HAWAII WEDDINGS AND EVENTS

He proposed in March, wedding date was October 15th.Always wanted a destination wedding, especially in Hawaii!! I’ve been in a few weddings and helped with a handful of them so thought I could handle my own. Boy was I wrong! At first, I was okay, no big deal. Got the ceremony and reception site squared away quick! Set a budget. Had help from my sister and sister-in-law. Booked the DJ, sent save the dates, picked out invitations, bought the wedding dress & shoes, bridesmaids dress and rented the tuxes.... good to go! We booked our flights and hotel stay as well as our immediate families flights and hotel.I was on a roll! THEN.... it happened! Around the end of June, I began to stress a little bit. My sister and friends told me not to stress and that they would help me plan and secure more vendors. My soon to be hubby was also hands on in the planning process, so really I had nothing to stress about. But I did! As the days passed and July began to slip away, I knew I couldn't do it alone. I couldn't plan from where I was (LA). I needed inside help, someone who knew Hawaii. Who knew, Waikiki. And who knew the right vendors who would help make my wedding amazing! My catering sales coordinator, from the hotel I secured to have my wedding at, gave me her recommendations. There were a few names listed. I began calling and did some research on my own. Ultimately I decided on Hawaii Weddings & Events. I am so happy I did! My first consultation with Dianna was very informative and helpful. She made me feel at ease and reminded me that my day will be one of the best days of my life and to stress out before, during, or after it is silly. During the remaining 2 and 1/2 months of planning, Dianna definitely didn't mind all the questions I bombarded her with. She responded very quickly to them via e-mail or quick phone call. Even if she didn't have the answers right away she would kindly let me know that she's working on it. That's what I love about her! I also appreciated the little things she did to help us save some money. She definitely knows that weddings can get very expensive and saving even a little helps a lot!All in all, my husband and I were very happy to have Dianna there during our special day. Having her there to guide us and keep us on the timeline was something that we needed. It made us free to enjoy the day and be stress free! We really had the best day of our lives! Our friends and family enjoyed themselves as well and are still complimenting us on how beautiful our wedding was. Thanks again Dianna!-Gwyn & Long V.

I’m a destination bride from Seattle and planned my wedding at Lanikuhonua (9/19/11) where you have to bring in EVERYTHING yourself. I thought I had a good handle on it and at one point even thought about not hiring a coordinator and using a friend. But decided I didn’t want a friend to be stuck working our wedding rather then enjoying it, so we booked Wai as our day of coordinator after reading several wonderful reviews.It was so comfortable working with Wai. I felt like she was a friend of mine because you could tell she genuinely cared about making sure my wedding was perfect and it was! She was prompt in replying to e-mails and always made clear the reasons for any suggestions she had and was always conscious of my budget and working within it. Wai is very very thorough – no detail goes unnoticed. Details that I didn’t even think of were brought to my attention like…how are your cocktail napkins going to be placed so they don’t fly away, or you may want to bring a cooler with drinks for the bridal party/family during the photos since the bartender isn’t scheduled until the reception. If it wasn’t for Wai, I know my wedding wouldn’t have gone as smoothly as it did. At one point our DJ announced that we were ahead of schedule! When have you ever heard that at a wedding? =] The day of my wedding I was extremely relaxed and not one worry crossed my mind - I had that much trust in Wai. Wai is AMAZING and I would definitely recommend her to any bride! Hands down one of the best decisions I made for my wedding.

