It's nerve racking planning a wedding from so far away. You can't go about it the same way you would a wedding down the street or even in the next city over. It takes a lot of communication and... faith in the people you hire. And just finding those people, is a daunting task.
I am a planner by nature, but I knew I needed a point person on the island to help me with my April 2010 wedding. I had a list of pretty strict requirements when I set out on my search for a wedding planner: 1) They couldn't break the bank (I had a strict budget) 2) They had to *respect* the budget I was working with even after I hired them (I've heard horror stories about this) 3) They needed to be very prompt with their correspondence (I timed them all), 4) They needed to be even more organized than I was (no small feat) 5) They couldn't charge me a percentage of each vendor they booked (that's a racket and gives coordinators no incentive to keep to your budget) 5) They had to be fairly open with vendors I wanted to work with (no strict lists with only certain people I could hire, and 6) I had to get a good "vibe" from them (after all, I was going to be working with them a lot in the following months). I interviewed a lot of coordinators and not a single one met all my requirements. That was, until I met Cherise at The Perfect Wedding. Even once I hired her, I was still dubious because she seemed too good to be true. However, now that everything is said and done and I'm happily married, I can officially say that this business is out of this world and (even with this strict list of requirements) FAR exceeded my expectations. The first thing that really set this business apart from the rest was Cherise's communication. There was never a time when she didn't respond to one of my phone calls or emails within 24 hours. Or, if she had a few events that took her away from the office- she would let me know ahead of time. I always received answers to my questions throughly and promptly (and for any of you that have had to contact vendors in Maui- you know was a rarity this is). I already had in mind a few vendors that I wanted to use and Cherise was open to that. Though, when I needed help with selecting others- she provided me with some AMAZING referrals. In the end, I firmly believe that I had the Maui-Wedding-Dream-Team of vendors working for us on our big day and Cherise was the driving force behind it all.
I had an intricate idea of what I wanted our small (25 person) Maui destination wedding to be like. When I explained this to Cherise, she immediately "got it" and really stuck to my vision the entire time. We rented a private estate which meant that all vendors (from chair rentals to caterers to audio equipment) had to be organized and brought in. Even though I thought I already knew what all went into planning for a wedding (like I said, I'm organized to a fault), more than a few times Cherise alerted me to things that I hadn't even thought of. It's this attention to detail that made our event flawless from the very beginning.
So planning everything was a breeze- but how did it all turn out? In a word: Incredible. It was amazing to have her there from the first day of planning (9 months in advance) all the way to the day of our wedding. We had the wedding of our dreams. Every detail was attended to with such care and insight. In the end, not a single thing when wrong on our wedding day and I was able to sit back and really enjoy all of it. I would have never been able to do this had it not been for Cherise. Cherise is such a sweet woman, but she also knows how to run a tight ship. There is an amazing amount of people and things to coordinate on the actual day but because Cherise was there, I was able to take in every special moment with my friends and family. That fact alone made hiring The Perfect Wedding worth while. But factor in the millions of other things Cherise did for - priceless.
There were NO unexpected "fees" or hidden costs- I received a nicely organized Excel Sheet that broke everything down so I knew the exact cost of everything. Every interaction I had with The Perfect Wedding was a positive one- which made the entire process FUN. I also felt as if my wedding were just as important and special to Cherise, as it was to my husband, our family and friends, and myself. And at the end of the day, The Perfect Wedding far exceeded my expectations (which were pretty high to begin with). There aren't enough mahalos I can give to show our appreciation. 
