Hawaii Weather Blog

Here is an interesting link to a Hawaii weather blog that might interest you. Keep in mind that the Island of Oahu (where he's located) is still about a 100 miles away from Maui. They tend to get more rain there. And Kauai gets even more because it is further north and higher in latitude.

I took a second look at this and realized that its a bit dated. With weather, you obviously want the latest up-to-date information. Here's another link:

Maui Wedding Planner: 10 Tips for Selecting the Right a Hawaiian Coordinator

I wrote a more detailed article about how to select a Maui Wedding Planner and have put it up for your convenience, if you are in the process of trying to find a someone to plan your Hawaii wedding. There are a lot of good companies, a lot of companies with little or no experience, and there are a few companies that have a consistenly poor customer service record with their Maui wedding clients.

This is why it is probably a good idea to take your time and do a little checking on any Maui wedding coordinator companies with whom you are thinking of doing business. This article should help you with a 10-point check list on what to look for.

Best price is not necessarily going to be the best deal, if that lower price comes with a low quality Maui wedding or worse, a company who does not know how to treat you right. In the same regards, paying a high price does not guarantee that you'll get good service. Follow my checklist and you should be able to make a wise choice.

See the article at:
http://www.maui-me.com/MauiWeddingPlanner.html

Maui Wedding Traditions

Every day in the U.S. about 6,700 couples tie the knot, while each day about 3,200 are untying the knot.

Six percent of American couples propose on the phone. One in ten women are the ones who pop the question. On the average, couples are now waiting about 16 months after their engagement before they finally have their ceremony. A third of the couples who get married, are already living together (our experience here is that this percentage is much higher with our couples).

Here on Maui, we've actually performed a couple of "surprise Maui weddings" where either the bride or the groom did not know it was happening until their partner took them to the wedding license appointment! (Of course, we always wonder, will they say "yes" as we're helping in this planning, and what will happen if they say "no").

Nine out of ten brides take their husband's last name. We actually had one groom who took his wife's name and one couple that both changed their last name to something completely different.

Slightly more than a quarter of American couples complete their wedding planning in three months or less. Over half of the couples spend up to a year working on their wedding details, while 17 percent keep at it for more than a year. I think most of our couples would be in the "less than three months" group.

The average wedding size is 171 guests. While up to seven percent have more than 250 in attendance. By comparison, the vast majority of our Maui weddings are 10 or under. I'm fond of calling our couples the "runaway bride and groom" because they leave all of their troubles (and guests) on the mainland.

The average first time wedding on the mainland costs a whopping $22,360 (and those figures are about three years old). Some are obviously spending a lot more. In contrast, even our high-end Maui weddings are seldom as high as $3000 (unless they bring a lot of people and have a big reception).

Fifty percent of those married in a large traditional mainland wedding wish afterwards that they had opted for a private, more personal ceremony. But it is interesting that not a single eloper wishes they had stuck around for a big, traditional wedding?

And that's the beauty about getting married in Paradise. You are very unlikely to regret that decision later. Your pocket book will enjoy the decision, and you'll find it much more romantic for the two of you to escape to Maui for you own special wedding commitment.

Maui Wedding Vow Renewal

Wedding vow renewal services are great for couples who have not forgotten why they got married in the first place. They are something that couples do to rekindle their love and affection, and to remind one another of their ongoing desire to make their relationship last for a lifetime. We've performed many vow renewal ceremonies over the eight years we've been performing weddings here on Maui.

I perform the majority of our Wedding service's ministers duties. My Maui wedding ceremonies are listed on our website, and you can find them above, by clicking on the link connected to the title of this article. But I also have four Maui Wedding Vow Renewal ceremonies. Three of those are on our website, so you can read them.

The first is my Christian vow renewal which is aimed for those having a stronger Christian background. It includes several scripture references taken from the Living Bible and a prayer. You can read it at:
http://www.affordablemauiweddings.com/christianrenewal.html

The of my Maui Wedding Vow Renewal service is what I call the Spiritual. It is similar to the above ceremony with less scripture (it does include 1 Corithians 13 in the Living Bible), and a prayer. You can read it at:
http://www.affordablemauiweddings.com/spiritualrenewal.html

The third of my Maui Wedding Vow Renewal ceremonies I call the Contemporary. This is a secular vow renewal ceremony which is very romantic, but which does not mention God. You can read it at:
http://www.affordablemauiweddings.com/contemporaryrenewal.html

The fourth Maui Wedding Vow Renewal Ceremony (which is not yet listed on our website), is a strong ceremony which emphasizes the commitment you've made with your spouse and kept all these years. It emphasizes the concept of the "legacy" that you have built for your kids by remaining married in this age of so many divorces. If you would like to have a copy of this ceremony, you may request it from Susan and she'll e-mail it to you.