Two things I would definitely not change...first is having a destination wedding in Hawaii (this was the best decision ever) and a close second would be having Wai as our wedding coordinator. Wai became my wedding guardian angel during the whole process and made my life so easy. Many of my friends and family were constantly amazed that I was never stressed out during the 10 months of planning and I often found myself telling them..."My coordinator took care of that already". That is the main difference when you have a true professional by your side. Especially with planning a destination wedding, it is so invaluable to have someone making sure your vendors are up to date with any last minute changes as well as being on top of them when they are starting to lag a bit. Hawaii vendors are among the nicest people you will meet, but the reputation of "island time" sometimes happens. Whenever I came across this, Wai acted as my spokes person and made sure things got moving along again so I didn't have to always be the naggy bridezilla. It was amazing how all of my “oh, crap!” moments were easily taken care of with one phone call to Wai. My fiancé (now the hubs) and I decided on the Laulima Package early on as oppose to just hiring a DOC because we figured we had a choice...spending a bit more money to have a professional "local" coordinator to guide us through this process and point us to the most reliable and appropriate vendors for our wedding or spend a similar amount on a research trip to find them ourselves. And seeing we really didn't know anyone in Hawaii, partnering up with Wai was the best choice. As I was describing our vision, she knew exactly what would add to our wedding in ways I didn't even think of. For example, we aren't really cake people so Wai suggested a malasada station where the caterer would make it fresh for the guest at the end of the night as they are sipping on a hot cup of Kona coffee...genius! And being such a dedicated coordinator as well as an overall sweet person, many of our vendors adored her and gave us really good pricing since we were “Wai’s couple”…score!Wai is such a smart, sweet, and patient lady, I can’t say enough about my experience with her. She made our wedding truly a dream come true!

I am a destination bride to Oahu and thanks to Wai at HWAE, my wedding was amazingly beyond my expectations and I am a hard customer to please.The most amazing are the artistic part of the wedding: the hair, makeup, flowers, decor. Put 100% your trust to Wai and her recommended vendors and your wedding will be the most beautiful and amazing that your guests have ever attended.The second most amazing part of the wedding is the value. It was a great package and it was fun with work with Wai.

It was truly a pleasure working with Wai! She is a very sweet, sincere, and dedicated individual who went above and beyond to make sure that everything was going to go smoothly on our big day. We were in search of a Day-Of Coordinator to help us tie up loose ends as the wedding approached. One of our vendors recommended HW&E for their good reputation and services. We had selected the Lanikuhonua Package, which was modified to fit our needs as we already had a majority of the leg work done. It was exactly what we were looking for.We knew Wai would be the perfect person for the job upon our first meeting with her. Her professionalism and attention to detail remained constant throughout the entire process. She was always there to assist in any way she could and worked extremely hard to make sure that everything was completed and in place. Wai's kind and caring nature made it extremely easy to work with her. I can honestly say that she genuinely cares about the happiness of her couples and always has their best interest at heart.We are so grateful to have had the opportunity to work with Wai and highly recommend her to any couple in need of a wedding coordinator. Thank you for everything Wai, you're the best!!! :)

I can't say enough good things about Wai from Hawaii Weddings & Events. Right from the start she made us feel like we were the only couple she was dealing with: amazingly quick turnaround to all my emails, very responsive, professional, detail-oriented, on top of everything, and super friendly. She went above and beyond in the entire process. She understood what we wanted right from the beginning and made suggestions were appropriate and respected the wishes we had. She was very creative in helping us cut down costs so we would stick to our budget but still get what we wanted. My (now) husband already loved her even before they met, since he saw the huge smile I had every time I hung up the phone with her or got an email: she was always 10 steps ahead of me and took care of things I hadn't even thought about. I was amazed in how she always found a solution for all issues we had and everything was handled in such a good way that we never had any reason to worry about anything. Few examples: - 2 weeks before the wedding, fiance and I decided we were going to get ready at different hotels, and not on the same one as originally planned. Naturally the change would impact the schedule/logistics of several of the vendors (i.e. photog, videog, etc), but Wai took care of everything - talking to the vendors to make sure they'd be able to work around it and adjusting the schedule so everything would go smoothly. - On the day before of the wedding we realized that my MIL would need a special chair with armrest. Needless to say that with all our family in town, rehearsal and dinner that night etc, we had absolutely no time to run around the island to find one. Wai was simply awesome - I called her and in less than 15 mins she sends me a picture message with a chair that would work perfectly. I learned afterwards that after being unsuccessful with many rental vendors, she contacted her friends to find a chair that would work for us, and after we gave the ok she also coordinated with the friend to get the chair to the wedding site. What a relief that was, in 15 mins that major issue was solved and we were able to relax and have fun at the rehearsal.These are just few of the many examples of how great our experience with Wai was - we couldn't have done without her. Our families and even our officiant had the chance to interact with her and were all very very complimentary of the amazing work she did. We also had the chance to speak to Dianna a couple of times in the beginning and she also seemed very professional and on top of everything. They really know what they're doing. They have worked with a lot of vendors in the island and have close relationship with the best ones. That is a huge plus. I hadn't realized the value of that until I saw how better off I was on the weeks leading to the wedding: all the loose ends that needed to be wrapped up with the vendors were taken care without me needing to be involved. As Wai and the vendors are constantly in touch they were able to discuss the details and Wai would come to me only when needed, which worked perfectly for us as we had many things to take care of at home and work before taking off to Hawaii.I could write pages here, but all in all, I'd recommend Wai and Hawaii Weddings & Events in a heartbeat. We were on a tight budget and I was a bit worried in the beginning about spending on the "luxury" of a coordinator, but I can say that hiring HW&E was the best decision we've made.

