Sheraton Keauhou Bay Resort & Spa

Natalie Houston and her assistant, Laura, did a great job with helping my husband and I pull off a low-cost, beautiful wedding at the Bayside Chapel at the Kona Sheraton. They helped find a guitarist for me, Bula, who was an amazing singer (and so handsome he made my girlfriends practically swoon). Bula sang the songs that we chose for our wedding--Fields of Gold by Sting and Is This Love? by Bob Marley-- I was amazed during the ceremony that he knew all the words to the song! I had expected him to just play the music, not sing.Our officiant, Lona Lyons, was wonderful as well. Lona was also secured for us by Natalie Houston at the Sheraton. Lona was a soothing speaker who had written a lovely sermon.The Bayside Chapel itself was so beautiful, with the windows open to let in the views of the palm trees and the ocean, that I was glad that I did not order flowers. I did order a lei for my husband and me-- I wish now that I did not order the heavily scented lei as it was pretty overpowering and almost smelled artificial. My photographer was allowed to photograph our portraits for a couple hours after the cermony concluded on the beautiful grounds around the Sheraton. The resulting pictures are just gorgeous. The inside of the chapel photographs very well, too. We had a 9:30 AM ceremony, which we are glad of as it was already getting quite warm by that time.The Sheraton staff were very considerate. My father got it in his head that the Sheraton needed to have water on hand for all our guests. I was embarrassed to later hear about how demanding he was-- but Natalie and Laura never told me about what happened-- they did their best to make sure that I was relaxed the day of the wedding and went ahead and brought water for the wedding guests.My advice for you is to make sure you read the contract very carefully-- some things are quite expensive. I kept my expenses to the chapel, officiant, and guitarist-- and 2 leis-- and made out with paying only about $2500 for the entire ceremony. "extras" like champagne and food for a few guests may cost you an extra $500-- and there are other fees that may be tacked on to that, like a $250 "reception" or "food and beverage service" fee. You can get away with not getting the leis by buying them for about $5 each at Costco.Also, if you do not hear from the Sheraton about a month before the wedding date, go ahead and write them for confirmation details. There are a LOT of confirmation details to go over, even with a wedding as simple as I had. I had not heard from the Sheraton until about 2 weeks before my wedding date-- it turned out that they needed more confirmation faxes from me and answers to logistical questions. (I had thought the details had already been ironed out months prior to that).