Maui Garden Weddings

Many couples want a beautiful garden setting for their Maui wedding. We have a number of nice properties available to you. In most cases we have photographs of the sites to show you what your wedding will look like in that location. Click on the title of this article to go to our garden web page.

There are private garden sites and their are public parks. The problem with the public parks, of course, is that it is first-come, first-served. You can't be certain that a particular spot will be available for you. That one reason paid garden sites are so popular. You can reserve it and know that it will be yours. Many of these sites have their own gazebo, so that you will have a dramatic focal point around which to have your ceremony.

There are gardens near the ocean (like the one at the Embassy Suites). But if you go to a garden in central Maui, like the nice grounds of the Maui Tropical Plantation, you will be in a rainy section of the island and more likely to have to deal with a little precipitation. You should also be aware that you these sites must be booked during the heat of the day as they have no sunset view and are not available towards late evening.

Affordable Weddings in Hawaii

Tonight I performed an "affordable wedding" for a couple from California. They were here on vacation and at the last moment they decided to get "Maui'd". I like to tell my couples that you can get married anywhere, but you can only get Maui'd here. They found us in the phone book after talking to other companies that said "we've closed for the day." (Unless we are doing a wedding or have another engagement, we always try to be available for last second weddings).

This couple, Dirk and Jackie called on a Saturday and wanted to get married before they left Maui on Monday morning. It is always difficult to get a wedding license from the State of Hawaii at the last moment, because most of the wedding license officials are closed on the weekend. Susan worked hard for the couple, calling all of the license people and finally found a license official who would get their paper work completed on Saturday.

The license gal is actually 98 years old and she claims to have been doing this same work for 70 years! She's always fun for our couples to meet. She'll usually ask who their minister is, and when my name is given, she almost always says "Never heard of him! If he isn't registered with the State it won't be legal." So we usually warn our couples about this ahead of time so that they won't worry about my credentials.

So this afternoon at 3:00, I met the couple and performed their ceremony. They had a video camera and talked a fellow from Canada into using their camcorder to get their wedding on tape. And I shot some digital shots for them so that they could have some pictures when they get home.

We enjoy giving our couples affordable weddings here in Hawaii. The one thing that all couples need is romance. And Maui is one of the greatest places on earth to realize the dream of a romantic wedding in paradise.

Hawaii Maui Wedding

Many people confuse what the name "Hawaii" is used for. Hawaii is the name of the Big Island. But it is also the name of our group of islands. So when you say or hear the word "Hawaii" it is important to know if the person is talking about the single island or the group of islands known as Hawaii.

Maui is one of the four largest Hawaiian islands. It is actually the second largest after the Big Island. Within the State of Hawaii, Maui is located in Maui County, which also includes the islands of Lanai, Molokai, and Kahoolave (the uninhabited island). But the County is not used on our mailing address, which means that we live in Haiku, Hawaii instead of Haiku, Maui, Hawaii.

People often confuse Hawaii for Oahu, which is the island where Honolulu is located. When tourists are searching for weddings in Hawaii, the usually don't mean the big island, but rather Oahu or Maui or Kauai. So when someone types the words "Hawaii Maui wedding" into their browser in a Google search, they are more than likely looking for information on Oahu and Maui weddings -- or just Maui weddings that are in Hawaii.

That's what we offer: Hawaiian weddings on the island of Maui. It doesn't get any more "authentically" Hawaiian than Maui. Everything you want that is represented by the language, the people and the islands of Hawaii can be found right here on Maui in Hawaii.

Maui weddings are the most popular weddings in the State of Hawaii. Half of all tourist weddings performed in the State take place on Maui. If you're thinking of running away from the mainland and having a romantic beach wedding, you can't do wrong by bringing your nuptials to Maui. A Hawaii Maui Wedding is like no other. Only in Hawaii, on the Island of Maui will you find the greatest beaches in the State. Only in Hawaii Maui weddings will you experience the awesome sunsets that these gorgeous west and south side beaches offer.