When I starting planning my wedding over a year ago, Dianna was the very first vendor I hired. I knew from the start that I wanted (and needed) a wedding planner, especially since I wasn't living back home in Hawaii, and had recently moved with my fiance to a new city. With all the life changes going on, I wanted the very best planner, and one who could handle my destination wedding. After finding HWAE in a wedding magazine, and then doing research online (including reading WW reviews!), I knew without a doubt, that Dianna was the planner I would use. Her motto of "Amazing, Fun, & Stress-Free Celebrations" was exactly what I wanted, and it is exactly what we got!At our first meeting, I knew that hiring Dianna would be one of the best decisions we ever made. I was on the fence about whether to do the 4 month or 6 month package, so in our contract, Dianna allowed me to upgrade to the 6 month package, if I needed it. I can't tell you how wonderful it was to know from the start, that Dianna had my best interests in mind. She is also very kind, pleasant, and so easy to work with; I always enjoyed our meetings and chats.She gave top-quality, professional service from start to finish. She was always responsive to any email or phone call, her prices were very reasonable (she is the only nationally certified planner in Hawaii, with CPCE and CMP credentials), and she was always flexible and willing to help with anything.My wedding had a variety of challenges, including a rehearsal with a last minute venue change (due to a festival that held up traffic), coordinating with an inter-island officiant who flew in that day, the set-up of a custom-made wedding canopy, and guests who got lost en route to the ceremony! But Dianna handled everything with a calm smile, and I knew I had nothing at all to worry about.So many of our guests commented that this was the "best wedding" they had ever been to. My family from NYC (who have been to many posh events), said that this was truly the most beautiful and enjoyable wedding they had ever attended. Not to mention, the most fun!! We had the time of our lives, in large part, due to the amazing talents of Dianna.Much Mahalo and Warmest Aloha!!! :)

Investing in HWAE for the day of coordination for my wedding is probably the best favor I've done for me. Ramona, our coordinator, was prompt, ultra-professional, kind, super-flexible, and, at many discouraging times, my bright spot. When interacted a lot with Dianna also, and when I received HWAE's questionnaire, I knew I was in very good hands--HWAE's fortes are found in being detail oriented, not getting lost in those many details, high level of professionalism (Dianna let me know when I was out of line), personable (can never have enough empathy), and just getting things done. Even at the reception, we had changes to the program, and Ramona didn't even bat an eye--she acted with authority and it's probably her skillful management of tasks that made it easy for our other vendors to hang on to her every words for direction. I highly and enthusiastically recommend HWAE for wedding planning services. If HWAE and Ramona and Wai will be around later, I would want it to do my kids' weddings too. Sign me up!

Dianna, Ramona, and Wai’s vision, teamwork, knowledge and connective networking are truly exceptional as they worked together to make our wedding day a successfully smooth and stress-free event for my wife and me. Ramona Char was the key proponent in accomplishing this. My wife and I coordinated with her closely up to the day of the event with last-minute arrangements, decisions and requests. Ramona kept a cool demeanor and a positive, cordial, professional attitude and approach to all situations, which kept my wife and me in comfort as we entrusted her to handle all the decision-making that came up on the day of the event—because of Ramona, we were able to thoroughly enjoy our special day. Ramona listened carefully to what we wanted and managed and organized exactly what we needed. It was quite amazing after just meeting us a month prior to the event. She was very easy to contact and extremely conscientious, responsive and available (emails, phone calls, meetings, etc.).My wife and I actually decided to bring aboard the Hawaii Weddings & Events team extremely late in the planning process—a little more than a month out from the wedding day—based on the shortsight that we would be able to handle the planning process ourselves. However, once we engaged them, Dianna, Ramona, and Wai began intimately familiarizing themselves with our event and commenced pulling things together right away. They are all very personable, cordial, friendly, knowledgeable and professional, which made the planning process an easy, pleasurable and fun process. Ramona worked very hard to make sure that everything down to the littlest of details was in order, addressed and set to go. Ramona made sure that all of the vendors were coordinated and all of their services provided effortlessly.We are greatly thankful to Ramona and the rest of the Hawaii Weddings & Events team for playing such a major vital role in the success of our wedding day. My wife and I very highly recommend Hawaii Weddings & Events to assist all brides and grooms in planning their special wedding day! –Mike and Kristen Nishimura

