Maui: Wedding 2015

“The Life”

Weddings and Special Occasions

Maui County April–May 2015

Aloha from the Publisher

This is the third and final issue that will combine our regular Ke Ola issue with the flip-side Weddings and Special Occasions section.

Beginning in June, Ke Ola’s Weddings and Special Occasions magazine will be published as a standalone issue twice a year.

Our Summer/Fall and Winter/Spring Weddings and Special Occasions issues, will enable us to share many more stories about Maui County with couples and families wishing to have meaningful celebrations by connecting with Maui County’s culture, land and ocean.

In addition to our regular, local circulation, Weddings and Special Occasions will also be mailed to travel agents and event planners along the Pacific Coast and Las Vegas—it will even be distributed at mainland bridal expos! If you or anyone you know is interested in being part of this exciting development, please have them contact us!

Also, if you have story ideas, please send them to Maui County Editor Debra Lordan: MCeditor@keolamagazine.com.

We’d like to acknowledge Maui’s Chef Lyndon Honda, owner of Laulima Catering, who spearheaded two Project Kōkua for Hawai‘i Island benefits—the first on Maui; the second in Hilo. The events raised $43,127, 100 percent of which is currently being distributed

by Rotary clubs in East Hawai‘i to residents of Puna, the area most affected by the recent hurricanes and lava flow. Mahalo to Chef Lyndon and everyone who genereously donated time and treasure to make these two events so spectacular, including all the people who attended and purchased silent auction items!

KeOlaMagazine.com | Maui County, April/May 2015

Me ke aloha pumehana (with warm aloha), Barbara Garcia, Publisher

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UA MAU KE EA O KA ‘ĀINA I KA PONO.

The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.

[Its sustainability depends on doing what is right.] Proclamation by Kona-born King Kamehameha III in 1843. Later adopted as the Hawai‘i state motto.

Publisher, Sales and Marketing

Barbara Garcia Bowman, 808.442.3244 x1, Barb@KeOlaMagazine.com

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Debra Lordan, 808.442.3244 x2, MCeditor@KeOlaMagazine.com

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Ke Ola recognizes the use of the ‘okina [‘] or glottal stop, as one of the eight consonants of (modern) Hawaiian language; and the kahakō [-] or macron (e.g., in place names of Hawai‘i such as Hāna). Ke Ola respects the individual use of these markings for names of organizations and businesses.

Maui’s Magical Wedding Industry

The Valley Isle offers every kind of wedding in any kind of setting. | By Katherine Kama‘ema‘e Smith

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A Budding Romance Business

KeOlaMagazine.com | Maui County, April/May 2015

that catered to visitors’ desire for leisure, privacy and creature ne coordinator tells her clients, “If you can dream it, comforts. Kā‘anapali was marketed as an exclusive golf and I can create it.” And that is exactly the way Maui weddings are beach fly-in destination—a dress-for-dinner playground for the marketed on the worldwide web—any kind of wedding in any rich and famous. kind of setting with whatever romantic The earliest anyone could tell me effect that the couple can dream of about a “wedding trade” for visitors (and can afford). was around 1983, when two or three The wedding industry on Maui entrepreneurs began listening to is large—nobody can deny it. But brides and trying to deliver what they actual numbers for the dollar volume wanted in a community where very just don’t exist. Trying to find out few resources existed. Tastes were how everything works was more like either traditional, hippy or Hawaiian— an Easter egg hunt than investigative and all combinations thereof. journalism. Although there seems “In those days, I rented my own to be a happy couple, romance and tuxedos, provided the limos, flowers, creativity around every corner on the music, banquet, decorations, cake, Valley Isle, statistics on the number of photographer and minister,” said marriage licenses issued in the state Sandy Barker, owner of A Romantic are hidden deep in the state Hawai‘i Maui Wedding. “It was a matter of Department of Health website. putting everything together with In 2013, the last full year of what we had—sometimes making it reporting, 22,813 marriages were up as we went. I advertised in Bride conducted in Hawai‘i—half of them Maui offers any kind of wedding in any kind of setting with whatever Magazine next to the ads for Las on O‘ahu. Maui had 6,335. This is a romantic effect that the couple can dream of (and can afford).

Photo courtesy Barry Frankel photography Vegas wedding chapels. I poured a lot pretty good subset indicator, and the of money back into my business and it wedding business universe may be paid off. The trick was to have the best photographers; the best considerably larger. florists; the best bakers; all working with you, then bring in the Independent and hotel-based wedding coordinators employ business and keep everyone working. Sometimes couples would a host of service contractors, including wedding officiants, ask if my crew were related to one another because we worked musicians, photographers, caterers, florists, Hawaiian together like a family.” practitioners, rental companies, limousines, designers, hair Sandy was also the founder of Hawaii Wedding Professionals stylists and cosmetologists, in addition to bartenders, massage Association (now called Maui Wedding Association), a trade therapists, boat charters and babysitters. The sky’s the limit. organization for independent coordinators.

Therefore, the number One time, she had a 2pm. wedding scheduled in Kā‘anapali, of dollars spent on each and a fire on the Pali closed the highway. The wedding party in wedding varies widely Kīhei could not get to the and only the coordinators West Side. really know how much “I never say ʻno,’ so I they make each year. asked the bride to push back the time to 4pm,” said Sandy. “I called Photo courtesy Charlie Hull a charter captain in Mā‘alaea and he charged In 1955, when Hawai‘i tourists didn’t venture beyond Honolulu me $800 to go down to and Waikīkī, most Maui wedding ceremonies were conducted Kīhei and pick up the for the sons and daughters of local residents. By the 1970s, “We called it ʻElegant Goth.’”