You won't find this on the Big Island of Hawaii, as their are almost no sandy beaches facing the west. You won't find this on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, as there are very few swimming beaches located on the west side of the island, and very few services there. Even on Oahu, you will be hard pressed to find very many good wedding beaches that face into the setting sun.

So Hawaii Maui weddings are like no others in the State. You will not be making a mistake if you plan your very own Hawaii dream wedding on Maui.

Hale Aloha Wedding Estate

Hale Aloha Wedding Estate is a newly available wedding location that we used six years ago, and which has just now become available again. For several reasons, we are not allowed to publish pictures of this premiere wedding site on our website. But if you e-mail us or call us, we can e-mail you pictures from our previous weddings done at this location approximately seven years ago, as well as new photos that have been taken.

The Hale Aloha Wedding Estate is located right on the ocean in south Maui. There is a home with bamboo flooring available for the bride to change in and have her hair and make-up done. There are also expansive grounds, including a gazebo right next to the water, where the wedding can take place. The grounds are quite attractive.

Receptions and weddings can be arranged on this property for up to 500 people. If you have a large groups, you'll soon discover that your options are few. That makes the Hale Aloha Wedding Estate an extremely important Maui wedding location for larger groups.

Makena Cove Maui Beach Wedding Location

Makena Cove is one of our favorite site. The beach is small and sheltered and is a little difficult to find by the casual tourist. Many locals have never even been to the area, so it's far less likely to be frequented by bathers and casual swimmers (it is not really a good swimming beach because of the rocks and the large waves).

The sunsets at Makena can be pretty awesome. The offshore view is of the islands of Kaholoowe and Molokini which usually have clouds over them which glow orange at sunset. It is likely that you'll have a beautiful sky at this location for your sunset wedding. Each evening the clouds from Haleakala slide off the vocano and down towards the sea over Makena. Those clouds sometimes look dark and forbidding, but they seldom produce rain, even in winter.

The biggest drawback about Makena Cove is that it is popular with wedding coordinators and it is often likely that there will be one or two other weddings (or more) going on during the same evening. Fortunately, wedding parties are usually oblivious to each other. It is difficult to do justice to the beach in two or three photographs, so we have included several to give you a better idea of what makes this beach so special. To see pictures, click on the following link: Makena Cove.

There are no restrooms or facilities at Makena Cove and no paved parking area. And we should mention that this beach is often crowded with other weddings (because of its popularity) and on weekends it is a favorite of locals who often set up their fishing poles and their tables and umbrellas. If you visit during the day it might seem abandoned, only to have six or seven weddings appear as the sunset approaches.

We now do more of our weddings at another site, which we'll share with you when you call.

Affordable Maui Weddings Packages

We specialize in providing affordable Maui weddings for our couples. But that doesn't mean "cheap." We provide a quality, high value service at an affordable price.

Our weddings start at $300 for your minister, your wedding license appointment, and two leis for a lei exchange during your wedding. Considering where you are getting married, this is a bargain to be sure. But we do very few of these smaller inexpensive "A" packages.

Most of our couples go for our Simply Maui'd Package, which includes the services of a minister, two leis, sparkling apple cider service for two (with a small table presentation), and 24, 4 x 6 inch photos in an attractive album, a souvenir wedding certificate and the on-site coordinating services -- all for $650.

Our next package is The Beautiful Wedding Package which includes coordinating of all details, including setting up your wedding license appointment, help with selecting your wedding site location, the services of a minister, two leis for a lei exchange during the ceremony, 34 4x6 color photos in an album, one enlargement, a full-color wedding certificate, a bride's nosegay bouquet, the groom's boutonniere, a wedding cake with table and engraved glasses with sparkling apple cider for a wedding toast, and the bride's in-room hair and make-up. This package is $1095.

The Exquisite Wedding Package includes coordinating of all details, including setting up your wedding license appointment, help with selecting your wedding site location, the services of a minister, two leis for a lei exchange during the ceremony, 48 4x6 photos in a deluxe photo album, two enlargements, a fully edited "B" Video, a bride's cascading bouquet, the groom's boutonniere, a wedding cake with table and engraved glasses with sparkling apple cider for a wedding toast, the bride's in-room hair and make-up, a full color wedding certificate, and a musician of your choice for the ceremony. This package is $1995.

