Having doubts about "Above Heavens Gate" for our ceremony...

[pbjelly12]

Hi all,

Our wedding date is going to be next year May 2012, and we plan to use Above Heavens Gate to hold our ceremony... but online it seems as though reviews are good, but then on the other hand I heard that this Captain Howie is "weird" so now I'm a little hesistant if we should have our ceremony at that place in Oahu. We only put a $100 bucks down since thats all it takes to reserve this date.. We are only have immediate family, so we definitely want to keep this ceremony on the lower end of the price range..We will be having a bridal party of less then 10 people. If anyone has any ideas for other beach ceremonies in Oahu that you have had a good experience with or have heard about can you please let me know... it would be great to get more ideas! We have been to Oahu before, and just feel that Oahu has the party/nightlife that we want, so we would like to keep it on that island. I have less than a year to plan, but already have my dress/reception hall will be back in my state... so all in all everything is on track, just wanted to see if there are other options out there for us just in case... Thank you!!

[christianwilson]

Aloha, I have a personal friend of Captain Howie for the past 3 years and consider his to be one of the kindest, most genuine people I have ever met in my life. Hmm, I am not sure who gave you the impression that Captain Howie is weird, maybe a competitor perhaps.  But if you prefer a boring minister wearing a 3 piece suit reading and mumbling your wedding vows on a crowded Waikiki beach with tourists gawking at you wearing bathing suits, then Captain Howie is not for you.  Captain Howie has been doing weddings in Hawaii for over 33 years and always put the best interests of his wedding couples ahead of his own. I guarantee you will feel comfortable at any of his wedding locations.  He has hundreds of customer testimonials on his website that he has received over the years which are not fake.  People usually get married one or twice in their life - It is important to choose a wedding officiant you can trust and create quality memories that will last your lifetime.

[Mark J]

I had my wedding with Capt. Howie and I have total faith in him. He was very helpful and so were Deva and Chrissy. We were married at Pukalani Falls, which was beautiful and breathtaking. I can only recommend him if you want your wedding in Oahu to be a memorable one. Captain Howie's kindness and great personality was proven to us when he helped our son Matt feel comfortable and gave a lot of attention to him. It surprises me that anyone would have doubts about him.

I hope this helps you make a decision.

 

 

 

[CarltonG3]

Hello,

All that I can tell you is that you can trust Captain Howie and his staff. They are nice people and very caring. I had my vow renewal with Above Heaven's Gate and it was the best day of my life. Oahu is a wonderful place!

[gojordan]

Good luck for next year.

My sister had her wedding with Above Heaven's Gate and I must tell you that it was a wonderful ceremony and she was very happy. She was married in Oahu too. I've been on the island only on the wedding day, but it was enough to know Captain Howie very well. He is very sociable and you could tell that he is a wonderful and kind person. What I loved the most about him were the words of wisdom he told my sister, so if you can get in touch with anyone who had their wedding with them you'll see that he is a very loved man.

[pbjelly12]

Thanks all for your reassuring responses. We are still going to go with Above Heavens Gate. It does seem to be the best fit for us. I just jumped the gun too soon on thinking otherwise, its nice to hear good testimonials on them! Can't wait to be a Mrs! 

[WeddingMay]

Seems strange that all of the responses to your question have only one or two total posts? There have been problems elsewhere on this site where people register just to comment on themselves or a friend. I hope you wedding is perfect. Maybe you could get some references from the wedding site? Then check all over the internet, it's your big day, be happy!

[maryjanine]

Your are right WeddingMay, but if you search Above Heaven's Gate on Google, this forum shows on the first page, and maybe those people,  just wanted to leave their opinions. At least this is how I did, I searched them before my wedding to find out more about them and saw this forum. At first I didn't want to post anything not having any experience with them, but the biggest day of my life was just how I hoped and all thanks to Above Heaven's Gate and Captain Howie. And now I wanted to leave this message, maybe it helped.

Hope your wedding will be at least as beautiful as mine, Pbjelly.

 

[swm200fly]

Hey There!! I just wanted to throw in my two cents as well.....I JUST had my marriage ceremony done by Captain Howie and his crew and I cannot say enough GOOD things!! We had both my husband's and my own immediate families out for the occasion ( 17 people to the event) and everything turned out perfect. We had our ceremony on Angel Bay Beach and pictures taken in Pukalani Falls and on the Beach. I can tell you from experience that Wade is an awesome make up artist/hair stylist (I have never looked so good!!) and the photographer was wonderful. I do understand your hesitation on Captain Howie as I had heard the same things and he is NOT for everyone as he often states on his own website. However, if you are looking for maybe a more traditional Reverand (which was a concern of mine), you can request Reverand Rich who dresses a little more conservative and he puts together a wonderful vow exchange/homily. Both sets of our parents were pleased, which we thought was important as both of our parents are a little more conservative. We are glad that we went with Reverand Rich as he seemed very genuine. In my opinion, after having met Captain Howie as well....he seemed more like a business man to me. However, with that being said--he does have a great business at that. Everything will be organized and you will be stress free if you go with Above Heaven's gate.

 

In addition to recommendations.....my husband and I hosted a reception dinner at the Orchid Restaurant at the Halekulani Hotel following our ceremony. This place was AWESOME. I highly recommend it....they have a wedding menu and will cater to you--GREAT SERVICE & FOOD. There is also a bar called House without a Key right next door (same hotel) that over looked the Ocean....so what we did was have cocktail hour there (you dont need reservations and they had live music and a beautiful sunset) and then walked right over to our dinner reservation at the Orchid. Our table was located partially outside overlooking a beautiful lawn and ocean with diamond head in the back ground--we were still right next to House without a Key so we got some background music as well. Also, they did our cakecutting right on the lawn, which made for some neat pictures. Again, wonderful wonderful wonderful!! Lastly, following our dinner, we went out for drinks...which was easy peasy as the Halekulani is located next to everything including the Trump Hotel, the Shorebird, Dukes and etc.

 

I can send you more information/pictures if you are interested! Email me at swimfish84@yahoo.com.

 

Happy wedding planning!!!

[TammyWright]

Weddingmay is right. Maryjanine, mark, gojordan, carltong3 all seem to be the same person posti from Romania.