Maui Wedding Planner By Susan

Another New Maui Weddings Website

2008-03-21T20:02:00.001-10:00

Okay, what's so special about this new Maui weddings website? The LOW PRICES! If you are interested in having a wedding in Hawaii, you owe it to yourself to check out Maui Weddings For You.

The cost of the wedding packages on this website are quite a ways below those available on other Maui weddings websites. How can I offer such great prices? Because I'm both a minister and a photographer, so I don't have to hire out these tasks to other vendors.

So check out the new website and you'll see some great features and a lot of benefits for using Maui Weddings For You. You definitely want to go to the Maui Weddings Packages Page.

Mahalo,
Rev. John Souter

Vanisha Mittal: The World's Most Costly Bride

2007-11-29T19:18:00.001-10:00

Did Vanisha Mittal get married on Maui? Hardly. This young woman, just listed as one of the richest in the world according to Forbes… had a really, really expensive wedding.

It was given to her by Vanisha’s father, Lakshmi Mittal. On June 22, 2004, Vanisha Mittal and and her fiancée Amit Bhatia were wed on at Vaux le Vicomte, a 17th-century French chateau. The ceremony took place on the final day of a six-day celebration.

And guess how much all of this cost? The estimated cost of that wedding celebration was a mere… $60 million USD. And you thought gettin married in Hawaii would be expensive!!

Nouveau Riche University

2007-10-30T16:28:00.000-10:00

This is just a quick post to reaffirm my earlier blog entry today about our new website explaining more details about Nouveau Riche University. I just want to tell you about our other pages on the site as well:

The Curriculum page at:
http://nrusuccess.com/curriculum.htm

The contents of their Real Estate Encyclopedia:
http://nrusuccess.com/R2E2Contents.htm

Our About Me Page:
http://nrusuccess.com/aboutme.htm

We also have a new NRUSuccess Blog:
http://nrusuccess.com/blog

Hope you enjoy the site!

Home Based Business

2007-10-30T15:27:00.000-10:00

Would you like to start a home based business in which you can create a good monthly cash machine for yourself? Who wouldn't.

Are you currently making enough money to live the way you would like? Probably not. Almost all of us could use more income.

What about your financial future? Do you have the kind of investments that will allow you to retire someday (preferably when you're still young), and enjoy life the way you would like? Again, my guess is -- probably not.

If you said yes to any of the above questions, you will want to take a moment and discover a brand new way of increasing your bottom line: Nouveau Riche University is an incredible new College that is designed to give you the kind of education which you can use to build a long-term financial wealth.

But it also provides a great opportunity to create for yourself an ongoing cash flow simply by sharing your experience with family and friends. I personally know people who are involved in NRU who are earning up to $20K $40K, even $50,000 per month! Now, its obvious that everyone isn't going to achieve those kinds of results, but the fact that it can be done certainly tweaked my interest.

I can't begin to do justice explaining this very interesting program in a short blog. You owe it to yourself to take a look for yourself at: NRUSuccess.com.

Maui Beachfront Condo Rentals

2007-08-01T10:32:00.000-10:00

If you are looking for a great Maui Beachfront Condo Rental you will want to take a look at hyperlink in this post. Our good friend Janna owns this beautiful property with four 1 bedroom oceanfront units. The condo units are very nice and reasonably priced per night. Take a look at her great website, located at: http://mauibeachfrontcondorental.com.

Janna is our florist and she does a superb job. She also offers a wedding site on her property which we have used on several occasions. You can see a picture of it at Maui Wedding Locations,
or by going to our Affordable Maui Weddings website.

Maui Wedding Packages

2007-07-26T12:59:00.000-10:00

Our most up-to-date Maui Wedding Packages information is now on our new Maui Me website located at http://mauime.com/maui-wedding-packages/. This page has a LOT of links to our many other services so if you go look at it, I'm sure you'll find a lot of information about have your Maui wedding in paradise.

We are in the process of upgrading all of our websites, so you might want to take a look at some of our other sites as well. Our Affordable Maui Weddings site is high up in Google, so it gets a little more attention. You can just click on the link above to get there.

Also, don't forget our newer blog which is called: "Will You Maui Me?"

2007-07-11T15:22:00.000-10:00

Our our new Maui Weddings website is up.

The new Maui Me site can be found through this link: Maui Weddings. The site is similar to our older Maui Me website, but with a lot more information added. You'll enjoy the home page, because it gives a lot of great information for those who are new at planning their Maui wedding and who want simple and easy information.

