Our wedding would not have been possible without these amazing Maui vendors:

Wedding Coordinator: Exclusive Island Weddings

Photographer: Jasmyn Marie Photography

Brandon’s Suit: Kenneth Boggs

Wedding Dress: Lulus

Wedding Dress alterations: Joylene

Wedding Cape: Joylene

Venue: Rainbow Acres

Catering: Randy’s Catering

Tent & Rentals: Maui Rents

Desserts: CYMZ_SWEET_KRE8TIONZ

DJ: CQuence

Brandon’s Hair: O’Carney’s

Hair and Makeup: Donna Romero

Before we get into the details of our wedding day, I do want to give a special shoutout to our entire family and our amazing friends for all of their help, love, and support! Our wedding wouldn’t have been possible if it weren’t for the people that we have in our lives.

It has been a few months since Brandon and I got married and life has been treating us so well! Planning a wedding in 9 months while being thousands of miles away for the majority of those months, and during a pandemic was insane! But we made it happen!

Prior to planning the wedding, Brandon and I agreed that we would have it either way – whether it would be the wedding we dreamed of or one with just our immediate family. We would be getting married regardless. A few weeks leading up to our wedding, the panic and stress hit. I remember texting Kim, our amazing wedding planner, about the COVID restrictions and if we were even going to be able to have the wedding. I think it was a few days before we left Utah that Maui had changed their restrictions and we were able to have a covid safe wedding! We had an outdoor wedding, which helped a ton with these restrictions. We temperature checked every guest at the entrance table and it also helped that we were aware of everyone’s vaccination status!

How we were able to afford a Maui Wedding

A question we got asked a lot was how much we spent on our wedding! Hawai’i weddings are expensive, but we were very strict about our budget and what we could afford. We spent about $15,000 on our wedding, which is fairly low for a Maui wedding! Luckily, we had some help from our parents, family members, and Brandon and I worked our asses off.

When it comes to budgeting for your wedding, be realistic! We knew what we wanted to spend money on and what we didn’t want to spend money on. Our main priority was a wedding planner/day-of coordinator and photographer. We hired Kim from Exclusive Island Weddings to be our coordinator and Jasmyn from Jasmyn Marie Photography. We opted for no videographer, but we do have a ton of videos from our friends and family. We substituted wedding favors with individually packaged desserts. We didn’t spend a ton of money on decorations — in fact, mostly everything was DIY. We made our centerpieces and arbor with the help of family and friends. (Thanks to our moms, aunties, and uncles for their help!) Florals weren’t important for us, so we didn’t hire a florist. I actually had a beautiful silk bouquet made here in Utah, but I came across some troubles getting it to Hawai’i! So my amazing mother in law made my bouquet and Brandon’s boutonniere. My awesome bridesmaid helped with ti leaf leis for our groomsmen, bridesman, parents, and godparents.

The perfect wedding dress and custom suit

Brandon had a custom made suit by the one and only Kenneth Boggs! We were set on a Terra Cotta colored suit for Brandon and could not find one anywhere else. Our friends introduced us to Kenneth and we instantly clicked! Kenneth did an incredible job at Brandon’s suit. He loves to share a story with every suit that he creates, so he finished Brandon’s with a perfect tropical inner lining and even embroidered Brandon’s name in his suit jacket and dress shirt. Brandon tied his look together with a watch from Talley and Twine.

When it came to my wedding dress, that was a pain in itself! I originally had a partnership in line with a wedding dress designer, but that fell through 3-4 months prior to the wedding. At this point, I was in a huge time crunch and needed something quick. I went back and forth between a few websites, but finally settled on a $70 wedding dress from Lulus! I chose a very minimalistic wedding dress but had customizations and alterations (I had a slit and bra pads added) done by Joylene. Joylene also made my cape (Something that I always wanted!).

How we made it easy for our wedding party

We had a wedding party that was spread across the US, so we went for something simple and easy for everyone! We originally planned on khakis and a white top for the guys, but getting 9 guys to find the same khaki shade was a stress that we didn’t think was worth it! So instead we went for an all black look with a terracotta bowtie (purchased through Azazie).

