• HAWAII’S PRETEST TRAVEL UPDATE (written by Michelle Baran)
• Another update to the pretravel testing program is that out-of-state travelers (ages five and older) arriving in Hawaii now need to furnish evidence of a negative FDA-approved nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT) result taken within 72 hours of travel prior to boarding. Previously, travelers could provide their results to state officials upon arrival in Hawaii.
• The only test results that will be accepted will be those produced by one of these labs or clinics: American Family Care (AFC); American Samoa Department of Health; Atlas Genomics; Bartell Drugs; Capstone Clinic; Carbon Health; CityHealth Urgent Care at Oakland Airport; Clarity Lab Solutions; Clinical Laboratories of Hawaii;...

If your love for palm trees and ocean breezes rivals none other than your love for your significant other, then a destination wedding might be right for you. Unfortunately, most couples shun the idea of having one due to a preconceived notion that destination weddings are too expensive or too difficult to plan. Fortunately, that’s not the case. In fact, you might just find the opposite to be true. Having a destination wedding has never been easier, and we’re happy to show you how. Here are a few things to consider if you’re thinking about tying the knot and hulaing a lot.

Your Budget

Believe it or not, a destination wedding is often cheaper than a traditional wedding. That’s because most of your wedding-related costs stem from the venue you book and the food you provide....

Aloha Everyone,

I receive this question at least a few times every week. We do understand that to have a wedding on Maui, you are dipping deep into you or your parents savings. Thinking about giving gratuities as well, seems a bit much. For some vendors, service charges may be included right into your contracts. Tipping – although not mandatory is always appreciated for a job well done. It’s also a kind and thoughtful gesture to the people who helped you put your entire ceremony together. With that being said, here are some guidelines to tipping.

Hair and Make-up Stylist:

A gratuity is definitely expected as you would do the same if you went to a salon. It would be a15 – 20% tip and should be given at the end of your services.

Delivery and Set-up...

This is a question we get asked all of the time and to tell the truth when I travel I ask the same question. However, in Hawaii if you are asking about local food, you are actually asking about five types of local food!

When the islands were first settled during the pre-contact era which was 300 AD to 1778, the Polynesian voyagers brought back animals and what are called “canoe plants” to settle this new land. To the native Hawaiians local food is of course our delicious fresh fish as well as many of the plants that came over such as Taro, Coconuts, Sugarcane, and Sweet Potatoes. Along with their earth ovens called Imus (you can see them unearth the roasted pig at some of our luaus), they had a wonderful variety of cooked meat, vegetables and fruit.

Aloha Everyone,

Inviting children to a wedding can become a heated discussion when you are at home. However, at a destination wedding, the answer is Yes. People are traveling a great distance to come to your wedding. Most of them will probably want it to be their family vacation. Why not let them enjoy your wedding as a family too! There are excellent licensed babysitters in the hotels if its going to be way past a child’s bedtime so there is a way to keep them comfortable too. Otherwise, the more the merrier!kissing with baby on dress

The children we have had the privilege of meeting at Maui Aloha Weddings have added joy not only to the Bride and Groom and their families, but definitely to our photographers as some of the best pictures turn out to be of the children. We...

Aloha Everyone!Old Timey Kuya

Planning your wedding/vow renewal ceremony is definitely the most important part of your big day! At home, this would be rather routine as you go to your place of worship or to the justice of peace and arrange the ceremony. But when you are having a destination ceremony, there is more to think about. This is where a coordinator can be of service to you!

First of all, at Maui Aloha Weddings, we take this part of your day very seriously and will not give you an 8 minute ceremony. If you are pledging to spend the rest of your life with someone, the words and meaning of the ceremony should take longer then eight minutes. You will find that many weddings in Maui are just about that long. Make sure to find out what your ceremony is going to be like....

Aloha Everyone!

One of Maui’s more modern legends is about Pele, the goddess of Fire and Volcanoes and the removal of HER sand and rocks from the islands. We call it a modern legend because some people believe that a ranger in the national park system made it up in the 1930s, to stop people from taking the lava rocks. This may be true but there may be some deep roots attached to it. When we at Maui Aloha Weddings do the Sand Ceremony we aren’t using sand from our beaches… we actually purchase separate sand for our unity sand ceremony.