Our new Maui Wedding Packages section has a lot of great package deals which couples planning smaller weddings can use. Our Maui Me weddings are both romantic and affordable, and there is a lot of value in each of our packages.

In addition, there is a whole section in our site on how to select your wedding coordinator which is called: Maui Wedding Planners. Take a look at it.

Also, there are a number of wedding sites shown on the Maui Wedding Locations pages. You'll find lots of flower examples on the Hawaiian Wedding Flowers pages. Our Services for Maui Weddings includes links to a wide variety of pages including those on Maui Doves and butterfly releases, etc.

So take a look at the new Maui Me site where all our brides get their dream Maui weddings!

Beach Wedding Favors

2007-06-08T17:18:00.000-10:00

New Beach Wedding Favors Website

We have a new website that offers beach wedding favors to our couples. Now most of our weddings are too small to include favors for the guests -- because they're usually aren't too many guests attending our Maui beach weddings.

But if you have a larger wedding here with guests, or if you are planning a reception when you get back to the mainland, or even if you are having a wedding on the mainland but want a Maui beach wedding flavor, then I would suggest that you take a look at our new site.

You can find it by clicking Beach Wedding Favors and following the link.

Aloha

Maui Activities -- Ulalena

2007-01-10T09:46:00.000-10:00

Maui activities. You would think I would get my share of them.

But there are so many fun things to do here in Maui. Sometimes working here I get caught up with the daily chores of running our Maui wedding business and don’t take time to enjoy the Maui activities. Occasionally I do get the chance to “play tourist” and actually enjoy some of the cultural events that Maui has to offer.

Last week afforded that opportunity. Along with some friends, I was able to experience the wonder of the “Ulalena” production up in Lahaina. This does not just take place in a theater. It is a multi-million dollar, state-of-the-art venue built just for this presentation. It employs the talents of some of Hawaii’s most distinguished musicians and performers, combining live traditional Hawaiian music with 8-channel surround sound.

Traditional Butoh theatre is blended with acrobatic feats of strength and beauty. Its amazing watching some of the artists hanging from the ceiling and climbing up what appear to be ribbons. Hula is combined with modern dance. Rich costumes, lighting and stage design are woven together into a fantastic tapestry of images drawn from Hawaiian legend and history, and it pulls the viewer through time as you experience an awe inspiring, spirit-filled landscape of the imagination from the ancient Hawaiian story tellers.

The whole performance came alive even more as my friend’s daughter was one of the singer/dancers that night. It is truly a unique and exciting production that stimulated my senses and let me “feel” the spirit of Hawaii. I would highly recommend seeing it when you are here for your Maui wedding. This is truly . . .

A Maui activity not to be missed.

Maui Wedding Site

2007-01-09T22:29:00.000-10:00

Maui wedding site is up and running. You can find it at http://maui-wedding.com. For now this page links back to our Maui weddings site. This page has been completely redone and reworked.

If you haven't see our new photo blog, be sure that you go to "Will You Maui Me". Lots of Maui wedding photographs and stories about our Maui couples.

Again, stop by at our new or at least our newly redown site:

Maui wedding

Maui Weddings Update

2006-10-20T10:31:00.000-10:00

We have updated our entire Maui Weddings website so that our new blog will be found (instead of my blog here), to our new Will You Maui Me blog. Everyone of our pages on the http://maui-me.com website has been updated. These included:

Our Maui wedding packages page.
Our Maui wedding locations page.
Our Maui wedding ceremonies page.
Our Maui wedding services page.
Our Maui wedding site map page.
Our Maui wedding photography page.
Our Maui wedding planner and guarantee page.
Our article of choosing a Maui Wedding Planner.
Our Maui beach weddings page.
Our Maui Garden Wedding page.
Our Maui waterfall weddings page.
Our Maui Resort Weddings page.
Our Maui Private Wedding Sites page.
Our Maui Beach Wedding Maui Chapel Wedding Site page.
Our Maui wedding video page.
Our Maui wedding minister page for Rev. John Souter's article.
Rev. John Souter's Contemporary Maui Wedding Ceremony.
Rev. John Souter's Spiritual Maui Wedding Ceremony.
Rev. John Souter's Christian Maui Wedding Ceremony.
Our Maui Vow Renewal page.
Rev. John Souter's Spiritual Vow Renewal Ceremony
Rev. John Souter's Christian Vow Renewal Ceremony
Rev. John Souter's Contemporary Vow Renewal Ceremony
Rev. John Souter's Legacy Vow Renewal Ceremony

In addition, we've also update our daughter Rebecca Souter's website. She is the Maui Nanny, or just The Nanny Connection.

