at dusk...I had to lighten the picture a bit because it was too dark so it is a little granulated. The WPC property is so beautiful, lots of grass and palm tress, big banyan trees, wildlife (roosters and birds) and we also had 4 cats which adopted our place and visited us daily for food and some lovin'.

 

[Mara]

On the ATV ride we stopped at this body of water and everyone took a turn on different rope swings. Here is Greg caught in a CLASSIC pose.

 

[Mara]

The Opaehaka Falls (I know I spelled that very wrong) over Wailua River near Kapa'a...where my hair/makeup chick Dianne Gardner lives. Very pretty!!! Very green. Lots of bugs.

 

[Mara]

Okay last picture I will torture you all with...

This is the view from our cottage out towards the ocean...and the large grass expanse in front. There is also Greg chilling out in the hammock..almost like second nature to lay in that thing!! Ahhh did I mention we really HATE to be back??

 

[Mara]

And here is a list of our vendors and what we thought...for those interested:

Catering:
Contemporary Flavors: working with Mary. Met with and tasted food and cakes. Excellent food, cakes were very good, but not quite the quality of a real 'bakery'. I liked them but Greg was not sold. However their food was quite good, we tasted a few pupus that they made for us to take home. Really reasonable pricing though you have to haggle a bit to get what you really want, very reasonable liquor prices (!), flexible, did Matt LeBlanc's wedding and is considered one of Kauai's best caterers. We are definitely using them for the food, liquor etc...but will use someone else for the cake. However--if you are considering having them do your cake, *I* liked their cakes. Greg was just not sold.

Cake:
We tasted CF but also wanted to taste and meet with Suzi from Suzi's Date Bar. They have been highly recommended on theknot.com and also did Matt LeBlanc's wedding, an extra recommendation!

Suzi was really great, we met with her IN her kitchen/bakery and we got to see her do some of her work. She chatted with us for a while, and gave us to small cakes to take home. We tasted the Zebra cake (her most popular) which was very good, and also the triple chocolate (our favorite)...though we think we may ask her to do two flavors (one per tier) since Greg really loved the chocolate and I would like to get something more 'islandy' like the butter white cake with a creamy pineapple filling or similar. This way everyone can have what flavor they want...and everyone is happy. We are definitely going with Suzi for the cake. She charges $50 delivery to Waimea since it's about 45 minutes from her bakery/kitchen. Her prices are very reasonable and we are extremely happy with her.

Florist:
We didn't really have a recommendation until a few days before, but unknowingly it was someone we already had on the list of potentials. A few people on theknot mentioned Blue Orchid in Koloa..and I knew they were somewhat close, and I liked their name! We met with Arlene at BO and she was excellent. We gave her our budget, which was much less than we'd have spent here in the Bayarea...and she said no problem. She loves to work with brides to be sure that they get everything they want for the price they can afford and chatted with us for about an hour in her very small shop (nowhere to sit!). We looked at pictures, discussed ideas, all in all very pleasing. I am going to send her some pictures of things I like (I had a bunch of pictures with me but LOST them at the airport!

) but I was so happy to hear that we could basically do ALL my ideas for the budget we had specified. The best thing is that we wanted orchids, and orchids here in California are super expensive, but in Hawaii they are literally pennies. I wanted to do a bunch of fun things with loose orchids like put them on the tables (since we are having candle/hurricane centerpieces) and also in people's drinks and in their 'welcome' bag that we are going to put in their cottages etc...and with how cheap they are, we can easily buy 500 orchids for things like that for around $40. Insane! So in the end I was most pleased with the florist...a happy surprise. Plus Arlene was really sweet and she has cute dogs..a perk.