Dianna is the definition of Stress Free Wedding. From day one of working together, her calm demeanor, meticulous attention to detail and frequent communication were the keys to making our destination wedding go off without a hitch. And when obstacles come along, Dianna always strives to go above and beyond to solve these problems - she went to the post office to try and locate my almost missing 9 box shipment of wedding items, she picked up authentic Korean dishes from a local restaurant for our dinner reception, she purchased the last minute decor items (frames, baskets for parasols and fans, etc) and she set up everything, beautifully, with the help of her wonderful, assistant, Maria. Because of her, my husband and I have only perfect memories of our wedding....and we are forever grateful. Mahalo Dianna!

Love Dianna for executing the dream wedding of my lifetime. I had an easy time planning my wedding with her online consultations, and she took care of the rest by my 60 day countdown! By the last week of my wedding, I had nothing to do but wait for my special day to arrive, while hanging out with out of town guests, and partying with my bridal court! Not one single glich in the entire event. Wonderful service and Dianna is a professional guru at what she does.

We planned our entire wedding in three months in order to have family from the mainland be able to attend. I do not know how I would have been able to do it without Ramona from Hawaii Weddings and Events.We had such a wonderful experience with Hawaii Weddings and Events. Ramona was our wedding coordinator and she was there for us every step of the way. She was helpful with suggesting our venue and vendors, she provided us with options, and we were extremely happy with all of our choices. She brought up so many details that I probably would have never even thought of. She created a great floor plan and timeline for the day to keep everyone on track. They day ended up absolutley beautiful and I was stress-free, Ramona did all the worrying for me. Thanks so much to Mona and Hawaii Weddings and Events for everything they did for us!!!

Well, I am one of those type-A, super-organized, analyze everything, spreadsheet brides. But, I was still planning a wedding from 2,000 miles away and I didn't want my family to work at my wedding. So, I hired Dianna and crew as my day-of coordinator and to double-check my arrangements and put me in touch with some of the local vendors. It worked out perfectly. Dianna is super-responsive over email and filled in all of the details, almost in the background. On the big day, I had my phone attached to me, thinking that it would ring constantly with questions from vendors, family, etc. I got ONE phone call - from Wai, checking to make sure I was relaxing. That's it. By the time I arrived on site, everything was perfect. I got so caught up in admiring how well things were going and how things looked, my sister (MOH) had to remind me to get in my own dress. The whole evening went off without a hitch and we relaxed and enjoyed our wedding and were able to absorb the moment. Dianna and Wai are the best!

My husband and I decided to elope rather than spending $25k on a big wedding that should be put towards our home deposit. I did alot of research about which destination we should choose to elope to from Australia. We considered Bali, Thailand, Tahiti and the Cook Islands and settled for Hawaii as it seemed to be the easiest option as far as paperwork was concerned (no need to translate documents or arrive in the country 3 - 30 days prior) I came across this website and read all the positive reviews about Hawaii Weddings & Events so I made an enquiry and we ended up booking our wedding/elopement with Wai. I can not even begin to tell you how helpful Wai was with organising our elopement in less than 2 weeks! It really was a fun, stress-free and amazing wedding! We had the 'just the two of us' package and the day was everything we dreamed of and we wouldnt change a thing! We had a traditional Hawaiian minister Rev. Elias and the ceremony on the beach was magical. And Wai put us in touch with an amazing Photographer Adam A Palmer who we highly recommend too. Thank you so much Wai for everything you did for us in such a short time frame. I highly recommend her services especially if you are organising your wedding/eloping from another country.