In addition, we're also working on our new Internet Home Business 4U Blog.

Will You Maui Me?

2006-10-19T00:11:00.000-10:00

"Will You Maui Me?" which is the name of our brand new blog. After a lot of hard work, it is finally up and running! We're so excited about this because it is SO much easier to add photos to this blog then the one you're reading now.

The new blog is located at http://mauime.net

We've already put up three new blog posts for you to read, adding in some new new photos. I like the way the photos in the header rotate so that they're different each time you look at an article. If you click on the photos, it will take you to a larger version of the photo.

We expect that we'll be putting up lots of articles as we get this new blog launched. At the moment, nothing links to it from our websites except this post. So soon, John will have to go into our websites and make all of our links point over to the new blog.

You can subscribe to the feed and you can also sign up for our new mailing list, which will give you Maui Wedding Planner Tips. Although not everything on the blog is perfect, I feel it is a great start, withc a lot to come!

Hawaii Earthquake Today

2006-10-15T14:21:00.000-10:00

At 7:07 a.m. today, we were jolted in bed by an earthquake that they're now saying it had a magnitude of 6.5 or 6.6. After it continued for several moments, I jumped up and ran to the archway door frame leading out of our bedroom and John grabbed the swaying big screen TV perched on its stand. In a few moments it stopped and we realized we had no power.

We used to live in California, so we're earthquake veterans. But this is the first quake we've ever experienced in Hawaii. This one shook us more violently, I think, than the California quakes which we experienced, which seem to have a more rolling impact. This one was located off the coast of the big island, near Kona and there were no reports of any tsunami (high wave) warnings. It was probably connected to the volcano there.

We realized that we had water and our phone system was still working. But with our power out, we new we had only about 15 to 20 minutes before our phone system battery ran out of juice and we lost telephone service. One of our first concerns was to know what happened, because we get our news from the Internet and don't have any small radios. We were also concerned because we have two weddings today.

Our Maui Me telephone rang, and John answered it. It was a first time caller from the mainland asking for some information about a possible upcoming wedding. Right as John was talking to the caller, a second aftershock hit us. He told the caller what was happening; you could clearly hear everything rattling and we later found out that the second tremor was also reputed to be over 6 in magnitude, but it didn't last long at long. Knowing the phone was going to go dead, John took the bride's name and number so that we could call back later.

I went to church, which went on as usual despite the power outage. It seemed that all of Hawaii was hit with power outages, and some injuries but so far no reported fatalities. As I write this, our power has come back. We have the Internet and the phone is working. So we're essentially back to normal.

John is about to walk out the door to go meet our first wedding couple. And I am going to follow him to meet the second.

Earthquakes are let you know WHO is in control (and it isn't us ;>). But fortunately, in Hawaii we have so few natural problems that we're glad to be out here in the Pacific away from so much of the crazy things going on in the rest of the world. If you have an upcoming wedding, don't fear, we'll still be here for you! Ready to tie the knot and get your new life started with a bang!

New Maui Weddings Blog Coming

2006-10-05T11:04:00.000-10:00

Even though we have a wedding every night for six days right now, my husband John is still working on the new blog for our company. I'm so very exciting about how this will look. We are in development of this brand new blog, which we'll unveil, hopefully within 10 days. It will have many new features that our old blogs don't have, but in particular its ability to quickly and easily put up photographs.

I love this, because my couples often want to see a photo of this or that location, or this or that bouquet, or just more samples of John's photography. With this new blog, we'll be able to put up so many more photos. This will give our couples a much better feeling for what we do. And what it is like to be married here on Maui.

If you have tried to get an RSS feed to this blog, don't waste your time. We get constant error messages that it times out. And that's one of the reasons we're so frustrated with it. If you were actually able to get an RSS feed to this blog, you will want to get our new feed when it is available. As soon as we have the new address of this blog, we'll have links here in our old blog so that you can change over to it with us.

I've seen the prototype of this blog and it is exciting. John is even thinking of using this new format for his Maui photographer site, as he has not updated that site in about four years. He has shot so many Maui weddings since then it is a shame not to put more of his photos online. But we're so busy doing weddings that it is just hard to add pictures all the time.

So, keep tuned.

Maui Wedding Activity

2006-09-28T20:55:00.000-10:00

September has been a very busy Maui Wedding month for us. With close to 25 weddings, I have had a tough time keeping up with all of the coordinating, let along blogging. Two weeks ago we had seven weddings over just one weekend. Whew!