One thing you would have to realize, is that Hawaii is modern compared to many other states since it didn’t get its statehood until 1959 which is a controversy in itself. The Hawaiian islands are said to be discovered between 1200 and 1400...

Aloha Everyone,

We all know that planning a Wedding or Vow Renewal can get very expensive. Planning a destination Wedding or Vow Renewal can even be more so – but it doesn’t have to be. One big thing to remember is that you are also including your honeymoon/vacation in the planning. When celebrating on the main land, you have the expense of the ceremony, reception/dinner and then the honeymoon/vacation. When coming to Maui – it’s all in one!

There are ways that you can save money when planning this big event. In Maui, typically October and May are less expensive for travel, accommodations, food and activities on the island. October is right after the summer visitors and just before we start the holiday time in November. Believe me that all of the rates climb up during...

This week I had two disturbing conversations. One bride told me that they had booked a rental home in Maui and it turned out to be fraudulent. Unfortunately, they lost a couple of thousand dollars. Another bride told me that she booked with a coordinator who asked for a $1000 deposit and then never got back to her. She is having difficulty getting in touch with her and has lost her money as well.

These type of conversations really make me sad. For the most part, people in Maui are very gracious and loving. Tourism is our largest economic factor and we welcome people onto our island so that they can enjoy it and it helps Maui too. One bad apple in the bunch – or in these cases two – really can turn people off to coming to Maui. This is NOT the norm with our family and friends who...

Congratulations on your big news! You have a very exciting time ahead of you – planning for your wedding. Whether it will be a simple romantic wedding for the two of you, a blow-out extravaganza to celebrate with your friends and family or a destination wedding, there will be planning.

Congratulations on your big news! You have a very exciting time ahead of you – planning for your wedding. Whether it will be a simple romantic wedding for the two of you, a blow-out extravaganza to celebrate with your friends and family or a destination wedding, there will be planning.

The best place to start planning your Maui destination wedding is to decide if you would like a beach wedding or are you more interested in a venue wedding. Beach weddings in Maui are the most popular and it just costs $20 for a permit which your coordinator can secure for you. All beaches in Hawaii are public and in Maui all but two are allowed to have ceremonies. Two beaches are under protection by the state and are not allowed to have ceremonies on them.

When our couples come to Maui to get married or for their vow renewals, they begin realizing we use the word ALOHA to say hello, goodbye and as an expression of love. But Aloha is so much more – it is a way of life.

ALOHA really means love, compassion and inner peace. When someone has Aloha, the heart is so filled with love and peace that it is contagious to those around them and it is offered to them freely. Many people use the word Aloha too freely when saying hello and goodbye to anyone. It should only be said when it comes from the heart.

This helps me in so many ways. There are days that can be difficult as in any business but when you email or speak with your customers and end with an Aloha, it makes your heart open up and handle even the most difficult situations. It...

At Maui Aloha Weddings we hear many reasons why people want to have a destination wedding. From I don’t want to be married in front of a lot of people I really don’t know well, I’m too nervous to have a big wedding, too much stress, I can’t seat my husband’s relatives next to my relatives, Grandma Gertrude doesn’t speak to Grandpa Horace anymore and so on! Most people don’t express why it’s a great idea to have a destination wedding. We would like to tell you some of those reasons.

We are such a global society that many couples are going to have people traveling to their wedding no matter where they live. If they are going to travel anyway, why not travel to someplace as special as Maui where they can vacation and enjoy your wedding too! Maui Aloha Weddings has a wonderful...

Aloha Brides, Grooms and Friends,

Lately we have had some interesting phone calls and emails about weddings. Brides who were married on the mainland are coming to Maui with their gowns just to get wedding photos. True, we have beautiful sunsets and magnificent scenery but that’s not the main reason they are coming to us. They are disappointed with their pictures and their photographer so they are coming to Maui looking for something better!

I’ve noticed one of our most clicked on buttons on our contact form is “I Don’t Know – Please Help”. When planning a destination wedding or vow renewal, you are putting your very special day into someone’s hands that is far away and hoping that they will do the best for you. What can you do on your end that can help keep your wedding the way you want it to? Our best suggestion is to plan and prepare but you need to know what to plan and prepare for. Actually, every bride and groom needs to do the same, destination wedding, vow renewal or not.question mark