Venue:
WPC took a little getting used to at first but in the end we loved it. It's nowhere near a resort or resort style, but it is very relaxing and very quiet (besides all the wildlife!). Everyone is very friendly, you see couples walking around and it's all very casual. We met with Linda at WPC who will be our island coordinator, and she was great. Very pleasant, detail oriented..she is sketchy via email so we were a little worried...but in person she was very knowledgeable. Plus she has done tons of weddings there. She showed us some pictures of recent weddings, we talked about dates and we decided to rent the Managers House to both stay in and have the wedding and reception in the front (common). She knows all of our vendors, has worked with them in the past..so we feel really confident she can help me get things done. She also has recommendations for ministers which we need, and also a nail place..very crucial the day of!

I am sure if we needed other recommendations she would have given them to us...but we came pretty prepared with quotes from most all vendors already!

We put down our deposit to hold our date and now we are officially on the road to achieving wedding bliss..AHH..scary!!

Hair/Makeup:
I had a recommendation in the few days before we left to visit with Dianne Gardner..so we did. She is in Kapa'a up in the mountains, very beautiful area! She was great to meet with, very knowledgeable, has been doing this for years, and has even done modeling shows and the like so she is familiar with having to do alot of people at once and working under pressure. Plus she really loves to work with brides. She showed me some pictures (I had also seen some before), played with my hair a bit, we talked about makeup and hair..and about my bridesmaids, etc...and we really spent more time talking with her about her garden than the hair..but I liked that part better anyway!

I think she's an excellent choice and her rates are very reasonable as well. Definitely recommended so far. She charges $50 to come out to Waimea and do everyone's hair and makeup because its about a 45 min drive for her.

Equipment Rentals:
We are using Lee's Rentals as recommended by a few different vendors, and got pricing over the phone while there. They just require that we call them a few months before the wedding to be sure that they have what we need (though we talked on the phone and I determined they did already) and finalize details. They also sent us a packet of information which I have not yet opened. They have white wood tables and the typical white wooden folding chairs (I wanted wood not plastic) and prices are very reasonable. I am working with Karen.

Photographer:
We are bringing someone locally most likely, so no recommendations here...

DJ/Music:
We decided to do DJ for the entire time since I don't want to hassle with live musicians AND a DJ coordination. We are using Mike Dandurand who comes recommended from a few different people and Linda at WPC has worked with him before as well. We tried to meet up while there, but he didnt return our call and I think I had an old # anyway. He emailed me when we returned to say he was sorry we didnt meet up, so we are now going to discuss details via email. I'm not too concerned about meeting with him as I have heard he is excellent and his prices are decent as well ( a little pricey but he's supposed to be good)--plus he has always been attentive via email and seems to know his stuff. We'll be using him for around 5.5 hours...for both ceremony and reception. He is familiar with WPC and the Managers House which is a huge perk so we don't really have to direct him on where to go/what to do etc.

I think that's all for vendors...can't recall anyone else off the top of my head. All in all a very productive trip and we are happy with everyone. Can't wait for the big day..wish it was sooner!

Feel free to email me about vendors for #'s or more info.

 

[Lanee]

Mara, you just made it hard for me to stick to my new plans. We decided to take a cruise in the mediterranean and get married on a hilltop and have the family on the cruise with us but now I want to reconsider Hawaii. Well, I have to get Carlos to check out your post and pictures. I'm so happy you posted the info. Meeting with vendors was the reason we took Kauai out of the running. It's just too great a distance and an expensive trip to make from Chicago for preliminary stuff. Thanks.

 

[Mara]

Lanee hopefully my post inspires others! We were totally sold on Kauai and wish we could figure out a way to live there and not be in the service industry or agriculture!

Of course we live in California which isn't exactly the bottom of the barrel on geography, we have similar topography to Hawaii here in N. CA and also some areas of Kauai look alot like some really lush and green mountain areas here....but of course CA does not compare to Hawaii!

We are just spoiled I guess. Can't wait til next year!!

Your idea sounds lovely as well...I think in the end anything is going to be spectacular when you do something like Hawaii or a Mediterranean thing. My only concern for the cruise would be...can you tolerate your families on a boat for a week? I don't think that would work for our families...not that they don't get along but they would drive ME insane...which is not what I'd want to recall for my wedding/honeymoon trip!