We are so thankful for the services that Wai had provided for us during our wedding. In many ways, words cannot express how grateful we are to have her work for us. From the initial consultation with Wai..she showed us great passion, professionalism, and willingness to bend over backward for us. Just what we wanted and needed in a coordinator! She was very organized by letting us know all the little details that we overlooked and giving us an ease of mind that was priceless. We felt that Wai always had our backs and was there for us whenever we had questions or wanted to make changes. Her time line was very detailed and covered everything that "we wanted" for our wedding. Because of her precision to detail, everything on the day of the wedding ran early or on time, we even had time to relax a little bit before the reception. Keeping in mind that we had a 3 pm wedding, 5:30 pm reception, and to top it off, we asked not to see each other until the ceremony. Pretty good huh?! Talk about stress free, it was so gratifying to see all of our hard work in planning this wedding for 2 years, be everything that we wanted...and more. We know that we couldn't have done it without Wai's services and her excellent work that day. It truly was a fairytale come true.

Dianna was truly a blessing for both me and my husband! We knew from the start that we wanted a destination wedding in Hawaii but had NO CLUE as to who we could trust and which vendors were guaranteed to provide the best service for our buck.THANKFULLY, Dianna was there to help us out! She was quick to respond via e-mail on all our questions and concerns and knew who just to recommend to cater for our needs, from great food to great Hawaiian entertainment for the guests. Even when she was busy working on other weddings or out on wedding conventions, she made time for us.This is the honest TRUTH, my husband and I did not try ANY of the food, sample any of the cake, meet with any of the vendors (except via e-mail or phone), until near or on the day of the wedding. We had no idea what to expect! We did not even see the actual wedding site (Kualoa Ranch) until the day of. If anything, we relied on website information and pictures to help give us a sample of what would be expected. All the vendors and the coordination was done by Dianna and we COMPLETELY trusted her with everything.My husband, being the more realistic one, told me not to expect too much because weddings always have the tendency to go wrong when you want everything to be perfect. However, the Wedding turned out to be such a WONDERFUL surprise! Everything WAS PERFECT! Prior to the big day, she had e-mailed all my vendors with a detailed time line of when they should arrive and what to expect hour by hour until the end. As a result, everything went like clockwork. We didn't have to stress over anything and the wedding was just BEAUTIFUL!! It EXCEEDED my expectations greatly.Dianna stayed until the very end of the wedding...making sure the reception hall was properly cleaned up and any rental equipment was stored away. She even packed my wedding cake top, the champagne glasses, the flowers, and even my purse (which I absentmindedly left somewhere) so that everything was ready to go and we wouldn't have to worry about anything when we left.From beginning to end, Dianna was there for us and she made our wedding a truly MEMORABLE and AWESOME event! I will never forget her!

Awesome! I probably wasn't the easiest bride-to-be. I was pretty indecisive because I loved everything :). She always managed to answer all of my questions in a timely manner and had some great recommendations. It's tough planning a destination wedding since you can't see things or people in person when you're planning. This is why it's so important to have a quality coordinator/planner. She helped confirm my vendors and coordinated with all of them to make sure everyone knew the plan. I invited her to our Welcome luncheon on a Sunday and we walked over to Kapiolani Park after for the rehearsal. We loaded up her truck with all of our supplies and I really didn't send her instructions & seating assignments until the evening before. I may have even left some things out, but Dianna & Wai seemed to know everything I wanted and even surprised me with things I didn't even think of. They really went above & beyond. Everyone had a wonderful time and it wouldn't have been possible without Dianna & Wai.