Our Grand Wedding Package is for couples who want the ultimate wedding experience. The package includes coordinating of all details, including setting up your wedding license appointment, help with selecting your wedding site location, the services of a minister, two leis for a lei exchange during the ceremony, 48 4x6 photos in photo album, two enlargements, a fully edited "C" video, the bride's deluxe cascading bouquet, the groom's boutonniere, cake with table and engraved glasses with apple cider for a wedding toast, the brides in-room hair and make, a full-color wedding certificate, four hours of limousine to and from your wedding site, a husband and wife romantic duo (with keyboards and/or flute and guitar) and dinner on the beach prepared by your own personal chef. This package is $2895.

Regardless of which package you choose, remember that you can add any services or upgrade any services within each of these packages.

Maui Wedding Consultant

Why have a Maui wedding consultant?

I suppose you could try to coordinate your Maui wedding by yourself. But that is risky, especially since you are on the mainland and you have few if little contacts here in Maui (except those you find on the Internet). A Maui wedding consultant will do more for you that just consult with you on your choices. She will also coordinate all the details of your wedding, no matter what the size, bringing together all of the elements to give you a Maui dream wedding.

A Maui wedding consultant is working for you, and if she books wedding vendors -- which would likely include a photographer, minister, videographer, a florist, lei maker, musician, chair supplier, cake maker, caterer, etc., it won't cost you any more if you book them directly yourself. How can this be? Will all of these vendors would prefer to work with a coordinator who is taking care of all the details so that they will know that the wedding will go smoothly. So they give a commission to the consultant for doing all of the coordinating. So they cost you the same, and they will answer to the consultant so that she knows everything will be taken care of.

So Maui wedding consultants save you money. They make certain that your wedding comes off as planned. This is probably the wisest way for you to go.

You also get the value of your consultant's contacts. Through experience, she knows a lot of different wedding vendors. If one is not available, she has a back-up list. In addition, she knows which vendors are responsible and reliable, and which ones will do the best job in their chosen field. This experience will be invaluable for your wedding, especially if it is large, because there are usually a myriad of details to take care of with larger weddings.

You can't go wrong hiring the best Maui wedding consultant, and of course, we believe the Affordable Maui Weddings has the best coordinators on the island. I couldn't be more proud of my wife Susan who does the lion's share of our consulting. Before you book with any other company, be sure to give her a ring how nice working with her can be.

Maui Nanny

Often couples coming to Maui for their wedding or honeymoon, or just for a vacation, are in need of someone to watch one or more children.

Well, we've got just the right service for you. Maui Nanny, is a service that will meet your childcare needs while you are here on the island. Rebecca Souter has been doing nanny work with children for years now. She has an extensive website that you will want to check out.

You can read about her and her qualifications at: http://mauinanny.com/aboutus.html

Her rates are listed at: http://mauinanny.com/rates.html

You can find her philsophy at http://mauinanny.com/philosophy.html and

You can real about her policies at http://mauinanny.com/policy.html

She even does elderly care: http://mauinanny.com/elderlycare.html

Hawaiian Flowers Preservation

Hawaiian wedding flowers are so beautiful that we often have brides asking if it is possible to take them home and/or to preserve them. Generally, flower leis are a little more perishable and will not last the trip to the mainland but you can certainly try to take them if you wish. The agricultural department will not allow certain flowers to be taken (which I'm not sure), but they will take those flowers out at the airport.

If you want to spend some money to preserve your flowers, there are currently two companies that you can use to preserve your wedding bouquet.

Ingrid at Pressed Flower Fantasies (located here in Kihei, Maui) can take your bridal bouquet and transform them into a beautiful piece of art, a permanent remembrance of one of the most cherished days of your life. The bouquet is photographed, the flowers are pressed then they are artfully reassembled and finally professionally framed. To take a look at some samples of her work, go to her website located at: http://www.pressedflowerfantasies.com/FloralPres/floral.htm

Another company that offers essentially the same service is located on the island of Oahu. For our Maui brides, you can actually ship over your bouquet to Oahu on the airline. Thanks to Aloha Airlines this is not a problem. Aloha offers "chilled cargo service" between all islands and Honolulu. This is the service used for bringing in fresh flowers and fish from the Neighbor Islands to the Honolulu marketplace. Your flowers will be kept refrigerated the entire time except that period when they are on the airplane (average flight time between Islands is 25 minutes). Island Air also offers service from Kapalua. You will find a lot more details on this service and what your framed display will look like at their website located at: http://www.keepsakeshawaii.com/maui.htm

Hawaiian Wedding Certificates

After your Maui wedding, you will want to receive a Hawaiian Wedding Certificate. As a part of our regular service Affordable Maui Weddings provides wedding certificates to our wedding couples.