One of my upcoming grooms called and asked where his final confirmation email was, as he should have it by now. I had to admit that I had SEVEN of them sitting on my desk, waiting to go out. Yesterday we had five calls from first time couples wanting to know about our service, and two of them booked. Every time I book a wedding, I have a whole series of steps I must go through (credit card processing, confirmation email, placing their various appointments of the different vendor and license lists, etc.). So when we're this busy, it is sometimes difficult to get everything done as fast as I would like.

John is busy working on a new blog format for us. There are a lot of things we don't like about the program we're using. Like all of the errors people get when they try to sign up with our RSS feed. It just doesn't want to work.

One of the things we don't like about our blogging program is that we cannot make posts in advance; we have to do it every day. It would be so nice to sit down and write several different blog posts, and then have them automatically posted for us.

We are hoping within the next two weeks to transfer our two blogs (John has one too), to a brand new blog program that he's been working on. It will include the ability to easily put photos in our posts, which is so important to our business, as everyone wants to see images of our weddings. That helps our couples to see what we do and what their wedding will be like.

With John shooting our Maui weddings in the digital format most of the time, we have so many great photographs on our computers, and it would just make sense to put some of our favorite shots into our blog posts. I tell you about some out our couples in my blogs, but you don't get an oppportunity to see them the way this program is set up right now. So hopefully, that should all be changing soon.

We know you'll like our new blog. But please be patient with us as we have another 20 weddings scheduled for October, so John will have to push himself to get it all done with our tight schedule.

Maui Wedding Site Map

2006-09-08T12:01:00.000-10:00

Don't forget to take a look at our Maui Wedding Site Map. We have so many articles and web pages on our website, it is difficult to promote them all effectively. This page gives a good overview of all the many different helpful Maui wedding articles that we have to offer. Be sure to take a look at our Maui Wedding Site Map.

Maui Wedding Cakes | Hawaii Wedding Cakes

2006-09-08T11:02:00.000-10:00

Maui Wedding Cakes are in all of our larger packages, and its important that Maui wedding couples know that our cakes are second to none.

There are many different Hawaii Wedding Cake makers on Maui, but obviously, not all cakes are equal. We have our own personal favorites and this is for good reason. We've found that our couples respond better to one baker in particular. So whenever possible, this is the Maui Wedding Cakes baker that we use.

We found this baker the very first time we needed a cake for one of our first weddings. Being inexperienced at the time, I had purchased a cake at a local market. Right before the wedding, I looked into the box and realized that the cake had imploded, splitting into three pieces. With a friend, I attempted to put it back together -- but without success. It was a hopeless mess. In a panic, I asked her if she had any suggestions about what I should do.

The friend, who was a long time Maui resident, recommended that I go to a local baker who was known for his great work. I called him and said: "I have an emergency. I need a cake in 15 minutes! I don't care what flavor!" The wedding was about to begin and I had to have a cake. Any cake. Fortunately, the baker replied, "Give me 20 minutes and I can get you a cake."

Well, he did as he promised. And although I arrived at the wedding a tad late, at least I had a cake. The couple had already told me that they only wanted the cake for their pictures, and this cake looked good, even though the flavor was wrong. I was surprised when they served each other for the traditional photos, and both raved about the cake's flavor. They ended up changing their mind and taking the cake with them!

Ever since that day, I have used this same company for my Hawaii Wedding Cakes. And whenever I am unable to get his cakes, perhaps because he is on vacation, I find that my couples don't say much about the taste of their cakes. But whenever I use my preferred vendor, our wedding couples always rave about their Maui Wedding Cakes.

Relationship Advice: How to Be Romantic

2006-09-05T15:59:00.000-10:00

Relationship Advice: "How to Be Romantic Even When You're Not the Romantic Type". That's the title of an article which my husband John Souter has written for a section of our website which we call Love Builders. You can click on the link and read the entire article for yourself.

Often men will say that they are just not the "romantic type". And this can be very frustrating for a woman, knowing that she IS the romantic type and that she would like a little more romance in their relationship. I like this article, because it is aimed at men, and gives them some suggestions about how they can be more romantic in their relationship with their woman.

Who among us has too much romance? Probably few would say that's their situation in life. That makes Love Building all the more important. We could probably all use a little more romance in our lives.