At least this way everyone is spread out on 30 acres and we are taking off a few days after the wedding for a REAL honeymoon -- by ourselves!

Interesting note is that the Hawaii wedding is currently pricing out at around $6k less than our original Bayarea/N.CA wedding and we have all the quotes in now. So we look at it like... if we had the wedding here in CA...it'd be $6k more AND we'd still have to go on a honeymooon. By doing it in Hawaii, we filter out those people who would have just come to our wedding for food and drink...get the tropical locale for an entire week during the wedding and before etc...save $6k AND still get a honeymoon. So its not a bad deal.

 

[Lanee]

Mara,

If you don't mind, PM me with your budget, I would like to be able to give a $$ figure to Carlos when discussing Hawaii as an option. I don't know today, we're like, "we are either eloping, just the two of us or getting married in the back yard because I'm sick of going back and forth" If it;s not, "I'd rather go . . . then it's but the kids can't take the time off school" All things that we knew might be problems and I'm okay with those people not going but, Carlos wants certain people there despite their difficulty. Agh!

 

[antiquediamond]

Mara, Why aren't you a wedding planner??!! When I go online to look for wedding ideas, I check out the knot, the wedding channel, and pricescope to see if Mara has any fabulolus new tips. You're trip to Hawaii sounds like it was wonderful. When is your wedding again? We won't be getting married in Hawaii, but we are planning a 2-week honeymoon there for next August!! Any suggestions from you for saving $$ on hotels, activities, dinners w/o sacrificing the feeling of luxury we all want for a honeymoon would be great. We're thinking of Maui and Kauai. Just curious what you think...

 

[Kamuelamom]

C'mon over guys! The palm trees, blue ocean and warm breezes await you, be it honeymoon or just a badly needed Hawaiian vacation.

 

[pqcollectibles]

I would air freight myself in a box, but someone already done that. Now I know they would find me hold up in the cargo section! LOLOL

Mara! Your plans are coming together beautifully and the pics are gorgeous!

No I didn't fall off the face of the earth. I fell into the "Family Abyss". Running kids all summer has yet to let up. Fall sports began and we have to be in 3 places at one time a lot. Most nights, we fall in the door between 8 and 9pm. Some nights we have family dinner and some nights everyone eats on the fly. It is a rolling insane asylum throughout the week and everyone dies come Sunday. Life is really really hectic. I can truly relate to your R&R sentiments Mara. Can I stow away in a suitcase when you make the next trip for your wedding??? I really could use the rest!!!

 

[Mara]

Hmm I didn't get notified on the responses on this...that whole thing must have been reset when Leo redid the site. Anyway---PQ its SOO good to see you back..I have hugely missed you. Don't be such the stranger!

Kids aren't THAT important!

AntiqueD: we're getting married in May which we have heard is an excellent time to go. We went in September this year and it was still just a little too hot for us...but the evenings are divine. In Kauai on the northern side of the island, it's a little cooler and more tropical...on our side near the west it was drier and alot hotter..we could definitely tell the difference in the air just driving around the island. Being that CA is drier and warm--we felt right at home on the west side of the island. I didn't find Kauai (whether north or west or whatever!) to be humid at all--even though we are used to having it dry here in CA. August should be a nice time for you two but hot!




We highly recommend Kauai for some quieter romance. We have never been to the other islands but I have met extensively with our travel agent to discuss the other islands in case we wanted to do a honeymoon there instead of Tahiti to save $$. Turns out that a really nice resort on Maui for a week is the same $$ as the week in Tahiti so we are taking the Tahiti trip because it's something different. Very different. We figure we'll visit Hawaii again sooner than we'd have the chance to do the Tahiti thing. And we got the TA down a few thousand to excellent pricing for Moorea (instead of Bora Bora) which is a very small island...so we are really excited if that pans out. Hopefully we can solidify that and confirm.