Photo courtesy White Orchid Weddings party at Kīhei Harbor and travelers began to “discover” West Maui’s self-contained resorts

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KeOlaMagazine.com | Maui County, April/May 2015

romance of a great marriage, Maui is a candy store of possibilities—unique and dream-quality events for memories to last a lifetime.

The wedding business also includes Asian couples who legally marry in Japan or Korea, and come to Hawai‘i for the party—a party that includes bridal Grand Wailea Wedding Chapel viewed photos in luscious from the wedding banquet terrace surroundings and Photo courtesy Grand Wailea breathtaking backdrops.

It’s all the same to wedding coordinators, except no marriage license is required for renewals or re-enactments—so these “weddings” don’t show up in Hawai‘i statistics.

It seems the wedding industry is more robust than it appears on paper, with the bulk of the wedding iceberg “under water” and plenty of dollars to go around.

Photo courtesy White Orchid Weddings

Enter Maui’s Hotels In the 1980s and ’90s, Maui resorts didn’t have wedding departments. They referred requests to independent coordinators. Hawai‘i Visitors and Convention Bureau (HVCB) responded to requests for wedding coordinators by sending out a packet of information.

Independent coordinators had to send a box of brochures to HVCB, and their literature was

put in the package.

Independents even developed their own private wedding venues. Beach weddings became very popular and created a wedding business boom. Literally anyone could start a wedding business. In 2008, the Maui County Department of Parks and

How Much of the Wedding Cake is Under Water?

Vow renewals and reenacted weddings add to the size of the wedding business in Hawai‘i. Photo courtesy Ananda Stone

With a growing baby boomer population, a lot of ceremonies are not performed for marriage, but for vow renewal. For brides and grooms, and couples who want to revive the

A one-of-a kind venue, intimate elegance and exotic food are all part of the wedding planner’s bag of tricks. Photo courtesy Anna Kim Photography, Maui

KeOlaMagazine.com | Maui County, April/May 2015

bring them to Kā‘anapali Beach. It saved the day, made a fabulous story and the captain became part of the wedding team.”

Today, couples apply for a Hawai‘i marriage license online. Up until 2010 they had to appear in person before Mrs. Florence Hasegawa. She would type it up. Florence became a marriage license agent for Maui County Department of Health and a license issuer Florence Hasegawa, 1908-2010 for the state Department Photo courtesy The Maui News, 2010 of Health in 1930. She continued to work out of her home office in Lāhainā until she was 101 years old!

Wedding veteran Charlie Hull started his wedding business, Dolphin Dream Weddings, on a wrong number.

“I picked up the phone one day,” Charlie recalled. “It was some poor gal who wanted to get married on Maui and couldn’t find a coordinator to help her. I sympathized with her and told her that I would try to find someone on island and call her back.”

After 20 or 30 calls, I got her a minister, a photographer, a guy to play the ‘ukulele, a place to have her party, a chef and flowers,” Charlie said. “Then I thought this might be a good business venture.

I began my company, which was very successful.

In 2007, I retired and sold my business after marrying over 4,000 couples. That’s not counting the vow renewals.”

White Orchid Weddings is another successful independent operation. Owner Carolee Higashino has six coordinators who cater to each couple’s every wish.

“We pride ourselves on being able to create fabulous, elegant, outdoor weddings that take advantage of our best Maui resources,” said Carolee. “We have had underwater weddings, parasail weddings—and every one is romantic. Last year, a couple came and asked for a ‘Goth’ wedding. I was almost stumped— but I am very proud of the décor we put together, which we called ‘Elegant Goth.’ The couple and guests were delighted!”

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absolutely amazing, and one of a kind. It is truly an amazing experience from the very beginning, as the couples become part of our ‘ohana.”

Making the Magic Happen

After 2008, Maui County required beach wedding permits and prohibited alcohol on Maui beaches but the champagne toast continues off the beach. Photo courtesy Charlie Hull

Recreation began issuing permits for any commercial use of beaches, including weddings and vow renewals. An ordinance prohibiting alcohol on beaches put a crimp in the traditional champagne toast after a Maui beach wedding.

By 2000, resort hotels had their own wedding coordinators, offering inclusive wedding and honeymoon packages with accommodations for the wedding party and guests.

The Grand Wailea is one of them.

“We have beautiful landscaping, and several wedding venues with dramatic ocean views,” said Mary Ann Bowman Blanchard, a wedding coordinator at the resort. “The chapel is

The most important thing I discovered in my interviews with people in the wedding business is that they are experts at keeping their clients happy, and making every single wedding a unique and special occasion. When things go wrong, they save the day. When things go right, they delight and share in the celebration. What is the magic of a Maui wedding celebration?

It’s our island, of course. I suspect it is also the magicians— Maui wedding coordinators who create an illusion that goes far beyond even the wildest dreams. ❖ Contact writer Katherine Kama‘ema‘e Smith: honumaui@gmail.com

Photo courtesy Anna Kim Photography, Maui

KeOlaMagazine.com | Maui County, April/May 2015

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