John actually wrote a book several years ago for teenagers with the simple title of "Romance". The book was published by Tyndale House Publishers (although it is now out of print). In this article he shares some of the concepts he first learned while writing that book. Now our couples can read this great new article on such an important subject. It is another great piece of . . .
Relationship Advice.

Relationship Advice

2006-09-03T20:15:00.000-10:00

Relationship Advice is needed by most couples. My husband John has written a great article in the Love Builder's section of our website giving advice about relationships.

There are many things that a woman would like to have from her man, but in this Lover Builder article, called "Five Things Every Woman Needs From Her Man", John gives some great Relationship Advice. The material in this article is crucial for some couples.

Often, a couple doesn't know why they are suffering from certain cycles of action and reaction. The more you know about what your lover's needs are the easier it is for you to be able to give it to her (or him), and thus be able to build her (or him) up. That's what this article provides, practical suggestions for building your love life.

Here's a quote found in this Love Builder article:

"A woman needs to share a deep emotional bond with her man. Now what do I mean by that? Women love it when they see that their man is in touch with his feelings. By that they enjoy knowing that you have feelings and that you are not ashamed to share them."

"Many men have a hard time 'opening up' to women. Maybe they don't like to talk much. Or they just don't like 'touchy, feely' sorts of topics. When asked how they feel, they simply go into the 'no comment' mode. If this is your natural approach to communication, you will be missing a serious and important part of your woman's needs, because a woman needs to know your feelings. She also needs to feel that the two of you have a deep emotional connection."

I hope you'll go take a look at the article.

Wednesday's Maui Wedding

2006-09-02T15:24:00.000-10:00

It is such a joy to perform a Maui wedding, especially like one we did earlier this week, for a couple who are so excited about each other.

The groom told John, "I'm 37 and never been married!" He couldn't wait for his bride, who was secluded, to walk onto the beach. They were full of smiles as John went through the ceremony. And the groom couldn't keep from getting moist as tears welled up during the commitment part of the ceremony.

When John got to the part where he asks the groom to say, "to be my lawfully wedded wife," he usually tells him ahead of time not to say, "to be my AWFULLY wedded wife" (or husband). The groom grinned when he came to this line, and said it correctly and I knew he was thinking about doing what John had said.

If you saw the movie, "Four Weddings and a Funeral", maybe you remember when the minister (who also plays Mr. Bean) ask the groom if he will "awfully wed" his bride. We have certainly had a number of couples make that mistake, and it is all the more permanent if a video camera is rolling. Then you have to live with the kidding you'll receive over the next thirty years.

We are very busy for the month of September with 23 Maui weddings (so far). Most of those weddings will take place during the last half of the month so we'll certainly be busy then. We enjoy staying busy and always enjoy working with our different wedding couples. This business is just so much fun.

But I must admit that there are a lot of details involved in some of our weddings, and it is always a challenge to make certain that nothing has been forgotten. We have a good system so that we can be on top of all these details. Because, after all, getting those little things right are what makes everything flow so well at the Maui wedding.

Susan

Maui Weddings Updates

2006-09-02T14:55:00.000-10:00

Just a quick note to say, we are in the middle of our updates of our Maui Weddings links. We're adding a whole bunch of wedding related links for mainland companies onto our links page in an effort to become more of an authority site on our subject of choice: weddings. You can find these links at: Maui Me wedding links.

We've also prepared a page of some of our favorite link tags which is located at http://del.icio.us/mauime

Maui Wedding Planner

2006-08-31T14:26:00.000-10:00

"Maui Wedding Planner: 10 Tips for Selecting the Right Hawaiian Wedding Coordinator" by my husband, Rev. John Souter, has been re-written and put back up on our website.

We discovered that we had several key things wrong with our Maui Wedding Planner article (at least as far as the search engines are concerned). So we fixed those problems and re-wrote a good percentage of the article and re-published it again.

If you haven't selected your own Maui Wedding Planner, this is a great article to read so you can get some key tips on avoiding the wrong Maui Wedding Planner. Believe me, we've been involved on Maui with our wedding service for enough years that we have heard many sob stories from people we've met who've had bad experiences.

In the vast majority of cases, most Maui Wedding Planners are completely reliable and will do a good job. But you certainly want to choose the best one you can get, at a reasonable price.

The groom at our wedding two nights ago commented that he was surprised how much we did for them; the fact that we choreographed their Maui wedding so neatly and then stayed with them right up through the sunset to get the best possible photographs and videography really surprized him.