Anyway I digress. Maui from what I have heard is excellent but it's definitely more alive and touristy than Kauai is. If you like to be out and doing things at night and more of the party types with alot around you, Maui should be great. We are more of the veg out, don't want to be around other people or tourists or do those types of things...so we loved Kauai esp the west side where there were not as many tourist traps and the feel was more authentic.




I would actually recommend doing both islands if you can since you never have...maybe directly after the wedding do Kauai for that much needed R&R after that hectic time...you may not WANT to do anything super active for a few days. Then head over to Maui and live it up for the last half of the trip. The big island is also really highly recommended by my travel agent. I have heard from more than one person that Oahu is way too commercial and busy, hectic and crowded to be really relaxing, it's more of a party area it sounds like.




Sorry for the ramble but we would definitely recommend Kauai. We are still talking about it and gazing wistfully at the pictures. Next May *cannot* come soon enough. You can even do something like our WPC cottage deal, save some $$ and stay in a more rustic area for a few days to see what it's like (quiet!), and then go over to the other side of the island for the Princeville Resort or Hanalei Bay Resort where there are more tourists and resorts, and stay in the lap of luxury for alot of $$....experience both sides and see what you think!

Lastly I would recommend a travel agent. If you need a name I can give you the name of ours...she can work with people over the phone very easily and she is SUCH a great fountain of knowledge on Hawaii!! She seems to go every year and has been EVERYWHERE it seems. She showed us some amazing resorts on the islands and told us her favorites (Four Seasons on Maui, Hyatt on Kauai) where you can really drop the coinage! But if you have a budget, she works around that too. Her original Tahiti estimates were insanely expensive, we kept dropping it and she finally worked something out. She can get great package deals on airfare, and the whole nine yards. It's so much easier than planning it yourself and the costs will probably be less and you have an opinion you can trust. My two cents. Or just stay at WPC on Kauai

Rent our cottage and take care of our cats!

 

[fire&ice]

----------------
On 9/11/2003 12:19:10 PM Mara wrote:

----------------

Just catching up on the other boards - needing space away from hubby who is sulking over his *team* losing.

I missed this. When did you decide on Hawaii?

You crack me up. I pride myself about being able to think outside the box - but you take the cake - and the wedding cake at that!

Kudo's to you! Sounds great!

 

[bling]

Hi Mara,
What is WPC? hehehe..sorry if thats a lame questions..

[rodent:]

 

[Mara]

WPC is Waimea Plantation Cottages: www.waimeaplantation.com which is where we are staying (where some of the pictures above were taken), where we are getting married, where we are partying....

It's on the West Side of Kauai!

 

[aneelcon]

Mara,

I just saw your post about getting bay area people together. I knew you were the diamond info queen, but not the queen of wedding planners. I live in Emeryville (where the 1st bay area IKEA is) and came upon this website around the time I got engaged. I can't believe you're getting married in Hawai'i and doing the honeymoon in Tahiti. I was planning on doing the same exact thing until I saw the outrageous prices for Tahiti. I wanted to splurge on our honeymoon but not that much. In Tahiti, are you getting one of those huts that are right on the water? Those rooms that have a hole in the middle of it where you can feed the fishies directly from your room?

 

[ccuheartnurse]

Mara,
Great location! How absolutely breathtaking.

You're wedding will be spectacular.

Judy

 

[Mara]

Aneelcon..you should PM me your email address as we are trying to get together a group for a BayArea meeting!

Well we WERE going to Tahiti..actually the island of Moorea to be exact...until we decided to jump in head first and buy a new townhouse before we get married. That will take most of our available funds--getting into the house, decorating, etc..and then of course there is the saving for the wedding! So between the two, we figured that a big fun week in Tahiti may not be the best thing for the savings account at that point. So we are staying in Hawaii for that extra week which is much cheaper since we are already there, and moving to either a different island or another part of Kauai. Then late next fall after things have calmed down, we are going to try to take a 2-3 week trip to Europe--someplace I have never been. So that's the plan...for now...we'll see how it pans out.

Who knows, priorites are always changing!




