Been There, Done That - Maui Part 1

(image of ClassicPartyRentals.com taken from MyMauiWedding.blogspot.com)

Everyone remember this cool wedding I entitled Maui Wowie... Here's Megan with her first article for MIW readers.

Planning a Maui Wedding

Aloha! My name is Megan Finley- I just had an awesome wedding on the island of Maui which inspired me to start a blog about planning weddings on Maui with an emphasis on using local products. And, if I'm being honest, I got a LOT of my inspiration from Kelley's blog. So she was kind enough to ask me to do a guest blog about my experiences with MY island wedding. I thought I'd take this opportunity to spread some of my knowledge about planning an island wedding on Maui.


There are two ways of planning a wedding in Maui. One way is to buy a package deal and the other way is to plan it yourself. The former plan is good if you have A. never been to Maui before, B. don't know anyone on the island or C. HATE planning things. I recommend planning the wedding yourself though if you have the opportunity. And that is exactly what I did- with a little help from my island friends.


As far as buying a package deal, there's totally nothing wrong with that. There are many options most are very budget friendly if you go that route. And I even toyed with the idea of doing a submarine wedding package for our wedding this year. But my husband put the kibosh on that. The cool part about packaged wedding deals on Maui is that they pretty much take care of everything for you- the time, the place, the officiant, the leis, the license & the photographer. But the bad part about packaged wedding deals is that they take care of EVERYTHING, which means there's not much room to make your wedding unique and personalized. You're just another "bride" and "groom" going through the same "wedding routine." Boo for that.


That's why I recommend that if you can, plan your own Maui wedding! Because a wedding is a lot more than beautiful location and a pretty dress- it's an expression of who you are as a couple! I believe so strongly in this idea that I've started a blog which exists solely for that purpose- mymauiwedding.blogspot.com has tips and inside information to help you find the ceremony & reception locations, flowers, favors, dresses, officiants, photographers, etc. to enable you to make your wedding as personalized as possible. (AND I'm available by email to help any and all Maui brides with their questions if you'd like.)


Besides consulting my blog, the very BEST advice that I can give you is to take a trip to Maui. There is no substitute for being on the island, because, if you didn't already know, the Hawaiian islands are full of magic and spirit of Aloha, and if you work in harmony with the islands, they tend to give you exactly what you need. I went in March to plan our October wedding and in one day I got the photographer, locations & day-of wedding planner. And during the rest of my weeks stay almost all of the other details were sorted out based on coincidences and connections we made while on the island. Talk about stress free wedding planning, well, it was pretty close to it. And if you check travel sites and sign up for fare updates specific to Maui you can find some super affordable fares.


Plus with the aid of my blogs like mine & Kelley's you can find local products for your wedding which, if your hotel or venue agree to it, you can save on postage by having things like favors & OOT (out of town) gift bag items shipped locally, instead of paying to have things from the mainland shipped to the islands. (Trust me, those shipping costs may cause heart failure.) I was lucky to have a family member on the island to act as my local mailing address.


So all you wahines contemplating getting Maui'd- go ahead and express yourself by making your wedding on Maui stand out from all the others, and I think you'll find that it can be easier than you think with help from sites like My Island Wedding , My Maui Wedding & a quick planning trip to Maui.


(Stay tuned for another post about my Maui wedding, including a story about a shark attack and our non-traditional beach day of relaxation mere hours before our "I do's.")