Azazie made it so easy for all of my bridesmaids to pick a dress in the same shade! They had the perfect terracotta color. I wanted my girls to feel comfortable and confident, so they picked their own dress style and I let them wear whatever they wanted for footwear!

Speaking of our wedding party…

They deserved a blog post of their own. So stay tuned for that!

A Stress-free Morning

Brandon and I broke a lot of wedding rules and traditions. We had a combined bachelor/bachelorette party and a combined bridal shower. We saw each other the night before and the morning of the wedding. We said “goodbye” once it was time for us to get ready and didn’t see each other until it was time for me to walk down the aisle.

We originally planned to use 2 locations for getting ready – one for me and one for him. But after looking at our finances, we decided to just get ready at my house. We separated the house, but really, the guys and girls got together (besides Brandon and I!)

My bridesmaids really came in clutch with making sure everyone was calm, fed, and hydrated. They showed up with food, coffee, and the best energy. This is all that Brandon and I wanted!

My mom and I had our hair and makeup done by Donna and she did such an incredible job! My mom looked absolutely beautiful (She always does, but extra extra beautiful on this day). I went for a very simple and natural makeup look with a half up half down hairstyle. And of course, I had to have a crown on my big day! I got my crown from Bridal Closet in Draper! Our wonderful and amazing friend Sierra helped with all of my bridesmaids hair.

Brandon got his hair done by the one and only Ryan from O’Carney’s! Ryan has been doing Brandon’s hair since he was a teenager, so being able to have him do his hair for our wedding was a blessing!

A Private Property Wedding on Maui

Brandon and I always dreamed and talked about getting married at Rainbow Acres in Olinda. There’s a particular part of the property that used to have a giant tree with a swing. Years ago, we talked about how it would be the perfect place for our wedding ceremony. Though the tree is no longer there, we still had our ceremony in that same spot. We had our reception at the top of the property and were able to use the cactus farm for our wedding photos.

An Untraditional First Look

We didn’t do one. Not with each other, at least! Brandon and I wanted to save our first look for the aisle, so instead we did one with our closest friends and wedding party. I highly recommend doing this! It was so much fun and it still allowed us to have that “First Look” moment!

Simple and Quick Wedding Ceremony

A few years before we got engaged, we joked around with our uncle about officiating our wedding. It only made sense for us to make it happen! We loved doing this because Uncle Donny is so special to us and has been a part of our relationship from the beginning.

Brandon walked down the aisle with both of his parents – something that they weren’t expecting to do, but we loved adding this in! We also decided to cut the partnered walk for our wedding party and they all walked down on their own. All three of my parents walked me down the aisle (this is something I HAD to have!)

We had a very simple ceremony with lots of laughs and smiles. It was intimate and absolutely perfect. We even had a livestream set up so that our family and friends were able to watch from overseas!

Cactus Farm Wedding Photos

Our amazing bridal photos! Jasmyn and Brittney did an incredible job. We ended up doing two quick sessions – one right after the ceremony/group photos, and another during golden hour.

Our Perfect Wedding Reception!

We had a simple reception setup: a tent, tables, chairs, and an open area for dancing. We had our food catered by Randy’s Catering and dessert favors from Cymz Sweet Kre8tionz. Our amazing aunty and godparent made our wedding cake!

There was one thing we wanted for our reception: a ton of dancing! And we got that! Here’s how we broke down our timeline:

We had a quick grand entrance that included our wedding party (Without individual introductions to cut down time!) and we went straight into our first dance. We had speeches during dinner time and quickly went through cake cutting, the bouquet toss, and garter toss. Brandon did a dance with his mom, but we didn’t play the entire song. It was important to me to dance with all three of my parents, so that took some time. We had a live performance for my fathers-daughter dance by Hayden Roberts, but were able to fit in a dance with both of my dads for the duration of one song. I immediately went into a mother daughter dance after this. By going through all of these quickly, it allowed us to have almost 2 hours of dancing time at the end! We also opted out of an exit or send off.

Our wedding was everything we ever wanted. Brandon and I are very simple and our wedding was exactly that. We spent the days leading up to the wedding and the day of the wedding surrounded by those that we love and are important to us. It was absolutely perfect!