But hopefully someday we'll be able to visit Moorea, the islands and pictures look stunning. And actually...if the Tahiti prices shocked you..Moorea and the other similar but smaller islands are much cheaper. Still expensive, but not AS. Our initial price estimate was exhorbitant for an overwater hut in Bora Bora. We almost choked. So our travel agent got a little crafty and came up with Moorea, which is similar but alot more quiet--that's more our style anyway. I have heard from multiple people that Tahiti is way too commercial now--hence trying to do Bora Bora which we have heard was like Tahiti years ago before it got so bad. But now that's really expensive. So Moorea is like Bora Bora WAS before it started to be more like Tahiti..etc..it's a circle I guess.




Also we were going to do a beach hut instead of overwater...really it was just all about being THERE...not necessarily the hut overwater. And doing those two simple things cut the cost of the trip in half. So I would suggest looking into other options than just Tahiti and overwater. A great travel agent helps too, ours is in San Jose if you want her #. She's great.

 

[mocojo]

Hi Mara!

Congratulations! You are a newlywed, yes? i hope the wedding was all you hoped it would be. I am new to this chat board, but have some questions to ask you! I am planning on getting married on Kauai myself in October of next year, and I greatly value real advice from people who have experienced what destination wedding planning is like. Hopefully you can provide me with the insider scoop.

I saw your vendor list and found it very useful. We are going out to Kauai in January to check out sites all around Hanalei...some private estates, The Managers House, the Botanical Gardens, and The Hanalei Colony Resort (among others...). I want to try to set up as many appointments as possible with vendors before we go.

So, can you give me contact info for everyone you dealt with as well as an "after the fact" assessment of their quality, etc.?

I would GREATLY appreciate it!
Molly
ps...a native NoCal girl myself!

 

[Mara]

Hi mojoco, actually we are not married yet, next May.




The only people we really contacted and worked with are posted in this post...you can google their names/companies pretty easily and find either an email address or phone number or both. www.theknot.com is a great place for destination weddings, the message boards in Hawaii in particular are where I found recommends for all my vendors. If you have any Q's...post there and people always tend to answer within a day. If you have a specific question on a vendor, please PM me.




Good luck, Kauai is beautiful...Hanalei is the more rainy and lush side of Kauai (with more mosquitos!!), we are a little more partial to the West side ourselves where its drier and less touristy...but will probably venture over to beautiful Hanalei for a few days after our wedding before heading home.

The Colony Resort is beautiful if I recall it correctly.

 

[mocojo]

Thanks Mara! One person I can't find on the web is your makeup gal Dianne Gardner. Do you have her contact info? Otherwise, I will check out the Knot. One tip for you...I would check into Stewart Pinsky for a photographer. his work looks great...and he will travel over from Maui. Do a google search for him....

I know about the sunny side vs. hanalei...and part of me is torn. But I just can't picture a prettier back drop than Bali Hai, etc. So pretty.

I am busy planning out my trip in january to check places out. So I may change my mind. I have all the info on WPC too. That was the very first place I saw...so quaint.

Molly

 

[Mara]

moc..I will PM you on Dianne.




We are actually bringing our photographer with us here from SF...we already had met with him and everything BEFORE we decided on Hawaii, so we worked out a spectacular deal with him and he's excellent (www.orangephotography.com -- Andy Berry). We really like him and he young and fresh--so he should have a blast hanging out with us and we are hoping that we'll get more pix out of it because he's got more of a vested interest and will be involved in all the activities, etc.

hee hee.

 

[reneemwill]

Hi Mara -- I''m new to this post but have read all about your wedding in Kauai with much thanks! My fiancé and I have been considering getting married there... that is where he proposed(!) and we just loved the entire island.

I was wondering if you had any advice on ''warning'' friends and family that you are planning a destination wedding. How did your family react and how did you let people know in advance to start saving up? I really want to get married here... but I''m nervous about coordinating it with our potential guests.

Thanks so much. Your wedding was so beautiful and so is your ring!!!!!!

Renee