Our certificates are full color and are provided as part of any package that you purchase (except for the Affordable Wedding Package A). All other packages have beautiful Hawaii Wedding Certificates added as part of their features. These certificates are nicely printed and are suitable for framing.

Of course, every legal wedding which we do will receive a certificate from the State of Hawaii. But this usually takes three to four months before you receive the form back from the State offices. A decorative certificate is important because it establishes the fact that you have been married. It is also a much more attractive certificate than the legal document that the State of Hawaii will send you.

Vow renewals are not legal ceremonies and therefore do not need a license from the State. In some of the weddings we perform, the couple has already become legally married usually back home, but they want us to perform their "real wedding" here. Wedding couples from Japan are similar, in that they are officially married when they go to the local authorities, so their western-style wedding here is not considered a legal wedding in Hawaii.

For these weddings or vow renewals, Hawaiian Wedding Certificates are all the more important, because nothing will be coming to these couples from the State of Hawaii. We try to have our decorative wedding certificates ready for you to pick up with your photography when you leave Maui.

Hawaii Sunset Wedding

The ultimate wedding in paradise should be a Hawaii sunset wedding. There is nothing like seeing that golden globe reaching the horizon as you walk hand-in-hand on the beach or in a garden setting. But recording those beautiful memories in your photography or wedding video is important. You will want to remember that moment for a lifetime.

It is so important that you make certain you have a photographer who knows how to shoot the Maui sunset. Although we usually prefer a wedding beach this is secluded and private, I have sometimes found myself on beaches that were crowded with other newly married couples and their photographers.

I find it interesting to occasionally glace over at other photographers and see what they're doing, if for no other reason than to get some new ideas. Usually, however, I am surprised by how often I'll see a photographer stop shooting just as the sun is reaching its most dramatic moments. Or worse, they are shooting parallel to the sun so that the colorful sky will not appear in their photographs.

As amazing as it might seem, not all Hawaii wedding photographers know how to shoot the sunset. If you don't flash it just right, it is easy to lose the color in the sky by making it go to light or too dark. I also like to shoot my couples with a large telephoto lens right as the sun reaches the horizon (usually right over their shoulders), so that I can have the largest size orange in the picture as possible. If you want good sunset photography at your Hawaii wedding, by all means look at the photographer's website to be certain that he knows how to shoot it.

Several years ago one of our couples hired their own photographer and brought her to our wedding sight. The wedding took below the resort hotel, but the photographer took at least half of her pictures in the lobby! Why, I wondered would you do that when you can get a lobby anywhere in the world, and when Hawaii provides such a beautiful background for our couples. When the photographer did shoot the couple overlooking the ocean, the sun and clouds created one of the most beautiful skies I've ever seen. I remarked to the groom how gorgeous the sunset was and he asked the photographer, "could we get some shots of the sunset too?"

Her response was: "The light is not right." Woe. She apparently had no idea how to shoot that sunset, and not wanting to embarrass herself when the pictures came back, she just talked her way out of avoiding the task altogether. So, be certain that you have a photographer who knows how to shoot a Hawaii sunset wedding so that you won't end up disappointed.

Paradise Wedding in Hawaii

If you get married in Hawaii, you will truly be tying the knot in paradise. Never underestimate the power of being in paradise. So many couples come to Hawaii to vacation and get swept away by the romantic nature of the islands. That's why we get so many last minute calls from couples who want to get Maui'd before they go home.

Just the other night, the groom told me before the start of the wedding that he was trying to figure out a way to move to paradise. What is it about Hawaii that brings out these reactions in people coming here for the first time?

Probably the most compelling thing is the gorgeous scenery. Nothing is more exciting than to drive around on an island where you can almost always see the ocean.

I used to live in Long Beach, California, so I grew up near the beach. But the beach in Southern California is almost always just a long sandy strip next to the ocean. Very seldom do you go to a beach that has any rocky outcroppings. Of course I went to Laguna and Corona Del Mar, but for the most part I hung out at Seal Beach, Huntington Beach or Long Beach. And they were all nice. But let me tell you, there is no comparison between those beaches and Hawaii.

