diezelgrrl

Rachel Ray actually just did a show on Maui dining. If you go on food.com, you may see some reviews on those restaurants. we went to Mama's Fish House which had great food. It's on the otherside of the island though, closer to the airport area. And just because I loved this place, check out this casual dining place called Da Kitchen. They had great plates at great prices! So good I went there twice on my three day stay lol Hope that helps!

Hey Princess, if I could make a suggestion, if you're going to be on the island for that long, I would do a one day trip to the Big Island and go tour around the volcano national park. Just take a very early flight and book a returning one the same day. You could probably find some tour groups with roberts hawaii to show you around the island. I would also go to maui for a couple of days. Do the trip to hana and the sunrise tour (but rent a car and drive around yourself.) When you get back to Oahu, you'll appreciate it more because you've experience two other very unique and beauriful hawaiian islands!

Hey Princess, if I could make a suggestion, if you're going to be on the island for that long, I would do a one day trip to the Big Island and go tour around the volcano national park. Just take a very early flight and book a returning one the same day. You could probably find some tour groups with roberts hawaii to show you around the island. I would also go to maui for a couple of days. Do the trip to hana and the sunrise tour (but rent a car and drive around yourself.) When you get back to Oahu, you'll appreciate it more because you've experience two other very unique and beauriful hawaiian islands!

I think the sheraton Princess Kahlani was a pretty decent hotel. It's right across the street from the beach and right on the strip where all the shops are. But anywhere in that Waikiki area will be convenient so you just have to pick your price range. Hotels closer to the ala wai canal tend to be cheaper but also not as grand. We had groups of friends sharing condos found on VRBO and they loved it. If it's just you and you fiance, not sure if a vacation rental will be worth it.

I actually took my group to Germaine's Luau. Everyone had a great time and it was a nice ice breaker for people who didn't know wach other...well most people bonded over laughing at us as we got pulled on stage numerous times to do the hula lol!

thanks for all your ideas girls! I will take pictures of everything if i'm able to do it justice lol

hi just an update on this: we got our application filed two days before our ceremony. it took only 30 min to get it processed. We had our ceremony on 8/7 and the officiant signed off and filed the paperwork. We just received our official license last week in the mail..all the way from hawaii to ny which is not too bad. Only 30 days and we didn't even file the expediated form!

I second the notion of the swap meet! it was a dollar admission when we went this year but you can look online or the coupon books at the side of the streets to see if they're offering free admission. They're open Wed, Sat and Sun from 6am to 3 pm. You can bargain like crazy there. I always round down and shave off a few dollars off their prices. Also if you're close to the closing time, a lot of food vendors will sell you their fresh food for almost nothing! Some other places I loved shopping at were kmart and costco. The many many ABCs stores are fun to go to and their prices are really not bad for a tourist trap but you're better off buying at kmart or costco for bulk items.

we used music express productions! rick peralta and his wife are a great team plus they have a very user friendly website where you can pick songs that you want played. there are a lot of clips too so you can even use it to sample music.

I promise you still have the two bags coming to you! i've been swamped and will try to make it to the post office this weekend.

I bought the silicone stick on cups from victoria secret and I thought they worked great! I wore them from noontime for pro-pics through 11 p.m. after the reception. they stayed on through all the sweating, dancing and waving my arms l 'just don't care' lols when I took them off that night, sweat started running down from being trapped inside...ewww but kinda cool haha hope that helps!

hey girls, the rule has been you need a permit to use public spaces but if you have it at a hotel who owns the space, then a permit is not necessary. I know a new rule coming into effect is allowing certain vendors have exclusive permits for a space at a destinated time to restrict the number of weddings that can occur in a day. That will limit the vendor choices you'll have =( I had my wedding at the Moana Surfrider on a lawn which overlooks Waikiki beach and it was beautiful (even with the notorious crowds in the background...not one beach go-er made it into my pics though because they have palm trees in the back near the ceremony site blocking anybody peeking from behind) Some other Oahu beach/lawn sites you can consider that are privately owned is the JW Marriot, Turtle Bay and Paradise Cove. good luck!