I did the "For Peace of Mind" package because I had already booked all my vendors but needed someone to help me if I needed things fixed. This was the best investment I made for my wedding! Wai called me before the 90 day mark to introduce herself and let me know that she'd be away for a little bit, but if I needed anything, I could talk to Dianna. I had a little issue contacting my crane artist during the time she was away, but Dianna handled everything accordingly and we finally got a hold of him.When Wai came back from her trip, she made a good effort to email me and make sure I had everything in place and if I needed anything else, she was there for me. We checked in with each other every week before the wedding and she also gave me some advice about how to plan my day and if certain things were necessary or not. This really helped me budget and be realistic about my needs.Finally we met on the rehearsal day and I also invited her to our dinner so she could get to know my family and friends. She was very polite and professional. She sat down with my husband and I to get to know us as a couple, which I thought was very nice. She even stayed for dinner so she could get to know each and every person involved in the wedding. Now that's a plus!The wedding day went pretty smoothly. One of my bridesmaids commented, "Gee, this is the most relaxed wedding I've evern been in before." I think it was because I had a good coordinator to run the show so I wouldn't have to worry about anything. (To anyone getting married, please highly consider having a day of coordinator so you don't have to run your bridesmaids or family around and stress them out! )When the reception was over, I asked Wai if it would be ok to give my crane art back to the artist to send back to my home on the mainland. She gladly did this for me so I wouldn't have to worry about it because I was going on my honeymoon almost immediately after the wedding. A few days later she also checked in with me to let me know that the artist would send it to my home. Wai definitely extended her services beyond the wedding day, which I was really impressed with. I told her that the venue had given me the wrong cake, so she contacted them and they told me that they'd try and do something about it. She also said she'd contact my florist about some misunderstanding with the centerpieces not being put on the aisles and taken to the reception room as I had discussed originally with the florist. I highly recommend using Wai if you plan a destination wedding. You won't be disappointed!

My husband and I were so pleased by all services provided by HWAE!! We found their services very professional, well organized, close attention to details, and wealth of knowledge from hundreds of wedding planning & coordinating experiences. As many other brides say, hiring them was one of our best investments of our wedding. No matter how small your wedding is (mine was with 40 guests), enjoying your wedding day “stress-free” is PRICELESS.We signed up for day-of-coordination package and pre-planning consultation. While I was planning my destination wedding in Hawaii from Japan, Dianna NEVER failed to promptly reply me and answer ALL questions I had (including stupid ones!). They have great connections with all kinds of vendors, including those vendors I wouldn’t be able to find without their referral. In fact, we ended up using some of the vendors referred by HWAE, and all of them performed above and beyond our expectations while meeting our budget. From all the services provided by HWAE, we especially valued the detailed timeline developed by HWAE. Timeline is detailed enough that we could simply share it with our wedding party and they all know exactly what they would expect on the wedding day. Knowing someone else is in-charge of running a day-of wedding really eased my stresses. Our day-of coordinator was Wai Phungpradet, and she was so sweet and friendly yet very focused and professional. Our ceremony site and reception site were so beautifully decorated that we were truly amazed. We received so many compliments from our guests but those should go to Wai. Thanks to her 150% dedicated works, I have no idea if there was anything went wrong on that day. Everyone enjoyed our wedding day. If there is one thing I regret, I was so busy enjoying our wedding day and didn’t have a chance to thank Wai in person at the end. So I’m sending a BIG HUG here! Thank you Dianna and Wai!

My husband and I booked the “Lanikuhonua – Where Heaven Meets the Earth 60 day countdown package” with Wai Phungpradet of Hawaii Weddings and Events for our July 4, 2010 wedding. When I found HW&E, I was at my wits end trying to plan our wedding in Oahu from Northern California. After losing way to much sleep and crying way to many tears over it, we went ahead and booked Wai. From the first email we knew that we were in good hands. She went above and beyond what we expected during the planning process. Her extensive knowledge with weddings and relationships with various vendors made our decision making process so much easier. My husband and I were fortunate enough to travel to Oahu 6 months prior to the wedding and met with Wai in person. After this meeting, we were even more confident that we were in the right hands. We arrived in Oahu a week prior to our wedding. I was totally freaking out because it was rainy and windy every day leading up to the wedding. Wai helped calm my nerves by having a backup plan for my outdoor wedding just in case the weather wasn’t perfect. Strangely enough, the backup plan wasn’t necessary. The weather was perfect and not a cloud in the sky. =) Our wedding day was like something out of a magazine. Wai perfectly executed every detail of my dream wedding. If something bad happened that day, I certainly didn’t know about it. Funny enough, after we returned from our honeymoon, I found out that one of the groomsmen had purchased the wrong color shirt! (Blue instead of white!) Wai was able to arrange for a white shirt to be delivered within the hour! I could go on and on about how happy my husband and I are with the job that Wai did. Writing the check to book Wai was hands down the most important and I would do it again in a heartbeat. Booking her was, by far, the best investment we made in our wedding. My husband and I, along with our friends and family, have the most incredible memories of that day. I can confidently say that it would not have been nearly as perfect had we not hired Wai. I highly recommend her.