For one thing, you can go to the beach year round. The palm trees and the cliffs and the view is breathtaking. No matter where you're from, even if it is in California near the coast, you end up being impressed by the beauty of the place.

Next, I think is the weather. My wife Susan and I went on a cruise in December that departed from Long Beach. I was simply not prepared for the cold weather when we arrived. Mexico was warm after we started south, but California in winter is cold by Hawaii standards. After you live here for a while, you really do get spoiled. You really can't go anywhere else for a vacation (unless it is snow country) and feel that you've stepped up in the world.

So planning your wedding here in paradise will generally make it one of the most exciting things you ever do. What a great way to start the rest of your life together.

Hawaii Wedding Photography

There are many Hawaii wedding photographers here on Maui. My photography website has been up for years and although the photos are strong, it doesn't begin to show what I've done over the last three years. I'm in the process now of revising the look of my entire website and putting up some new images.

I specialize in sunset photography. It is an art to flash a couple just right so that the background does not go too dark or too light. You want to see the gorgeous golden sky behind you at the end of the evening. You want it to look as good in your photography as it does when you stand on the beach at sunset (assuming that you have a sunset wedding).

I've been shooting sunset photography for eight years now. When I first started doing photography the owner of the lab where I take my film commented about the number of poses that I use with my couples. He told me that the typical Maui wedding photographer had only a few poses, by comparison. Most photographers seem to shoot several shots of the same pose, but I like to take a wide variety of poses so that you will look your best.

A few years ago we did two wedding services for two couples (who were related to each other) on the same beach at sunset. Because I couldn't shoot both weddings at the same time, we hired another highly recommended photographer to do the second wedding. As is my custom, we had him do a two-for-one shooting ratio. Normally we have many unique shots left over, but this photographer fired off three shots of exactly each pose so that it was very difficult to get enough shots to fill their album. Needless to say, I never waste my shots like that.

I pay special attention to details like how you're standing, how you interact with each other and what the wind is doing with your hair and the bride's veil. I have many different ways of shooting my couples depending on the conditions, the couple and what you want.

Many couples today are asking for digital today. Although I still shoot film, not digital, because most photographers using digital cameras have to spend another couple of hours in front of their computer tweaking their images. That inevitably raises the prices that a couple has to pay. We do make a CDRom available, if you want it, shot from the original film. You can go to my photography website and take a look for yourself. It is located at http://maui-photographer.com

Las Vegas Wedding or Maui Wedding?

Compare Las Vegas Weather with Maui -- It goes without saying that Las Vegas gets really hot in the summer. But winter can also be surprisingly chilly. I was there last January and I felt positively COLD. The funny this is that one of the DJ's on the radio was bragging about their weather for winter, and I was shivering. Living on Maui, I'm afraid, spoils you for going anywhere else. Fall and spring are the best times to come to Vegas.

Maui's temperatures, year round run from the low 70's to the mid eighties. Because of the trade winds, the temperature hardly ever reaches 90. And even in the dead of winter -- it never gets too cold. WINNER: The clear Maui.

Crowded Conditions? -- If you've been to Vegas in the last couple of years you know that it is experiencing an incredible boom. The city now sprawls in all directions and the streets and the freeways are often locked in bumper-to-bumper gridlock. It is easy for visitors to get disoriented and find themselves lost. That's exactly the situation I was in last year when I visited Vegas. I got lost again and again. I could see a landmark sticking up on the Strip, where I wanted to go, but then I would take a wrong turn and get stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic while I headed in the wrong direction. Very frustrating.

Maui does have its own share of traffic congestion on one or two roads, but it has many quiet country roads and unspoiled beaches. Unlike Honolulu, it still have a very rural feeling and it is very easy to explore by rental car. WINNER: Clearly Maui.

Wedding Locations? -- In Vegas you would usually not want to get married out of doors. You will no doubt end up in one of the many Las Vegas wedding chapels. The prices are low and if you don't mind being just one of the many couples waiting your turn for a chapel ceremony and piped in music, it certainly is quick and comparatively inexpensive.

Maui doesn't have many wedding chapels, because it doesn't need them. On Maui you can tie the knot on an uncrowded, FREE public beach. What could be better that this natural, romantic setting, which waves lapping at your feet, fragrant leis around your neck, and a golden sunset in the horizon? WINNER: Maui.