Yari: I would love to have your family recipe...what do you usully serve it with? thanks! Andre*a*licious: are the recipes floating somewhere on the forum? i'll try to find it...beer cheese dip huh? I better keep my pug away from the table then...he has many food loves but cheese and going around and sneaking licks from everyone's beer can is another! Case*a*licious: thanks for helping me dig it up! can't wait to get it! My DH is laughing at me because I was debating on handing out favors...lol i'm still in wedding planning mode!

Hi ladies...i'm throwing a housewarming in a couple of weeks and since we'll have 20 or so guests, we decided to do an appetizer buffet instead of a dinner. Does anyone have a favorite homemade or semi-homemade recipe or idea to share? thanks in advance!

hey there fellow asian gal...my first question to you would be skin tone. colors will depend on how "yellow" you are. also don't forget that you'll probably be a little tan so think about the shade you turn in the sun. in general, I think pinks, blues and whites with black or brown liner works very well on the eyes. I didn't get married in cabo so i'm don't have a vendor recommendation for you but if you're not going to do a trial, I would set a very early apt the day of the wedding to give yourself plenty of time to make suggestions...hope that helps!

I have two extra but not sure if it's worth shipping to you from NY?

we just got back from our DW and I brought back two costco size mac nut hersheys hehe. maybe i'll eat them wearing while wearing my dress...my own version of TTD!! Alyssa, sometimes I eat raisins and pretzels together. it's almost like chocolate covered....

you girls have said most everything but one I will add: paying someone to help you plan causes less heartache than having a good friend/relative do it for free!

the cake was great! Mary Catherine's designed it to the exact detail that I wanted! it was sweet as all wedding cakes tend to be but really fresh and the passion fruit flavor was a nice twist to what people were expecting...but as I predicted, no one really remembers the cake after the fact (i asked my guests opinions again the next day what they thought of the flavor and received blank faces) but EVERYONE remembered how great it looked..hope this review helps!

I actually ordered my wedding cake from Mary Catherine's. My photog was the one who made the suggestion telling me that although the cake was not the best, it's not the worst and they have nice designs for a decent price...and every wedding he's done, guaranteed no one remembers the taste of the cake! My sister(who lives there) went to try it out and said their chocolate cake was not good but their fruit flavored ones were awesome so we wound up going with that. Small two-tier feeds 30 people came out to be about 200 after tax and delivery charge. I'll let you know how it was when I get back!

ditto on the question above. If you're doing a white dress, the Galina dresses at david's bridal are very nice for a beach wedding. It's not so very hot in december in hawaii. the nights can actually get down to 60 degrees. My dress is fron David's Bridal..a very simple halter and barely a train. no tulle, ruffles or anything...just plain satin! I also liked the lace dresses...very simple yet nice. too bad it didn't look so nice on me lol!

I liked the cooler bag idea too except that we're going to purchase fold up beach mats for everyone and it wouldn't have fit.... I had the idea of getting drawstring backpacks for the men but had trouble getting budget friendly prices for such a small head count and even on the bags I found online, didn't know what color to get. It would seem to girly to get our wedding colors (lime and fuschia) and yellow or orange was seriously too neon. Oriental Trading had these cheap white cotton drawstring bags and we contemplated ironing our logo on but couldn't really afford a diy mess! Went looking around my neighborhood and found simple nylon black drawstring bags w/o any logo for $6 each. Kind of pricey and wasn't thrilled about a black bag but FI was finally satisfied about the un-girly bag! We wound up only buying for the single guys cuz we got those cool Target straw bags for the couples to share =) So that evened out our budget a little. I'm always dumping my bfs stuff into my handbag anyway when we go to the beach lol So long story short...OOT bags are finally done!

Welcome! Turtle Bay is gorgeous! Have fun planning!

Hi...did anyone purchase OOT bags for their male guests? We have some guys going that are single so I'm looking for some (budget-friendly) ideas. Thanks!

I was originally going to buy them from oriental trading but they're sold out..so I googled around and found Koyal Wholesalers. they sold the same fans for the same price! and when they came the bag actually said oriental trading lol I just ordered mine last weekend so maybe they'll still have some? it comes in dozens...