So use our article to choose the very best:
Maui Wedding Planner

Maui Vow Renewals

2006-08-21T15:17:00.000-10:00

Maui Vow Renewals -- on the 50th Anniversary:

Last week John published an article on his blog about a 50th wedding anniversary blog we did a week ago. I just had an email and a phone call from the bride and told her about his blog, so I'm going to quote it here on mine:

"Last night we coordinated a surprise Maui Vow Renewal for a couple on their 50th wedding anniversary. Their kids had a catered dinner for them and their family on the beach, with the biggest limo of Maui, photography, a vow renewal (with their son as the minister), flower arrangements, music, cake cutting, and a fire-knife dancer. The entire affair went off without a hitch.

"Afterward, I talked to the 71-year-old groom. I asked how he first met his wife. He told me she was 15 when they met. They fell instantly in love, and both of them knew, almost immediately that they would get married. But because of her young age, they got engaged without their parents knowledge. He bought her an engagement ring which she would put on each evening at the beginning of their dates, and then put it back in the box when they said "good-night."

"On her 17th birthday they "came out of the closet," announcing their engagement to her folks, who took if well. (The groom was surprised). And they were married after her 18th birthday.

"That was 50 years ago and today they have kids and grand kids to spare. The groom just recently had cancer surgery and wasn't sure if they could pull off this joyous vow renewal and reunion with their family. You never know when there won't be another anniversary to celebrate, and that's why it is so important to celebrate every one of them in a special way.

"After watching just one Maui vow renewal like this, you can see how valuable such an experience is for the couple and their entire family. This is the kind of renewal when I usually do my Legacy Spiritual Ceremony (although in this case their son performed the ceremony because he is a licensed minister). You can see my Maui vow renewal ceremonies here where you can read them for yourself.

"Lately we have been doing a LOT of Maui vow renewals. Because of that I added a great new page on our Maui Me website that will give you our Maui Vow Renewal discount prices."

I must admit it is so much fun to do these vow renewals for a couple who has been together so long. I have a few more in the works right now.

Susan

Maui Weddings Booking Time: Vacation Over

2006-08-08T09:24:00.000-10:00

John and I went on vacation last week in Honolulu with our daughter Lauren. We had an enjoyable time shopping, going to the water park, shopping, doing some jet skiing, eating out, going to a dinner and a magic show, and did I mention shopping?? Anyway, your Maui wedding planner is back, ready to serve your Maui wedding needs.

During last week we still did book four weddings. Which is nice when you're on vacation. We will be taking off for four days next week, but because we always work weekends and evenings, and we won't be gone a full week, I don't expect to get too far behind.

Again, now is the time to book your Maui wedding.

Maui Wedding Chairs on the Beach

2006-08-08T09:21:00.000-10:00

For some time now the County of Maui has been laying down strict new guidelines about bringing chairs and wedding arches onto the beach. We've just learned from our Maui wedding professionals at the government committee that the County has now set heavy fines and penalties on any larger Maui wedding that has beach chairs or arches without a proper permit.

This is still a confusing issue with County versus DNL (the State) jurisdiction being a question. It all depends upon who you talk to as to what answers you will get. But one thing is clear, the permit for having chairs on the grass near a beach is set at $400. But if a Maui wedding company fails to get that permit, and the County authorities catch them on the beach, the fine has been quoted as anything from $1000 and up. That's just for a first violation. So this is a serious issue that we as wedding professionals simply cannot ignore.

The Maui wedding professionals meeting we went to was poorly attended. There are many people who coordinate weddings on Maui and it is likely that 90% of them are not aware of these regulations at this time. But as they say, ignorance is not a defense against legal penalties. We know personally of a coordinator that was approached by the County. And they are now actively policing the new regulations.

If you book your Maui wedding with a coordinator who does not get a permit, perhaps because she hasn't heard of these new regulations (or thinks that she won't get caught), you can bet that she will want to pass that $1000 fine back on you! If you have a larger Maui beach wedding in which you will need chairs for your guests, or if you want to have an arch, this means that you will have to get your coordinator to file the correct application, and you will have to pay $400 for the privilege of having chairs and/or an arch on a Maui beach or nearby grassy area.

Keep in mind, whenever we have to deal with the County, it takes them time to issue a permit; it won't happen at the last minute, so make sure that you do not wait until the last moment before booking a Maui wedding that requires chairs.

If the County gets complaints from beach goers who can't enjoy the beach because companies have taken large wedding groups to small beaches like Makena Cove, that will be a problem. Eventually, there will be a permit process for all weddings but at the moment we are encouraged to be unobtrusive with small weddings and only get permits for chair arches.