Wedding Atmosphere? -- If you've ever been to Vegas you know that there is a certain "attitude" in the air. In most of the resorts and casinos and among the ever-present slog machines, you feel like you are imposing on the help. Perhaps this flavor is the result of 24-hour gambling and the never-ending adult entertainment services, but it is a real tangible feeling, especially in the strip, that does not contribute much to a romantic atmosphere.

On Maui, it doesn't take you long to experience what the locals call the "aloha spirit." From traditional lei greetings to the warm, friendly presence of the Hawaiian people, you know that something is just "different" and refreshing about this island paradise. WINNER: Maui.

The Value of Your Wedding -- Las Vegas wedding chapels are surprisingly inexpensive. You can even do a drive-through wedding out of the back seat of your car. Of course, you can also pay big for your Vegas wedding, but if you want fast and cheap, it can certainly found in "sin city."

In comparison, Maui wedding packages offer great value. A ceremony on this island is far more in line with the traditional storybook style of wedding. Beautiful flowers, a gorgeous setting, tropical fragrances, that special romantic feeling -- these are just some of the things that paradise wedding dreams are made of. You may pay a little more, but as the saying goes, you do get what you pay for on Maui. WINNER: Maui.

Do the Maui Comparison -- We could go on and on, but the only way you'll really know if Maui is the place to tie your knot is to do your own research.

Five Reasons to Why Get Married in Hawaii

Why should you think about getting married in Hawaii? Let me just give you the short list of five great reasons to get married in Hawaii.

1. It's very beautiful in Hawaii. All of the Hawaii Islands have a natural beauty that surpasses most people's expectations. We have beaches and mountains (up to 13,000 feet high), active volcanoes, rain forests, deserts, our own grand canyon and lots of lush tropical foilage.

2. You can't beat the weather in Hawaii. Year round temperatures of 70 to 85 is hard to find anywhere else. When I first came here on vacation with my wife, it only took me three days before I said to her: "I could definitely do this." What's not to like about this weather? We get a little humidity, but its usually offset by the tradewinds coming in. No matter what time of year, its always shorts weather. And you can always go swimming.

3. That's another one of our great draws here in Hawaii -- the beautiful beaches. If you like to surf, windsurf, snorkel, snuba, scuba, swim or just lie on the sand and get a good tan, this is the right place to come. Many of our beaches have been rated the best in the world. We have crowded beaches, secluded private beaches, white sand, black sand, red sand, grey sand -- you name it we have it. One of the things you notice, in particular, is that the beaches have these volcanic rock outcroppings and hills on which grow palm trees to give them the perfect tropical setting for your fun and your wedding.

4. Hawaii is inexpensive. An east coast travel agent told me that she had visited Hawaii for the first time and was struck by the incredible value of a trip here. She had been pushing the Caribbean in her travel agency because it was closer than Hawaii. But after visiting here herself, she felt that it offered a much more perfect destination for her clients. We have a lot of fast food like McDonalds, Taco Bell and Jack in the Box; we have discount chains like WalMart, K-Mart and Costco. But we also have exotic, off the beaten path restaurants and condos and bed and breakfast rooms. Whatever you're used to in the States, you can find here in Hawaii. So you won't have to pay and arm and two legs to stay here for a week.

5. Finally, Hawaii is a great, safe place to Honeymoon. You won't get that feeling of safety and security on islands owned by most other foreign countries. Especially where you are considered to be an outsider. In Hawaii you won't worry about your security. We have very low crime rate and you won't be approached on the beach by vendors trying to sell you trinkets, or beads or costume jewelry.

In short, Hawaii is a great to honeymoon, AND a great place to get married. We'll talk more about that tomorrow.

Hawaii Weddings Planner

Aloha! Welcome to our new blog: Hawaii Weddings Planner With John. I'm excited to be able to offer this new information service on my Affordable Maui Weddings site. This will be the first of many blog entries that will help you learn about your wedding in Hawaii.

I'll be including many different pieces of information to make your wedding planning so much easier. Upcoming articles will include information on our affordable Hawaii wedding packages, our Hawaiian wedding ministers, my Hawaii photography packages, Hawaii wedding flowers, and all of those other many Maui wedding services that we offer.

And don't forget our great prices. We've just listed our new Affordable Maui Wedding Package -- the "A" package for just $300. This includes the services of a minister, two leis, and coordinating of your Hawaii wedding license. So . . . keep tuned!

John