David and Alison tied the knot at a destination wedding in Maui, overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Their intimate event was full of celebration, happy tears and big smiles, in addition to one magical Maui sunset! We asked the bride and groom to share a little bit about their big day with us.
David and I had spent a solid amount of time searching many places to get married. We decided on a destination wedding because we wanted to have a small and intimate event. We searched locations for Maui weddings and came across Simple Maui. Their website had many beautiful and intimate options for the ceremony site. We ultimately chose Gannon’s because of the beautiful views, as well as the great reviews for their dining. Having beautiful scenery, delicious food, as well as the convenience of having the restaurant at the same location seemed like a win-win to us.
We asked Alison and David about their favorite moments from the day.
Alison: My favorite moments from the day… that is a difficult question. The whole day went very smoothly, and we got lucky that the wind calmed down at the perfect time. My favorite moment has to be seeing David for the first time at the altar, and how special it was to see the emotion in his eyes. The entire day was amazing, sharing the whole experience with close family and friends.
David: My favorite moments of the day were: 1. The wedding itself as I was happy to finally be married and see everything we worked so long planning come together. I also enjoyed taking pictures with everyone as those are photos that we’ll have forever. My final favorite moment of the day was the dancing. I’m not a big fan of dancing myself, but it was fun to get everyone up and dance for a couple hours.
I am a fan of rustic decor, and though transporting items in my luggage kept decor at a minimum, I brought mercury glass votives, burlap, and rustic wood place settings. I enjoy that style at home, and it just translated to wedding decor. As far as colors, I liked dusty oranges and pinks, sent some sample images in, and the florist took care of the arch arrangements and bridal bouquet.
Advice for other destination couples?
Alison: Picking a wedding planning service made our planning very simple. We couldn’t be there in person to arrange anything, so having someone that could be there in person to take care of the details was awesome. We planned the entire thing over e-mail and it was perfect. Our wedding coordinator, Emily, was alway so kind and answered any questions we had. She really took care of every aspect and made everything extremely simple. They handled the flowers, photography, setting up the venue, and even the reverend to marry us.
Some other advice is that we wanted to save a bit of money with flowers, so we went to Costco and bought a bunch of flowers, and made all of the bridesmaid bouquets the day before the wedding. The girls really enjoyed making their own bouquets; they put their own personal touches in each bouquet, and it was a great bonding experience.
David: I would recommend you not look too hard at too many different places. I think people get over stimulated when looking at so many venues that it is hard to pick one. We looked at a few and it was so hard to decide but what you need to realize is that whatever you chose is going to be nice and work out. Just pick a place because once that is done it feels like a large burden taken off of your shoulders and you can have a mini-celebration. Regardless of the specific spot, you can always make it nice and exactly how you want. Just remember that. If you can’t choose between 2 spots, just pick one and move on and start figuring everything else out. You’ll forget about any other spots rather quickly and you’ll start to feel accomplished with your planning.
Congratulations to the newlyweds!
Destination Wedding Photographer: Karma Hill Photography
Wedding Vendors: Floral Designer: Dellables Wedding Design & Florals, Restaurant: Gannons, Beauty: MeiLi Autumn Beauty, Officiant: Reverend Joe Miles, Event Planner: Simple Maui Wedding
Thank you so much for featuring this beautiful wedding! It is an honor!